Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
SEPTEMBER 1, 2022 – (Cont.) When one is far out at sea, beyond the reference points of land, each day mimics another, except for the clockwork and declination of sun, moon and stars. This morning I slipped out of bed extra early for a 6:15 appointment with the Angels of the University. In the glow …
AUGUST 22, 2022 – (Cont.) Yesterday afternoon I joked to some friends that “I like going to the U of MN Cancer Center so much, I even go there on Saturday and Sunday.” Joking aside, this past weekend’s sessions, each for an infusion line flush, were brief and uneventful, except for the discovery that my …
AUGUST 20, 2022 – Blogger’s note: The gracious reader will accept my apologies for the poor self-editing of yesterday’s post. The explanation (versus excuse) is that our hyper-imaginative granddaughter was under our day-long charge. Among her plays, musical performances, story-telling, painting sessions, and backyard expeditions, all of which required audience/spectator participation, I assembled very few …
AUGUST 8, 2022 – (Cont.) Seventh grade took me to Anoka Junior High on the other side of town and a block south of the most happening part of Main Street. Boys who’d attended Lincoln Elementary added a whole new dimension to “cool”—manifest in their . . . shoes: English walkers, English “boots,” Clark suede …
AUGUST 6, 2022 – I once read that “shoes make the man.” Throughout life I’ve observed this fashion principle in practice. The first example was my dad. He owned several pairs of high-end dress shoes—shells and wingtips—and at an early age I noticed his treads more than his threads; doubtless because at two, I stood …
AUGUST 5, 2022 – (Cont.) The afternoon that preceded one of those “pie and ice cream” evenings at Moore’s is when John and Jenny discovered a talent for throwing rocks at the street lights and busting the big, glass orbs. The fun continued until they’d wrecked damned near every street lamp on Rice Street. That …
AUGUST 4, 2022 – (Cont.) If the police had been summoned to Matheny’s, it wouldn’t have been Jenny’s first run-in with cops. When Jenny was four, Mother had enrolled her in Mrs. Ward’s tap-dance academy in an old mansion a block south of the post office in downtown Anoka. The main thing Jenny learned in …
AUGUST 3, 2022 – I have three sisters, two older, one younger. The older ones have always been at the head of the class—any class in which they’ve found themselves. When we were growing up, each was my gold standard for brains, talent, and deportment. As far as I knew and observed, they always toed …
AUGUST 2, 2022 – (Cont.) At the time, I knew nothing about homeowner’s insurance, but as I now reflect on the event, I understand why horse people who invite their friends along should have plenty of liability coverage. Unlike Mother, who was fond of horses and had some riding experience in her upbringing, Dad was …
AUGUST 1, 2022 – (Cont.) On the subject occasion, whoever was leading—it might’ve been one of the hired hands—had the bright idea that when we reached the last field before returning to the stables, we should canter across. At the mention of the bright idea, Buster and I were in the middle somewhere—our usual placement. …
JULY 31, 2022 – When I was a kid, my mother would take my sisters—or at least one or two of them—and me horseback riding. About 10 miles due east of town was the “Circle Pines” horse ranch, and it seemed that on a regular basis during the summer, Mother would load us into the …
JULY 30, 2022 – (Cont.) I learned another business lesson at Matheny’s on one hot summer day when I was in fifth grade. For a nickel I went for a one-stick Fudgsicle instead of buying a two-stick Popsicle, which you could split into two, one-stick Popsicles by using the metal splitter fastened to the wall …
JULY 29, 2022 – (Cont.) At the checkout counter, Beryl rang up the groceries, then opened a drawer where a bunch of bound receipt books were stored, each with a family name written across the top binding. I recognized “NILSSON,” and by the end of first grade, I could identify the names of most of …
JULY 28, 2022 – You know you’re hearing from a codger when the story’s about the “good ol’ days” and bygone institutions such as . . . Matheny’s Corner Store. Matheny’s, as everyone called it, was at the corner of Benton and Ferry—one street up from ours and two long blocks to the east. My …
JULY 27, 2022 – Blogger’s note: In Monday’s post, I mentioned a an old banking colleague of mine, Bill McRostie. He was such an unusual character, I thought he deserved a post dedicated solely to him. In retrospect, I wish I’d asked him more questions. I’m confident he would’ve provided more answers. Bill was tall, thin, …
JULY 26, 2022 – (Cont.) In the protracted process, I’d developed a good rapport with the lead investor and spokesman for the group (although I was a lawyer, I was working in my capacity as a banker; ethically, I could deal directly with the investor, while the bank’s outside attorney communicated with the borrower’s lawyer). …
JULY 25, 2022 – Last week an insurance agent in NJ informed me by email that a recent premium refund I’d received had been overpaid. The minimum earned premium hadn’t been taken into account, and the agent’s firm was on the hook for the overpayment. He asked that I call him. I phoned immediately. When …
JULY 17, 2022 – Here in the Northwoods, life used to be far more primitive at our family’s summer cabin. There was no phone, and our grandmother cooked up a storm on a wood-burning stove. A hand-pump outside the cabin provided water for drinking, cooking, and washing. With a bar of soap, you bathed in …
MAY 20, 2022 – In early December I flew from Heathrow to JFK. In New York I presented my passport for the last time on my Grand Odyssey. It contained so many stamps I’d had to have extra pages added by the U.S. Embassy in Stockholm, and the cover was so worn, the gold lettering …
MAY 19, 2022 – The train out of Berlin sped through East Germany to Hoek van Holland. From there I caught a ferry to Harwich, England. After so many months and countries of the world, it seemed strange to be surrounded by English once again. Having started my Grand Odyssey in New Zealand, linguistically I’d …
MAY 18, 2022 – After another day in Moscow, I traveled by train to Leningrad, then westward to Helsinki. From the Finnish capital, I steamed farther west to Stockholm. There I visited my cousin Anders before heading southwest to Malmö to see our cousins Merith and Mats-Åke. The November daylight in Sweden was short and …
MAY 15, 2022 – As the train approached Yaroslav Station in Moscow seven days after departing Khabarovsk, Sasha, my carriage attendant, and Yuri, chief of the train crew, found their way to my compartment. Yuri wanted to give me directions to the upscale restaurant to which he’d invited me for dinner the following evening. Sasha …
MAY 14, 2022 – When the train reached major cities like Perm, Omsk, Sverdlovsk, and Novosibirsk, I was amazed by the size of such places that prior to my trip on the Trans-Siberian Railway, I hadn’t even known existed. Each had a population of well over a million—larger than today’s combined population of the “Twin …
MAY 13, 2022 – After a protracted account of the scenery inside the Trans-Siberian train, it’s time to detrain for a bit to visit grounds beyond the railway. As mentioned earlier, I’d scheduled an interruption of the eastward journey with a stop in Irkutsk, by far the most sizable settlement within a very long radius …
MAY 10, 2022 – (Cont.) “On board our train [from Moscow to Irkutsk],” I wrote home, “was a small group of British and American tourists headed for Irkutsk, Ulan-Bator (capital of Mongolia), Beijing, and Hong Kong. Among them was a bloke from North Dakota named Karl. Karl, about 22 years old, was tall and gangly, …