Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
DECEMBER 7, 2025 – For fewer and fewer Americans, this date marks a singular day in our national history. As the irresistible current of time carries us farther downstream from “[the] date which will live in infamy,” as FDR described Imperial Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, the people alive then and their personal memories are …
DECEMBER 6, 2025 – Sometimes in the case of acute pulsating pain, such as when you stub your bare right big toe on a block of granite, the best antidote is to find a hammer and smack it down on your left thumb. In short order, you achieve a kind of equilibrium: the throbbing thumb …
DECEMBER 5, 2025 – For reasons previously divulged in some detail on this blog site, I’m not religious. This doesn’t translate to atheism, mainly because that concept scares me. My fear is paradoxically comforting, though: it’s a sharp reminder that I’m still human, not a piece of digitized machinery run by flawless logic. The day …
DECEMBER 4, 2025 – While waiting for an appointment the other day, I picked up an orphaned section of the previous day’s local newspaper and flipped through the pages, skimming the headlines as I went. One stopped me long enough to read the article—hoping I wouldn’t be called before I’d finished. The headline read, “A …
DECEMBER 3, 2025 – (Cont.) As we left behind, Byron’s office and AI-driven computer screens, I pondered the contrast between the fast-moving information of his workday and my current broad leisurely survey of Chinese history—by the increasingly old-fashioned method of reading a book. That method is flawed, I recognized: it assumes that I’m not sleep-reading …
DECEMBER 2, 2025 – Back in the 90s, a couple of guys cashed in on their religious belief by punching out a whole series of novels about end times, starting with their lead-off book, Left Behind. I was never interested in reading any of the formula-laden volumes, but I knew people who had, and from …
DECEMBER 1, 2025 – Outside the Chester, Connecticut public library is a sign marking America’s upcoming Semiquincentennial. I doubt the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence will be called by its Latin derivative, which is half a dozen letters longer than “Bicentennial” (and two letters longer than my good friend Dr. Ravi(shankar)’s last name, …
NOVEMBER 30, 2025 – Over the past week, my wife and I have become well acquainted with our two-year-old grandson’s expanding toy collection. As I’ve already noted, he’s well into his truck phase, which includes a full complement of cranes, plows, dozers, and excavating machines. He also plays hard with his Duplos and waxed cardboard …
NOVEMBER 29, 2025 – Late this morning all members of our household visited our son and daughter-in-law’s Francophone friends, Flo and Luke, up in West Hartford. In preparation for the trip, Mylène packed a bag of trucks from Diogo’s collection to keep him occupied while the grown-ups visited. I’m a “truck man” myself, so for …
NOVEMBER 28, 2025 – In brief residence in the home of our two-year-old grandson, I’m impressed by the library of children’s books that surround him. More to the point, I’m envious: half the books are in French and half are in English, which reflects his bilingual language development. The kid’s parents, as well has his …
NOVEMBER 27, 2025 – Irrespective of its origins, Thanksgiving Day as our National Day of Thanks is a laudable concept. I like the idea that however polarized we’ve become, we’re still united in taking the day off to devour our Butterball turkeys and count our blessings. Many in our country struggle, of course, but the …
NOVEMBER 26, 2025 – Weeks in advance we’d been informed that Tuesday would be “Grandparents Day” at our two-year-old grandson’s school. I envisioned joining a cast of thousands for a royal tour, a review of recent art projects, and a full raft of presentations and demonstrations greeted by a robust round of applause, followed by …
NOVEMBER 25, 2025 – As we settle in for Thanksgiving week at our son/daughter-in-law’s home, I’m reminded how household stuff accumulates—yard and garden tools and machinery in the garage; furniture and furnishings in every room; toys galore—big, small, and everything in between—in the “bonus room”-turned-toddler’s dreamland of toys; closets—don’t open the doors or you won’t …
NOVEMBER 24, 2025 – Yesterday, while I was taking full advantage of the mild Minnesota weather and stringing Christmas lights around our shrubs out front, our neighbors at the end of the block, Joan and Kent, strolled by with dogs in tow. We exchanged greetings, and the people called a mutual time-out for “catch-up” conversation, …
NOVEMBER 23, 2025 – I’m no Latinist, but in college I learned enough to read Virgil’s most famous poem—Aeneid—in the original, albeit with a dictionary close at hand. Sadly, I’ve lost a lot of my Latin, but I haven’t lost my irritation when I encounter speech or writing that fails to distinguish between the singular …
NOVEMBER 22, 2025 – Over the seasons throughout the years I’ve noticed that our house operates as an intricate seasonal sundial. In spring, for example, early morning sunlight peeks through the window panes of my wife’s office—forcing me off the east end of the sofa in the adjoining room, where I like to write at …
NOVEMBER 21, 2025 – We who don’t live and breathe technology (i.e. We who are above a certain age, which in the present context is best left unspecified) are quick to scorn it. “Too many people have replaced eye contact with the screen-stare,” we say with lament. Yet, this same element of modern life has …
NOVEMBER 20, 2025 – The man looked about my age, maybe older, since he was engaged in a way that I would ascribe to someone who was fully retired and, well, definitely older than I am. He was wearing headphones and waders with a skirt of pouches and moving slowly in waters just beyond the …
NOVEMBER 19, 2025 – Today I raced to the last page of, November 1942 – An Intimate History of the Turning Point of World War II by the Swedish historian and journalist, Peter Englund. As the last words reverberated inside my head, I closed the book, rose out of my chair, and peered out the …
NOVEMBER 18 – For Christmas years ago my wife gave me an electronic key finder. It was her response to my periodic insanity triggered by a desperate search for lost keys. The key finder worked fine . . . until I couldn’t find the finder. Everyone loses or misplaces one thing or another at one …
NOVEMBER 17, 2025 – Over the weekend, Trump reversed his intense effort to prevent, derail, and deflect release of the now infamous Epstein Files for Congressional scrutiny. Now, he says by his latest imperial fiat, he wants House Republicans to vote for the discharge petition that seeks disclosure of the files by the DOJ. Hmmm. …
NOVEMBER 16, 2025 – This morning today’s blog post subject occurred to me, all ready to roll: “Lost and Found.” Keen on efficiency, I figured I’d get an early start on it while waiting for the mercury to edge its way to 35F before I plunged back into my weekend outdoor project (see yesterday’s post, …
NOVEMBER 15, 2025 – As the rest of the world turned in earnest, I worked (earnestly) in my own little corner of it, continuing the annual fall project I started yesterday: installing protective fences around hemlock saplings and stapling paper “bud caps” on the terminal shoots of the young white pine, all in the woods …
NOVEMBER 14, 2025 – This morning I left town a full two hours later than I’d intended. As I told Beth when she asked what my hold-up was, I said, “Clients come first.” Well, most of the time, anyway. After dispensing with biz, I backed out of the driveway and stomped on the gas. Today’s …
NOVEMBER 13, 2025 – This afternoon on my return from hill climbs in “Little Switzerland,” I espied my hearty friend and neighbor Fred corralling leaves in his well-attended yard of his well-appointed house. (When Beth and I were newbies to the neighborhood nearly 40 years ago, people referred to Fred and his late wife Carol’s …