Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
DECEMBER 13, 2021 – It’s time to face the inevitable imperative of down-sizing. It’s time to quit talking about “stuff” and start doing something about it. First, let’s define “stuff.” Of course there’s generic stuff—in my case, for example, there’s ancient ski equipment and . . . especially, scrap lumber that will surely fulfill a …
DECEMBER 12, 2021 – When I saw the photos of destruction in the path of The Great Tornadoes, I wondered if we can find common ground in the wake of such wholesale destruction; ground from which can sow and cultivate a modicum of unity that has eluded us for nearly a generation. Perhaps a nation …
DECEMBER 11, 2021 – As part of yesterday’s distraction from The Cough [cough, sputter, cough], I watched the 1994 film, Wyatt Earp, starring Mr. West Man, Kevin Costner. I didn’t catch all of the three-hour movie, despite the production having won an Oscar for Best Cinematography. Nevertheless, I drew perspective from a chapter of America’s …
DECEMBER 10 , 2021 – I’m no different from anyone else. Exposed to “nonsense” on my smartphone screen, I react with, “How can that be?!” To recover my equilibrium, I do the smart thing: I put the dumb phone aside and follow more constructive pursuits. For example, I’ll watch a Netfix documentary about Ella Fitzgerald. …
DECEMBER 9, 2021 – Recently I gained some investment guidance and insight into politics when I visited . . . the doctor. After dispensing with medical advice my doc answered a general question about the Omicron variant. He’s highly educated, well-read, well-informed. In both mainstream media and medical literature, he’d read the latest news on …
DECEMBER 8, 2021 – I have a story of our times. I also have a confession of sorts: I’m a FB user, though not in any addictive sort of way. I post pics of our six-year-old granddaughter, who, in her grandparents’ world, is a cutie pie. For those posts, I receive lots of “likes” and …
DECEMBER 7, 2021 – Veterans Day was originally “Armistice Day,” marking the end of the “Great War for Civilization” (I kid you not—that’s what the victors dubbed it, despite the four years of criminal slaughter—all sides—of the men of a whole generation)—at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918. …
DECEMBER 6, 2021 – For eight days I’ve been suffering from a blasted head cold. For me, the worst times are morning, afternoon, evening, and night. This morning was a doozy and put me in a dark, foul mood. My wife’s response was urgent care—for me. I mention this, not to garner sympathy—which should be …
DECEMBER 5, 2021 – If you try you can remember our ignoble exit from Afghanistan. If you try harder, you can remember our failure in Vietnam. Between those fiascos? The fight in Iraq—our effort at “nation-building” and . . . the rise of ISIS. Yesterday, I flipped through the latest issue of my college alumni …
DECEMBER 4, 2021 – I’m aware that my smartphone hears me talk—even when I’m not talking to it. And I know that if it hears me, it relays the information to the internet. When I later browse, I’m smacked with ads relating to conversations I’ve had in front of my phone. If the phone picks …
DECEMBER 3, 2021 – While driving (hacking and sneezing) to a Covid testing site yesterday, I listened to “Vaccination Nation” on Public Radio. Several experts discussed the Omicron variant and its anticipated effect. Amidst predictions came news that Omicron had just landed in Minnesota. My situation was a head-scratcher. I’d been “boostered” two weeks before …
DECEMBER 2, 2021 – Before getting down to business recently, a client and I chit-chatted about movies and TV shows/series we’d watched lately. My client had landed, as it were, on old episodes of the TV show, Twelve O’Clock High, a take-off of the 1949 movie starring Gregory Peck. My client said it was his …
DECEMBER 1, .2021 – I must confess. When I heard about the latest shootings—at a school, with an assault rifle—I moved quickly to other concerns. After all, this is “’Mrca,” land of the Second Amendment. But more to the point (“gun barrel”?), it’s the land of a ratio of firearms to people of close to …
NOVEMBER 30, 2021 – In our front yard stand a clump of three birch trees that now tower over our house. When I planted them umpteen years ago, they were small enough to transport home by sticking them up through the open sunroof of our car. I noticed recently that blustery weather had peeled off …
NOVEMBER 29, 2021 – Yesterday our son and daughter-in-law took us on an excursion between their hometown of Chester and down river to Essex, Connecticut. We took side routes and backroads for a closer look at this old part of New England. Our trip included breakfast at The Whistle Stop café, a cozy, local establishment …
NOVEMBER 28, 2021 – Under clear skies yesterday, winds blew hard. Inside the local coffee shop steam rose from morning java. Through the caffeinated haze I heard stories of power and corruption too delicate for public consumption. Told for my amusement, they revealed the extreme zeal that drives our world. In hearing about crazy behavior, …
NOVEMBER 27, 2021 – Yesterday, I sneaked a peek at the latest news headlines—equities markets down hard, along with bond yields, and commodities. The culprit: fears arising from the “omicron” Covid variant now on the loose in South Africa. Just a week ago, we were spooked by the specter of inflation. How fast the apparent …
NOVEMBER 26, 2021 – To earn my keep yesterday, I did three things: 1. Hiked down to the end of the town (Chester, CT) and back; 2. Assisted our son Byron in his leaf harvest; and 3. Manually washed an “infinity collection” of food preparation and serving dishes too large and numerous for the dishwasher, …
NOVEMBER 25, 2021 – Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday. First, its centerpiece is culinary abundance, and at the center of the centerpiece is a stuffed turkey, my favorite land-based food. Second, I enjoy the story of the Original Feast, which occurred exactly four centuries ago this year. However mythicized and romanticized, it’s a …
NOVEMBER 24, 2021 – I admit that writing a book review after reading a single chapter is as premature as reviewing a five-course meal after the appetizer. However, sometimes the writing—or dining—is so extraordinary, the reviewer feels equipped to express early admiration. The book, in this case, is Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles. Several years …
NOVEMBER 23, 2021 – Yesterday my wife and I were among the millions of Thanksgiving week air-travelers. From MSP to BDL, we experienced no bumps, not even over the Great Lakes. After a smooth flight, the three-point landing couldn’t have been executed more cleanly. “Nice landing,” I said to the captain as we exited the …
NOVEMBER 22, 2021 – This was the day that we who are old enough to remember . . . remember. By November 22, 1963, however, people had largely forgotten a key issue of the 1960 campaign: Kennedy’s Catholicism. His speech before the Greater Houston Ministerial Association, however, buried the fear that if elected president, he’d …
NOVEMBER 21, 2021 – I’ve mentioned him before—our neighbor, “K.O.,” exactly my age, a retired high school honors English teacher, a Twins scout, and a former Republican. Yesterday he joined me on my walk to “Little Switzerland,” where we hiked hills for the equivalent of 41 flights of stairs. Every encounter with K.O. is filled …
NOVEMBER 20, 2021 – Posting a zinger-critique of America’s baggage seems no more useful than a fugitive analyzing tire pressure of an escape vehicle. Yet, ostrich antics won’t work either. Reality persists, watched or not. What do we do? What our species has always done: bequeath to youth. They will inherit the earth. They will …
NOVEMBER 19, 2021 – Simon Winchester wrote a book entitled, The Perfectionists, an interesting work about precision engineering. In the world of machines and micro-machines, precision to the nth-degree marks the difference between function and failure. Perfection applies with equal force to many fields, from music to medicine. It even rules in the practice of …