Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
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 3, 2022 – This morning at daybreak while I was on my pre-breakfast, woodland walk, my good friend Linda Hoeschler called. It’d been a while since we’d talked. By way of my 10/10-12/2022 posts, however, she was aware of my encounter with “the stick.” She admonished me to be careful while up here in …
NOVEMBER 2, 2022 – Today while bud-capping white pine trees in the “tree garden,” I spotted a four-year old seedling nestled up against an old, pin oak tree. The red leaves of a raspberry plant, backlit by Apollo’s chariot, dangled over the pine. A nice picture, I thought. Just as I reached for my iPhone, …
OCTOBER 30, 2022 – My wife and I have long been associated with World Press Institute (“WPI”), a local non-profit with a global reach. Each year WPI invites 10 foreign journalists to participate in an eight-week fellowship program. The fellows spend two weeks in Minnesota, then embark on a tour of U.S. media centers before …
OCTOBER 29, 2022 – Today I spent all day surrounded by nature in all its glory. The experience was singularly restorative. As I entered the great outdoors, just before dawn, a bald eagle glided by along our shoreline—omen of a good day. The dawn seemed to continue exactly where dusk had left off yesterday: a …
(Cont.) I then took a deep breath and realized my best next step was to call one of my closest friends, Ravi Balasubrahmanyan—who just happens to be . . . a physician of the highest rank of intelligence and experience. Back in December when I’d described to Ravi my reasons for a recent (unsatisfactory) visit …
OCTOBER 11, 2022 – (Cont.) The sting was slight, but the sharp tip of the branch—green with microbes—broke the skin on the side of my right ring finger. Immediately, I recalled my BMT doc’s warning: “If you scratch yourself on some pine needles, [really bad stuff will ensue].” I gulped: A pine branch partially buried …
OCTOBER 10, 2022 – I don’t wish to tempt fate, so in telling the story about to be told—Grizzly Adams must wait another couple of days (See yesterday’s post)—I don’t want to appear dismissive of the doctor’s dire warning. At the same time, however, my reaction to yesterday’s “incident” underscores a hypochondriac’s susceptibility to medical …
OCTOBER 9, 2022 – As human knowledge and experience advance, so does our perspective grow sharper via ever more powerful microscopic and and telescopic lenses. As I walk in the great outdoors, my eyes unaided by lenses other than what nature has thus far fashioned for our species (and corrected by eyewear), I wonder what …
OCTOBER 8, 2022 – This morning I drove to the Red Cabin, hoping I’d catch the fall foliage at its peak. The scenery along the way confirmed I had. A thousand times I wanted to stop to take a picture—or two or 10—but if I did so once, I’d likely do so repeatedly and wouldn’t …
OCTOBER 7, 2022 – Today while hiking through our local Garden of Eden, I read some of the tags that the park service had nailed to a number of big, beautiful trees. Each tag identified the species, its characteristics, and in almost every case, what the tree was “good for . . .” These descriptions …
OCTOBER 6, 2022 – Lately, several people have recommended that I read The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben. These recommendations supplement the many earlier endorsements I’d received over the years from friends. In fact, I’ve read the book, and found it important enough to add to my “re-read” stack. If you haven’t read …
OCTOBER 5, 2022 – As followers of this blog know, I was once a compulsive runner. Or more precisely, I was a compulsive “run away,” who, to escape self-doubt, lived to eat, read (about training), and run. Every day of law school, I ran a loop along both sides of the Mississippi River from the …
OCTOBER 3, 2022 – Today marks six weeks from “chemo-blast-off.” To celebrate, I took a long walk in nearby Como Park. As I admired the many trees that have become my friends, I contemplated the generations of park visitors who’ve also laid eyes on those oak, pine, maple, locust, chestnut, and cottonwood (to name a …
OCTOBER 2, 2022 – What a turnaround—so to speak—a single rotation of the earth can make. Today, the morning sun said to me, “Smile, you fool, and I’ll smile with you!” So I did, and Helios kept his word. Feeling much better physically—and therefore, mentally—I took advantage of the fine weather and went for a …
SEPTEMBER 21, 2022 – Today at the lake, I took a long walk down the quarter-mile, two-tire track drive that leads from our old family cabin of Björnholm to Coppersmith Road, a winding, undulating dirt lane that provides access to the paved county road a mile from the cabin. I hadn’t walked this route in …
SEPTEMBER 19, 2022 – (Cont.) At this late hour, I feel a bit like one of the running marathon finishers holding onto my silver space blanket with one hand and a cup of water in the other, as I stagger toward the heap of plastic bags with my race number on the outside and a …
SEPTEMBER 14, 2022 – (Cont.) This morning I entered a room of our house and discovered a patch of sunshine on the old, oak floor. This unexpected burst of light lifted my spirits and renewed my energy. In the reigning silence I heard my father’s voice. “The sun is the source of all life on …
SEPTEMBER 11, 2022 – (Cont.) After nurse Laura read my numbers from this morning’s lab report, she extended her hand and said, “Congratulations!” (“Don’t worry,” she added. “I’ve already washed my hands 5,000 times today, but there are plenty of hand sanitizers on your way out.”) She was one of the veterans of the BMT …
SEPTEMBER 8, 2022 – (Cont.) Today’s 6:15 a.m. appointment at the “combination clinic – positive reinforcement center” revealed a jump in my hemoglobin to 9.3 (two days ago it stood at 6.9), to which the P.A. remarked, “Are you trying to show off?” The all-important neutrophil count was up to 2.2 (from 1.9, yesterday; zero …
JULY 24, 2022 – I’ve noticed that many people can’t bear silence for very long. Whether they’re driving, walking through the park, or sweeping out the garage, they’ve got to have sound or music filling their inner ears. It’s as if music, a phone conversation, a favorite podcast, or some other aural stimulus is the …
JULY 18, 2022 – Over the weekend, while sitting on our dock, I watched cumulus clouds billowing upward over the lake. Earlier, when our six-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter was doing likewise and seeing dragons and unicorns, she’d asked, “How are clouds made?” I explained that when the earth warms by day, the moist, heated air near the …
JULY 17, 2022 – Here in the Northwoods, life used to be far more primitive at our family’s summer cabin. There was no phone, and our grandmother cooked up a storm on a wood-burning stove. A hand-pump outside the cabin provided water for drinking, cooking, and washing. With a bar of soap, you bathed in …
MAY 16, 2022 – Blogger’s note: I must take another break from The Grand Odyssey to recount the delight that my wife and I enjoyed last weekend. Recently, our six-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter asked, “Can I go to the cabin?” On Friday, we seized the initiative, and after getting the green light from Illiana’s parents, my wife …
APRIL 4, 2020 – My first exposure to the aurora borealis was on a Saturday night during college when my drinking buddies and I stumbled out of the Stowe House near campus. Our exit coincided with a spectacular light show filling the sky. To achieve a better view, we crossed campus to the soccer fields—only …