Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
AUGUST 30, 2024 – Blogger’s note: Today’s central activity—a trip to the Minnesota State Fair with our almost nine-year-old granddaughter—produced material and memories that warranted a break from my Landscaping: The Great Escape series. “Plan A” called for my wife to take Illiana to the Minnesota State Fair today while I got an early start …
JUNE 23, 2024 – Yesterday evening a little past 10:30, our eight-year-old granddaughter expressed agreement that yes, now the hour was late enough for her to be tired and ready to head upstairs to the Land of Nod. As usual, her mind and energy had been in active mode for 14 hours straight and her …
JUNE 20, 2024 – This afternoon we spent 90 minutes aboard a time machine, and though we never left the present, we experienced the past—over 410 years in the past, to be precise. The excitement was aboard the Onrust, a replica of the old Dutch sailing vessel built in 1613-14 by Adrien Block, a lawyer-turned-merchant-fortune …
JUNE 18, 2024 – Today we drove from Lyme to New Haven. Our destination was Yale University, or more specifically, the Yale University Art Gallery. I’d driven and ridden the route numerous times, but this was the first occasion when I was especially conscious of the names along the way—Clinton, Leetes, Trumbull, Stewart R. McKinney, …
MAY 28, 2024 – What delights Beth (a former teacher) and me (a former student, who by and large enjoyed school) is that our second-grade granddaughter likes school so much, one of her favorite after-school activities is . . . playing school. Half the fun for all of us is the set-up. Emulating what she …
APRIL 3, 2024 – What I’d initially slapped on the board for this post was a sweeping and eminently quotable (I was sure) political rant. The tirade connected House Republicans’ dithering over Ukraine, yesterday’s earthquake in Taiwan, TSMC’s (Taiwan Semi-Conductor Manufacturing Co.) near global monopoly in the production of high-end chips, the devastation of life …
DECEMBER 26, 2023 – In the context of a musical performance, my dad used to say that greatness lay in the details—not any single detail, he noted, but in the aggregate effect of all the details. “Therefore,” he said, “as a performer you have to get all the details right.” Dad’s musical refinement came as …
DECEMBER 16, 2023 – Yesterday evening we took our eight-year old granddaughter to the circus. It was no ordinary circus. For over an hour, my wife and I were more flabbergasted—it turned out—than our granddaughter had been: when I asked her excitedly afterward, “Did that fire up your imagination?” Her response: “Not really.” I’ll explain …
DECEMBER 9, 2023 – Friday morning it was “Sassafras” who showed up—fairly late—at the back door. Under her North Face down parka was her unicorn gown, and under that, her new Korean kitty-kat PJs courtesy of “K-Grand Aunt.” Beth reminded me that it was “Pajama Day” at school. Apparently our granddaughter had had a rough …
DECEMBER 6, 2023 – A regular feature of life at our house is our granddaughter’s drop-off on weekday mornings. Her dad—our older son—pulls into our driveway on his way to work, and out hops “Sassafras” or “Sweetie Pie,” depending on how late she got to bed the night before, though “Sweetie Pie” is the far …
MAY 21, 2023 – Way back in time, “dock-in” day was an annual ritual in the lake and cabin country of northern Minnesota and Wisconsin. Every family with a rustic, lacustrian getaway had its unique formula, but invariably the affair involved the dock itself—bracketed pipes and wooden dock sections heavier than sin; a steel boat …
APRIL 9, 2023 – Halfway up each of my ascents of “St. Moritz” this morning, I noticed a large twig embedded in the melting snow. With a flat irregularity at one end, the twig looked like a spike—the kind, I thought, that the Romans used to crucify Jesus and the two robbers—and doubtless countless other …
APRIL 6, 2023 – (Cont.) After a late lunch, Illiana repaired to her “artist’s corner” of our house, where her old-fashioned school desk is surrounded by drawing materials, well organized by her grandmother. She designed a thank-you card out of writing and construction paper, which Beth helped glue together. The artwork on the cover and …
FEBRUARY 11, 2023 – I have a very good college friend who told me a very funny story the other day. It was a self-deprecating tale he’d recently recounted in a public forum—as part of an address before a gathering of esteemed citizens. Because of his comfort with self-deprecation, my friend wouldn’t be the least …
FEBRUARY 1, 2023 – This afternoon just before sunset, I arrived at the head of our narrow, twisting drive to the Red Cabin. The last time I’d driven it, I’d summoned insufficient momentum for the sharp incline at the end. The car slid backward down the hill and into a snowbank. What ensued was our …
JANUARY 3, 2023 – When it came to games at our family cabin, my two older sisters led the way, as they did in most endeavors. From an early age, I lost to my smarter elders at War, Go to the Dump, regular checkers, and Chinese checkers—the games of choice, because they were the only …
NOVEMBER 25, 2022 – Blogger’s note: some of my readers have already noticed “word-count creep” in my posts. For two years, the self-imposed daily word limit was 500. In my travelogue series earlier this year, I broke that rule fairly often. Lately, I’ve unofficially bumped the limit up by 10%–and occasionally more. Today’s post, which in …
NOVEMBER 24, 2022 – Turkey Day has always been my favorite holiday of the year. As a kid, I savored the story of the Pilgrims and Wampanoags sitting down at a bunch of picnic tables against a backdrop of fall foliage and breaking acorn-squash-bread together in peace and amity. At the center of the whole …
NOVEMBER 17, 2022 – Contrary to conventional . . . wisdom . . . aging doesn’t necessarily make a person wiser, unless wisdom means obsession with health, distress over a disturbances of the peace (despite loss of hearing), a greater tendency to vote “conservative,” and general ossification of cognitive processes. Another indicium of aging—without added …
SEPTEMBER 28, 2022 – When I was a kid, I was inspired by “great people” whose reputations had withstood the test of time. As I dreamed about my future, I wanted to strive for “greatness” in the way that George Washington or Abraham Lincoln had achieved that status. Yet, I sensed that “greatness” transcended the …
SEPTEMBER 27, 2022 – Lately I’ve been working on the 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle (a physical map of North America) that our daughter-in-law, Mylène, gave me innocently a year ago—knowing my interest in maps. My unanticipated diagnosis and treatment provided ample opportunity to tackle the puzzle. Not until I’d emerged from the transplant process, however, did …
AUGUST 21, 2022 – (Cont.) Whenever I enter the U of MN Cancer Center, I’m awed by a number of things, such as the cheerfulness of the mask-monitor-greeters and check-in staff, and . . . who thought of placing a high-end player piano at the top of the “grand stairway” leading from the lobby to …
AUGUST 18, 2022 – (Cont.) By day’s end yesterday, I was an A+ patient. The stem cell harvest produced a bumper crop—over 9 million cells, topping the goal by a million. My sister Jenny calls me a millionaire. Now the orders are in for the next few days: Covid test today—good thing, having woken up …
AUGUST 15, 2022 – (Cont.) “Is it okay if he drives himself to the appointment this afternoon?” my wife asked the physician’s assistant. “Sure,” said the PA. “Well, actually,” I said, “because of the sedation this morning, I’ve been instructed not to drive or make any important decisions for the rest of the day.” The …
AUGUST 8, 2022 – (Cont.) Seventh grade took me to Anoka Junior High on the other side of town and a block south of the most happening part of Main Street. Boys who’d attended Lincoln Elementary added a whole new dimension to “cool”—manifest in their . . . shoes: English walkers, English “boots,” Clark suede …