Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
AUGUST 26, 2024 – Ever since I was a kid I’ve been persnickety about yard and garden landscaping and maintenance. If you asked my wife about this self-assessment she’d say, “Huh?!” followed by “If what he said were true, our yard at home wouldn’t look so sinfully scraggly, and he’d get around to pruning [“that huge …
JULY 15, 2024 – I’m certainly aware that aesthetics is an academic field unto itself; that for generations books, papers, lectures, debates, discussions have wrestled with the origins, nature and evolution of beauty—or more precisely, with our perception of it. Today I ambled along the lakeshore up and down the well-established trail. I’ve walked this …
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 …
NOVEMBER 4, 2022 – I’m “a people person,” to be sure, but I also thrive in periodic seclusion from my fellow humans—as long as I’m surrounded by natural beauty, as I am here at the Red Cabin. When the weather and legal work are accommodating, I spend the majority of daylight hours outside, always observing …
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 …
APRIL 22, 2021 – Amidst our rancor and failures, we need to remind ourselves that we’ve also wrought wondrous works. Yesterday evening I stumbled upon an example of such works: a bayan played by Ukrainian super-star, Aleksandr Hrushevich. As an expert at being ignorant, I’d never before heard of the “bayan” (not to be confused …
AUGUST 13, 2020 – Yesterday I left the Red Cabin late. I had a dental appointment back in Minneapolis, three hours away, and was cutting it close. A client’s early morning curveball had detained me. I’d need to follow up immediately after my teeth were cleaned. With ignition, the radio yanked me into the middle …
JULY 26, 2020 – I’ve always found refuge in beauty—redwoods; mountains; seashore; sunrises, sunsets; starry nights by Heaven; Starry Night by Van Gogh; birdsong in spring and Beethoven’s Spring Sonata. But I also mean “small” beauty—delectable nourishment arranged artistically upon my dinner platter; translucent tail feathers of a bluejay flying across the yard into the …