Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
DECEMBER 14, 2022 – With less than two weeks before Christmas, I’m well into my annual panic over what to buy my spouse. My panic increases each time I see under the tree, another present bearing the tag, “To Eric.” I wanted to write about this panic phenomenon, but in researching the origins of the …
DECEMBER 13, 2022 – I enjoy regular phone visits with my friend James. He lives in New York, right around the corner from Carnegie Hall. I live in Minnesota, right around the bend from “Little Switzerland.” We were good friends in high school and remain close friends to this day, though we live worlds apart. …
DECEMBER 12, 2022 – Nuclear fusion. Sorry to burst your bubble. With a title like “Big News!” doubtless you were half-expecting . . . big news. If it’s not exactly how we or the media would define “big news,” tomorrow’s official announcement about a breakthrough in harnessing energy produced by nuclear fusion is a critical …
DECEMBER 11, 2022 – Currently, snow conditions aren’t optimal, but I’ve learned to adapt. I’ve found a loop of skiable snow in “Little Switzerland,” a 10-minute walk from our house. My course is only a little over a kilometer but has what every serious x-c skier needs: two straight-aways—one for “V-1” (poling with every other …
DECEMBER 10, 2022 – When I started this project on April 14, 2018, I had high hopes that I could run round the writing track daily for 200 days. Based on a self-imposed daily limit of 500 words, 200 days would net 100,000 words—the equivalent of a modest length book (not including preface, index and …
DECEMBER 9, 2022 – By way of background, I don’t mean to cast aspersions on the nation’s high school orchestras. Readers “in the know” already know that that statement relates to “standards.” Readers not “in the know” will have to bear with me for a bit of explanation. Whereas “bands” comprise winds, brass, and percussion …
DECEMBER 8, 2022 – I’m not a religious person, but I like Christmas for all its traditions, religious and secular. My personal Christmas music traditions are: 1. Playing by ear on the piano, four or five traditional carols; and 2. While working on my laptop, listening to various YouTube versions of Handel’s Messiah. I know …
DECEMBER 7, 2022 – Today in 1941 is the “day [that] will live in infamy,” so said President Roosevelt—the second Roosevelt, but I’ll come back to that later—in his speech to a joint session of Congress the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. “In infamy,” as it turns out, doesn’t mean “in eternity.” …
DECEMBER 6, 2022 – Sometimes little things make big impacts. In the case of books, Mao’s Little Red Book, held high by 100s of millions of Chinese, created a Great Red Wave. Another small book with a big effect is Planets, part of the collection of A Golden Guide shirt-pocket-size books. The little gem bears …
DECEMBER 5, 2022 – Today was my “100-day appointment” with my transplant doc. I no longer view him as strictly “a research doc,” though he re-revealed himself when I disclosed that I’ve volunteered for a clinical study of a post-transplant maintenance treatment (at my regular oncologist’s clinic) for multiple myeloma: “Fantastic!” he said. “I’m all …
DECEMBER 4, 2022 – Surely you’re acquainted with the right-wing “America First Party” with the motto, “Fighting for Faith, Freedom and the Constitution to Put America First.” Likewise, you’ve heard of Holocaust-denier, Nick Fuentes, Trump’s recent lunch guest and instigator of the annual America First Political Action Conference (“AFPAC”). But how many people who encounter …
DECEMBER 3, 2022 – I’m currently reading Robert Massie’s acclaimed biography of Catherine the Great, Empress of all the Russias. I’d first read it a decade ago, and as I’ve discovered with multiple books lately—including other Massie masterpieces: Peter the Great and Nicholas and Alexandra—a second reading heightens retention as well as comprehension. I read …
DECEMBER 2, 2022 – It was inevitable: becoming my parents. Though we boomers like to deny it, “becoming our parents” isn’t an isolated phenomenon. If you think otherwise, search YouTube for “Progressive commercials on becoming your parents.” Before you know it, you’ll watch and laugh so hard at half a dozen of the ads, you’ll …
DECEMBER 1, 2022 – The days leading up to the transplant passed all too quickly. I was feeling great, but being very much a medical wimp, I dreaded the procedure that loomed ever closer and feared what could be an excruciatingly slow, protracted and unpleasant recovery process. Why couldn’t time stop where I was? More …
NOVEMBER 30, 2022 – (Cont.) Once we’d landed on the island, Dad and I started pulling gear out of the canoe. No map. We pulled more stuff out. Still no map. I don’t remember Dad swearing out loud over the missing map, but I was bracing myself for a “damn!”—the one expletive I’d heard him …
NOVEMBER 29, 2022 – (Cont.) Dad put extra peanut butter in our sandwiches, since our rained-out breakfast had left us hungry. I remember walking around, eating my sandwich and holding a cookie, as I admired the lofty Norway pines that encircled our landing spot. In the short time of our lunch break, however, a breeze …
NOVEMBER 28, 2022 – (Cont.) Twenty-five years later—in 1957—Dad returned to the Boundary Waters with Mother and two friends, Carl and Doris Sand. My younger sister, Jenny, went along for the ride. From the single photograph I remember of the expedition, Mother and Jenny, at least, wore a life jacket—the same one: Mother was six …
NOVEMBER 27, 2022 – (Cont.) Although “Big Water” Grindstone Lake warrants a “noticeable blue dot” on a modest map of the United States, its configuration (basically oval, but in detail it’s like a Pilgrim’s shoe in profile) is such that you can’t get lost on it—at least for long. If you find your way into …
NOVEMBER 26, 2022 – The last leg of your journey to the Red Cabin leads down Williams Road, a twisting, undulating passage through woods that crowd the edge of the pavement. The posted speed limit—40—is for your safety, especially in winter. Along this magical route, you pass a cabin or two tucked back in the …
NOVEMBER 25, 2022 – Blogger’s note: some of my readers have already noticed “word-count creep” in my posts. For two years, the self-imposed daily word limit was 500. In my travelogue series earlier this year, I broke that rule fairly often. Lately, I’ve unofficially bumped the limit up by 10%–and occasionally more. Today’s post, which in …
NOVEMBER 24, 2022 – Turkey Day has always been my favorite holiday of the year. As a kid, I savored the story of the Pilgrims and Wampanoags sitting down at a bunch of picnic tables against a backdrop of fall foliage and breaking acorn-squash-bread together in peace and amity. At the center of the whole …
NOVEMBER 23, 2022 – Okay, okay, okay! What will it take our country—what will it take US—to address gun violence effectively? When will the bloodshed, the tragedy, the irrationality of gun violence in America drive us to say “Enough!” and demand of ourselves and our leaders (social, business, political, cultural) an end this public health …
NOVEMBER 22, 2022 – My wife doesn’t know how lucky she is not to be at the Red Cabin with me—livin’ the life of Riley five days in a row. After just three days I was well into an eremitic routine. More than a week and I’d be a classic example of what happens to …
NOVEMBER 21, 2022 – It’s been four days since I’ve seen another human being but not since I’ve interacted with many—by phone, text and email. In fact, I spent many hours today on the phone; mostly contentious, anxiety-ridden or otherwise demanding business calls. They were a reminder of how removed most of my life has …
NOVEMBER 20, 2022 – Last night I repeated a Red Cabin routine (when the weather’s clear): I went outside to check the stars. After stepping down from our side porch onto a fresh blanket of snow . . . I gasped. In eerie silence the silhouetted woods touched a celestial vault filled with stars of …