Perspectives

Dear Heloise: My fiancee is coming over for dinner, along with her parents, and I’ve decided to make dinner for them on one of the evenings they are here. I’ve never met her parents before, but they are traveling almost a thousand miles to meet me. I’d like to make a good impression.

An unprecedented number of child care centers are expected to close across the state as pandemic relief funding ends, the Texas Standard reported. A survey conducted by the TexasAssociation for the Education of Young Children of about 1,600 child care programs indicated 44% were likely to close their doors without additional funding. Federal pandemic relief funds ended for most centers in June.

It’s August in Texas, which, at the best of times, is like living inside the molten contents of one of those fried mozzarella sticks that I always steal from my youngest daughter’s order at the Sonic Drive In. This year, though, the summer heat is throwing a good old fashioned hissy fit.