Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
JANUARY 1, 2023 – Happy New Year cheers to all my readers! May 2023 bring you good health and lots of happiness. And may it bring a measure of peace and prosperity to the world. Yesterday, I celebrated the end of an eventful year by skiing for an hour on the American Birkebeiner Trail, the …
DECEMBER 31, 2022 – I arrived here at the Red Cabin yesterday after dark and found no internet service, since our rooftop satellite dish on which we’re dependent for connectivity, was buried under two feet of snow. I pictured myself like an early settler having to “rough it.” That is, still with mobile phone coverage, …
DECEMBER 30, 2022 – (Cont.) Just as the train pulled to a stop at the closest station, my tires gripped, shooting my “bubble car” past the tracks and fishtailing across the street in front of oncoming traffic. Ahead lay the clinic with a “Covid Vaccinations Here” sign sticking out of a snowbank near the entrance. …
DECEMBER 29, 2022 – In retrospect, I’m surprised by my adaptation to circumstances, but a couple of days ago, behind my astonishment lay self-doubt and rising fear. For the past 13 months I’ve lived a “bubble existence.” It was that long ago that I was last inside someone else’s house—the Connecticut home of our son …
DECEMBER 28, 2022 – (Cont.) I think of people as candles, each bearing a flame. Most people illuminate their immediate surroundings, then fade and disappear; some people light up the world before their flames flicker, then die. A few burn most powerfully after the wax and wick are long gone. Mozart is an example of …
DECEMBER 27, 2022 – Going back years, our neighbors and we been quite familiar with rabbit holes. In our case, the openings are at various locations around the base of our back porch. The rabbits are ubiquitous—down the holes and throughout the backyard and gardens. Inexplicably, the twitching-nosed, standing-eared, bug-eyed creatures stay clear of the …
DECEMBER 26, 2022 – I’m well into that paradoxical stage of life when the more I learn, the more I learn I haven’t. This is particularly true of my knowledge of history; not just what’s “fascinating” but what’s necessary for an understanding of the world and essential to counter repetition of its darkest moments. Some …
DECEMBER 25, 2022 – My wife is a loyal fan of CBS News Sunday Morning. I’m not, and I don’t have a good reason for my non-fan status. Often, while sitting in an adjoining room hammering out my daily post, I’ll hear Beth laugh in amusement over some feature of the show or call out, …
DECEMBER 24, 2022 – Grandpa Nilsson was a fairly serious guy, though he often kidded my sisters and me and laughed at his own jokes. At Christmas he injected a bit of scatological levity into the spirit of things. “’Twas the night before Christmas,” he’d say, “when all through the house, not a creature was …
DECEMBER 23, 2022 – This year I’ve fully grasped that none of us is as rugged or independent as claimed by our culture of “freedom” and “liberty.” I became acutely aware of my dependence. The great “cure” for the delusion of self-reliance, I discovered, was serious illness; diagnosis and treatment of a “killer disease” depended …
DECEMBER 22, 2022 – (Cont.) “We’ve got to get our skiing in before it gets cold,” I said. The skier knew I’d said something but hadn’t heard what it was. Out of politeness, the athlete stopped, pulled down a face covering and removed an earbud. Three facts struck me simultaneously: 1. Music had obscured my …
DECEMBER 21, 2022 – The temperature on the dashboard of the car read 1F. Honestly, the air hadn’t felt that cold, except when I was skiing into the wind blowing across “Little Switzerland.” The car warmed up quickly, as did the icicles hanging off my face, then dripping and dropping onto my lap. However invigorating …
DECEMBER 20, 2022 – Blogger’s note: I apologize for the length of this post, but the project it describes was itself a long one. Last summer I embarked on the haphazard design and construction of a “gnome home” for our granddaughter. I had no idea that the project would become a metaphor for life. Over …
DECEMBER 19, 2022 – Today I met with my oncologist, Dr. Kolla, the saint who’d called me on December 29 last year—five days before my first appointment with him. His outreach had impressed me. When we met in person, I was even more impressed—and assured. At today’s appointment, Dr. Kolla started off by telling us …
DECEMBER 18, 2022 – When you’re young, you dream big dreams. When you’re old, you light your pipe, lean back in the recliner and recall the big dreams that might’ve been but for circumstances . . . beyond . . . ahem . . . your control. In my case, the big dream derailed because …
DECEMBER 17, 2022 – When heavy snow flocks the woods, beauty reigns. But nature doesn’t care that its mantle blocks our satellite dish and thus, internet connectivity, so we can’t check your temperature gauge remotely. Nor does nature care about unleashing 30 to 40 mph winds and blowing down ice- and snow-laden trees onto power …
DECEMBER 16, 2022 – Today, shortly after an hour-long ski workout in ideal conditions, I received a call from the coordinating nurse of a study in which I’d agreed to participate. The study is designed to test the efficacy of a combination of two medications in post-stem cell transplant, multiple myeloma patients. One of the …
DECEMBER 15, 2022 – This morning we looked out the window to see the landscape plastered with snow. Beautiful, I thought, because of its high moisture content; tough to shovel, however, and not optimal for skiing, but beggars can’t be choosers. We’re still in a drought. Before breakfast, I went out to shovel. “High moisture …
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 …