Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
AUGUST 20, 2021 – In these days of debacle, I imagine a conversation with my long-gone elders. We’re sitting on the porch, sipping lemonade while discussing current events. Aging folks view the world differently from how they found it in their younger years. I thus apply a range of settings to my imaginary time machine. …
AUGUST 12, 2021 – I used to worry our country would descend into civil war—Dems vs. Reps; haves vs. have nots; people who relied solely on Fox for news vs. those who didn’t. Now, I’m not so sure. Perhaps the outcome is simply . . . a wholesale breakdown of norms; a chaotic unraveling of …
AUGUST 8, 2021 – Now I’m a full day of being a year older. It’ll take getting used to, just as it did (back in the day) entering the correct year on checks written in January. Of my many August 7ths so far, yesterday’s rated high. In the morning, I basked in the generous affection …
AUGUST 7, 2021 – For me and a family member of far greater stature than I, today starts yet another year around the sun. Yesterday, I closed out my 66th year with an excursion up the Connecticut shore from Old Saybrook to Watch Hill, RI, then back to our base in Chester. Highlights included a …
AUGUST 6, 2021 – Yesterday we roamed the local scene just up river from Old Saybrook. Of all the scenes, shops, and people we encountered, none beat the junk store along a sleepy stretch of a lazy route. Stacked, strewn, and leaning outside were things large and small, rusted and peeling, collected from who-knows-where-or-when. After …
AUGUST 4, 2021 – Yesterday evening we were joined by friends in a full-scale repast, a piece of living art framed in a tastefully appointed setting. In one corner of the painting we partook from a charcuterie board bearing cheeses, fruits, pâté, and specialty sausage, all perfectly arranged in resplendent abundance. To the side, wine …
AUGUST 2, 2021 – On Sunday we—my wife, son Byron, daughter-in-law Mylène, and I—made a Home Depot run in Middletown, CT, followed by a near total buy-out of current inventory at an adjacent Price Chopper grocery store. I was familiar with “Home Depot”; I’d never heard of “Price Chopper” As we grabbed “price-chopped” stuff off …
AUGUST 1, 2021 – Yesterday, our son Byron and daughter-in-law, Mylène, gave us a walking tour of their new home-town, Chester, CT (pop. 3,994), then drove us to Rocky Neck State Park on Long Island Sound. On the rural route back, we stopped for locally-made ice-cream. As we enjoyed the scenery of these parts, where …
JULY 29, 2021 – Late yesterday afternoon, we arrived at the door of my wife’s cousin Kathy, a short walk from Lake Michigan off Milwaukee’s South Shore. Kathy had moved into the Bayview neighborhood a few months ago and was eager to show us around. Kathy’s sister Sandy, who lives nearby, joined us. Together we …
JULY 27, 2021 – Yesterday, I visited our good friends Jack and Linda in their Japanese garden—a national treasure. They themselves are a national treasure. (See 7/27/2019 post, “It is Zen.”) Two years later, the world has changed, but Jack and Linda’s Japanese garden still provides respite from that wild world. As we sat in …
JULY 26, 2021 – With this post I reach a milestone: my 800th entry since I started this blog in April 2019. At 500 words per post, that works out to four books of fiction—or perhaps I meant, “friction.” In the grand scheme of things, however, I wonder sometimes whether my efforts add to the …
JULY 24, 2021 – We were running late as I strapped our granddaughter into the car. Then I noticed her ring was missing—again. Earlier she’d arrived sporting a new ring—with “magical powers.” But being over-sized, it kept coming off. The ring was always immediately recovered by my wife, me, or the little girl herself. Now …
JULY 20, 2021 – Yesterday evening I watched our five-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter attend “soccer practice.” This was her fifth week of the community sponsored activity. The kids learn some basic skills led by a couple of very laid-back “coaches” who excel at herding cats and squirrels. Our older son, Illiana’s dad and former soccer player, assists. …
JULY 12, 2021 – Yesterday, British billionaire Richard Branson made a suborbital space flight. Media outlets made a big deal of it, thanks to the fact that Branson himself—self-promotor extraordinaire—made a big deal of it. The hoopla left me unimpressed. First, Branson wasn’t at the controls. He was a passenger—one of six. Second, although the …
JULY 6, 2021 – As I write (evening of July 5), some neighborhood kid reminds me that the Fourth was only yesterday. His leftover “Whistling Poppers” (I’m making up the name) sound like they’re landing on our front doorstep. I trust that his parents will soon restore peace—assuming they aren’t the ones disturbing it. In …
JULY 5, 2021 – When I stand at the end of our dock on a clear night, I see a gazillion stars overhead—many, light years away. I also see dozens of lights on the opposite shore. From my perspective, the various magnitudes of shore lights are indistinguishable from the celestial ones. Yesterday evening we took …
JUNE 25, 2021 – Today I take time out from the highfalutin about the state of the world to talk about down-to-earth daily living on our dog-eat-dog planet. Before I get too high-minded about low-slogging, however, I should issue a disclaimer: I’m not always as well-mannered as I was on the subject occasion. Nevertheless, the …
JUNE 23, 2021 – Sunday evening, our son Cory (with five-and-a-half-year-old daughter) was pulled over. No one except the cop knows why she ran Cory’s plates, but in the process she learned that his license had been suspended three months ago. Cory called me to say, “I have a slight emergency.” Based on the prospect …
JUNE 15, 2021 – In one of my dreamworlds, I’m an “as-long-as-I-want-to-be-professor-at-large” at some small, leafy, liberal arts college in a quiet New England town. I design my courses, decide my class times, and select my students. I’m assigned a small office on the third floor of a creaky, original academic building—a room lined with …
JUNE 14, 2021 – Until recently, I’ve slogged through life with a load of envy. Whenever I encountered some highly talented musician or artist, I’d say to self, “Gee, I wish I could play like that!” or “Wow! I sure wish I could paint!” Possessing neither the talent nor discipline to emulate an artist—musical or …
JUNE 8, 2021 – Sunday brought sunshine to our backyard and upon our son Cory and his daughter, Illiana; son Byron and his wife, Mylène; nieces Linnea and Erica; Byron’s close friends, high school classmates and teammates—Christian and Kumar. As an elder, I found hope in talk and banter, play and food, picture-posing and theater …
JUNE 6, 2021 – No matter how much I read about it; no matter how many movies I’ve watched, I can’t imagine myself on the beach at Normandy on that day—this day—in 1944. The Germans knew it was coming but didn’t know when or exactly where. Thanks to their Führer who thought he was a …
JUNE 5, 2021 – Yesterday I planted more trees. Seven balsam to be exact. The entire operation was complicated. It started with the nursery that grows trees from seeds to seedlings. Move on to the media by wh ich the nursery markets its products and add the systems by which those products are processed, packaged, …
JUNE 4, 2021 – We’ve all seen the most recent set of scratchy photos of UFOs. This time around, we’re told, the bobbing lights “really are unexplainable.” I’m skeptical—especially after four years of “fake news,” “Big Lies,” and a royal fest of “conspiracy theories.” But pretend, for a moment, that aliens have actually landed on …
June 1, 2021 – Lately, I’ve experienced lots of . . . pain. Call me a wimp for my exceptionally low threshold—even for the needle that’s supposed to bring relief from pain. At midnight yesterday evening, when the ER nurse appeared to administer a shot of Toradol, I raised my hand and said, “Warning: I …