Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
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 …
MARCH 26, 2022 – After my wonderfully intense days in Prague, I took a train to Brno in eastern Bohemia, then to Bratislava on the western edge of Slovakia, another train east-northeast to Poprad, and a bus to Novy Smokovec—a spa village nestled among the formidable High Tatras of the Carpathian Mountains. I’d been guided …
FEBRUARY 7, 2022 – During my two-month sojourn in NZ and Australia, I’d encountered many Europeans who’d ventured there via India. Time—and illness—on the Subcontinent seemed to be a rite of passage. No traveler had not experienced gastrointestinal problems, and everyone emphasized that no matter how much you heard or read about India, nothing could …
FEBRUARY 6, 2022 – As hours rolled by, I stared in wonder out the picture window of my compartment. Often, I imagined peering out the window of a spacecraft circling Mars just above the surface: the arid infinity outside was mesmerizing in its “other worldliness.” At a refueling stop in Cook (now a ghost town; …
FEBRUARY 4, 2022 – Even back then Sydney, capital of New South Wales, was the big, splashy city of “Down Under.” I spent several days there, impressed by its busy harbor, cosmopolitan feel, world-class modern architecture—including the harbor-front Opera House (and a recital inside)—and expansive botanical garden. But naturally, I was drawn to . . …
FEBRUARY 3, 2022 – From the sea, I turned to Kuranda in the rainforest along Queensland’s northeastern “fringe.” Other travelers had recommended Kuranda as a “Bohemian outpost in Eden,” and the pathway was well established. Joined by Karen and now my romantic interest, Debbie, we hiked to the heights of towering waterfalls and admired the …
FEBRUARY 2, 2022 – Having lived much of life at 45-degrees latitude, I noticed that at 17-degrees our sun is a different star. Its zenith is nearly overhead and motivates an early start before one’s energy becomes non-renewable. By 8:00 I was in queue with other “pilgrims” where tour boats lined up to catch and …
FEBRUARY 1, 2022 – Like most visitors in those days, I traveled “the eastern fringe”—the coastline between Sydney in the southeast and Port Douglas in the northeast, well above the Tropic of Capricorn. The big attraction was the Great Barrier Reef, yet much else influenced my itinerary—from Kuranda, a Garden of Eden deep in the …
JANUARY 29, 2022 – In those days, to venture down “The Most Beautiful Walk in the World,” a reservation was required—along with rain gear and sturdy hiking boots. Average annual rainfall in that region pushes 300 inches. Since most of the Milford Track follows a canyon floor, the trek can be a muddy slog from …
JANUARY 25, 2022 – Yesterday my good doctor announced that treatments of my disease are having the desired effect. This was good news against the other reality he revealed: last week’s CT scan showed that many of my of bones are like “Swiss Cheese” but will repair themselves over the next few months. The “Swiss …
JANUARY 24, 2022 – Woods are fraught. Little Red Riding Hood nearly met her doom there, as did other “Grimm” characters. Belleau Wood is where U.S. Marines were baptized by fire in WW I and in the Ardennes Forest a later generation of U.S. soldiers battled the last German offensive of WW II. We still refer …
JANUARY 5, 2022 – I stand at the gate, boarding pass in hand, waiting for my journey to begin—to “Lab,” “Bone Marrow Biopsy,” “Doctor,” and “City of Drugs.” It’s no vacation trip. My well-wishers are as numerous as they are supportive of my objective: survival. They’re angels, all. But I also see them as . …
DECEMBER 20, 2021 – “Because it’s there.” That was the reason George Leigh Mallory gave for his ill-fated attempt to conquer Mt. Everest in 1924. The phrase is often attributed to New Zealander Sir Edmund Hilary, who, in 1953, with Tibetan Tenzing Norgay, reached where no one had gone before: the summit of earth’s highest …