Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
MAY 25, 2025 – (Cont.) The hoarder’s grip as it pertains to lumber afflicted my dad in the same two-handed fashion that it applies to me. There was naturally and habitually, the whole matter of frugality. When other people observed this trait in Dad, they’d attribute it straight away to his having grown up during …
MAY 24, 2025 – (Cont.) My latest confrontation with lumber hoarding was precipitated by a sign . . . in the woods (where else?), more precisely, the upper reaches of the Björnholm tree garden. Not so many years ago, I’d fashioned a prominent “BJÖRNHOLM TRÄDGÅRD” [“tree garden” in Swedish] sign painted on wood, mounted on …
MAY 23, 2025 – My ancestors had a special relationship with stuff. For details, see my memoir (Inheritance), published here in a long series across the several month, mid-year 2023. A less charitable way of putting it is that several people up the chain (“tree”?) were . . . and if I include myself, are …
MAY 21, 2025 – Time. If you stop it long enough to examine it, you’ll see it as an interesting conceptual sculpture. The overall construct is a paradox: time is at once long and short; near and far; uniquely perceived by every individual, yet a common feature of our humanity; intangible in the moment but …
MAY 12, 2025 – Publishing a book is not a casual undertaking. Writing the darned thing isn’t even the half of it. In the case of the all the histories I read, a vast amount of scholarship precedes the drafting. Before delving into each book, I check out the author’s bibliography, which reflects what kind …
MAY 3, 2025 – THE PADDLEBOAT (Cont.) Wednesday at noon, I told Jeff we’d need to start packing up no later than three o’clock. The plan was to arrive home in time for a late supper, visit with Beth and my sister Jenny for a while, then retire by ten or eleven o’clock. We’d set …
APRIL 22, 2025 – I remember the first Earth Day—this day in 1970. I was in my sophomore year of high school at Interlochen Arts Academy, parked in the wilds of the northwest part of Michigan’s lower peninsula, 15 miles south of Traverse City. Across the highway that ran past the entrance to our campus …
APRIL 12, 2025 – (Cont.) Although Maine borders Canada, during my four years at Bowdoin, the closest I’d gotten to the country to the north was knowing two of its citizens, Mike R. and Bernie G.[1] Both were star players on our Division III championship hockey team in addition to being excellent students and all …
APRIL 11, 2025 – (Cont.) Yet another bash—my swan song—was what I dubbed, the “2001 Party”—anticipating the distant year of our 25th reunion. If in high school George Orwell’s book, 1984, applied to the distant future, in 1976, the year of my college class, the start of the next millennium seemed to be so far …
APRIL 10, 2025 – (Cont.) To draw as many people as possible to campus wide events, I developed party themes, gimmicks, and special attractions. The “Harvest Moon Dance,” for example, featured classmate Jerry Bryant and his Bowdoin Swing Orchestra. For the Halloween masquerade party, I retained another popular student band, Plateful of Food—and sponsored a …
APRIL 9, 2025 – (Cont.) When the cheering stopped, the serious job of governing began. I say that with tongue far in cheek, of course. As I explained in Part I, there wasn’t a whole lot to the lofty position of senior class president, and the main responsibility, if one could call it that, was …
APRIL 8, 2025 – (Cont.) The big day arrived, as big days are wont to do. The (single) polling place—the reception desk of the Moulton Union—opened at 8:00 a.m. and as I recall, closed 12 hours later. The logic of our campaign was that a heavy turnout would favor my candidacy, given the overwhelming (not …
APRIL 7, 2025 – (Cont.) Since we were the “Class of ’76,” Jeff and I figured we’d play on the Bicentennial theme. Conveniently, as I pointed out to Jeff, my first name was nicely embedded in “Am(Eric)a.” In short order, we adopted a four-pronged campaign, consisting of (a) a personal outreach to every single classmate, …
APRIL 6, 2025 – Blogger’s note: When I sat down to write this series, it didn’t start where I’d planned—nor will it end where I’d expected. Part analogous, part allegorical, part anticipatory, the story is as much about the present and future as it is about the past. But then again, as we’re reminded continually, …
APRIL 3, 2025 – While the investor world along with major stock indices seemed to be in a free fall today, I happily stuck my head in the sand—figuratively speaking. After all, I was driving and wouldn’t have been able to travel far with sand in my eyes. My first stop was the Asian Foods …
APRIL 1, 2025 – Our sons came up with the smart idea—well over 20 years ago on April Fools Day; or more precisely, late in the evening of March 31. It was a simple but effective prank. They slipped a thick rubber band over the trigger of the sprayer on the kitchen sink and aimed …
FEBRUARY 24, 2025 – (Cont.) The fourth letter from February 1981 in the packet that Russ sent me exactly 44 years later was from (now) Dr. Pavel Šebesta, the inimitable Czech, to whom I introduced the readers in “Stage IV” (2/19/25 post) of this series. Pavel’s letter came in a large light brown envelope bearing …
FEBRUARY 23, 2025 – (Cont.) The datometer aboard the time machine was restless—again. It began spinning, slowly at first, then faster, faster into a blur before slowing again and coming to rest at February 19, 1981, the date of (my sister) Jenny’s letter. I stepped from the machine and sat down in the garden paradise …
FEBRUARY 21, 2025 – (Cont.) “I saw a stupid accident in Champlin on my return from the airport,” Dad wrote. A teenager on a bike tried to dart between the cars waiting for the stop light and got hit by cars in the third lane, which he didn’t notice were moving. He hit (or got …
FEBRUARY 20, 2025 – (Cont.) After the time machine had rocketed back to the present, I looked up from Dad’s letter and squinted at the view framed by the window panes—sun and snow blinding me to the extreme cold outside. After my eyes adjusted, I noticed the royal blue sky, which reminded me of the …
FEBRUARY 19, 2025 – (Cont.) “Monica” was a Swedish woman, about the same age as I (25 at the time), whom I’d met on my first trip to Europe. She and two of her friends, all from Lund, were on a Greek holiday, and our initial encounter was aboard an overnight ferry from Brindisi to …
FEBRUARY 18, 2025 – (Cont.) If Dad had shared any of Mother’s misgivings about my decision to gallivant around the world until the money ran out, he hadn’t let on. I think his acquiescence in my plans stemmed from a combination of his knowing I was determined to follow through on my ambitions and his …
FEBRUARY 17, 2025 – (Cont.) The first letter was from my dad, who died 15 years ago this coming May. As I unfolded the single sheet of lined paper and exposed his familiar handwriting to the present light, the slight disturbance of air sent the time machine “datometer” into a dizzying blur. Dad’s distinctive cursive, …
FEBRUARY 16, 2025 – Anyone who has looked at a photograph or read a text or a letter has experienced to a lesser or greater degree, the effect of a time machine. On occasion, however, a picture or missive from your ancient past bursts forth upon the present, grabs you by the collar and yanks …
JANUARY 12, 2025 – After blowin’ smoke, as I’m doing most of the time, today I broke from the mold and blew some snow. Overnight in these parts we received our third measurable snowfall of another wimpy winter. “Measurable” is a relative term; maybe an inch and a half, if you use you an elastic …