Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
JULY 29, 2026 – After dispensing with legal work—in which I experienced the satisfaction that accompanies “break-throughs”—I turned to my oft-mentioned project of late, construction of my model sailboat fleet. Most of today’s effort was devoted to intricate rigging, necessitating reliance on “cheaters,” pincer-nosed pliers and small-motor coordination. After hoisting main and jib on the …
JULY 28, 2026 – Today the waters parted long enough to allow for painting the “sails,” tiller, splashboard and hull trim of another vessel of my model sailboat-from-wood-scraps fleet. This one was particularly tricky—it’s dual colored (for a husband-and-wife crew among the guests we’ll be hosting at the Red Cabin in August) and required an …
JULY 23, 2026 – Much of this beautiful day was given over to a birthday party; first in rehearsing some music for which I’d been recruited to perform at the party, and later, in attending and playing at the party itself. The occasion was the surprise party for a loyal fan of our decades-long “Fidder …
JULY 2, 2026 – (Cont.) Of course, the page/site provided no guidance as to how one can “contact Microsoft.” In my archives, however, I found two phone numbers associated with the company. I called the first one, only to subject myself to the offensively loud, compressed and repetitive sales pitch for a “free” medical alert …
JUNE 12, 2026 – (Cont.) Anxiety: My Violin – Part I. Back in January I noticed an imperfection in my A string[1]. Often this is a sign the fine-wire binding around the string is about to unravel. When this occurs, nothing can be done except to replace the string. Easy enough, except . . . …
JUNE 11, 2026 – (Cont.) After the service, one of our “sustainability” classmates, Ellen Shuman (see my 6/8 post), asked if I’d been “nervous” playing my violin up there at the front of the chapel nave crowded with heavy hearts and meditative minds. “No,” I said. Which is not to say that in the months …
MAY 28, 2026 – Today we climbed out of bed early to make the day-long trek from Minnesota to Maine (via Massachusetts) for my 50th college class reunion. To be truthful, four years ago when I first started hearing about plans for this occasion, my thoughts were focused on the pending stem cell transplant I …
MAY 20, 2026 – I didn’t forget. Early this morning when I first saw today’s date, I immediately thought of Dad. If he hadn’t died 16 years ago earlier this month, he would’ve turned 104 today. My three sisters, independently of one another and of me, were also thinking about Dad today. Later this morning …
MAY 13, 2026 – Yesterday evening my wife and I joined a third of the population of the Twin Cities, it seemed, inside a middle school gymnasium for . . . an orchestra concert. The performers were fourth-through-sixth grade string players from each of the district’s half-dozen elementary schools. Included among the fourth-grade violinists was …
MARCH 26, 2026 – This morning Beth and I were up and at ’em[1] before broadening daylight revealed how drab the sky remained after last night’s rain. Beth was scheduled to catch a morning flight from MSP to BDL (Hartford, CT) to visit our New English grandchildren—and their parents. As usual, she was well organized …
MARCH 18, 2026 – Over the decade from 2009 to 2019, Sally Scoggin and I practiced law; separate firms, different practice areas but the same daily grind of . . . “billable hours.” During that same decade we spent many hundreds of additional hours—entirely non-billable—practicing repertoire for our annual “winter house concerts,” dubbed, “The Fiddler …
JANUARY 11, 2026 – Thursday evening I hosted a rump session of my book club. (Two of our five members were MIA, which might have been a referendum on the host’s book selection, The Man Who Loved China, by Simon Winchester (See my 8/20/25 post – https://writemakesmight.net/ub-and-the-man-who-loved-china/ ). As is so often the case with …
DECEMBER 30, 2025 – Throughout my childhood I was dragged to concerts by our parents and grandparents and accompanied by my all-too-willing sisters. Invariably, Dad would grade soloists on their stage presence; that is, whether they engaged in distracting histrionics. When it came to the actual music, no one could rival Dad’s discerning ears, but …
DECEMBER 22, 2025 – (Cont.) While pulling music from my music cabinet in search of “candidates” for the 50th reunion memorial service, I found many of the pieces I’d performed in the “Fiddler UNDER the Roof” concerts—lots of Bach; the Beethoven “Romances”; “Havanaise” and “Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso” by Camille Saint-Saëns; “Praeludium and Allegro” by …
DECEMBER 21, 2025 – I’m no gardener, though I’ve enjoyed modest success in cultivating basil, my favorite herb. I know plenty of gardeners, however, and I enjoy and fully appreciate the colorful (and tasty) results of their efforts, dedication, knowledge, and expertise. Ditto cooking: I’m no chef, though I can boil water without wrecking the …
NOVEMBER 21, 2025 – We who don’t live and breathe technology (i.e. We who are above a certain age, which in the present context is best left unspecified) are quick to scorn it. “Too many people have replaced eye contact with the screen-stare,” we say with lament. Yet, this same element of modern life has …
NOVEMBER 16, 2025 – This morning today’s blog post subject occurred to me, all ready to roll: “Lost and Found.” Keen on efficiency, I figured I’d get an early start on it while waiting for the mercury to edge its way to 35F before I plunged back into my weekend outdoor project (see yesterday’s post, …
OCTOBER 6, 2025 – Today in accordance with our Monday routine, our fourth grader granddaughter came to our house after school for her weekly online (Zoom) drawing class, followed by a simple supper before her dad picked her up on his way home from work. She’s always such delightful company. As we enjoyed our meal …
AUGUST 30, 2025 – (Cont.) My second memorable experience with an invalid assumption occurred two years later. By way of background . . . I was still very much embattled over the violin: my parents wanted me to study it seriously, whereas I wanted nothing to do with it. But by now things had gotten …
JUNE 24, 2025 – (Cont.) Late Saturday afternoon we drove out of Lenox to the sprawling grounds of nearby Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. After a sumptuous dinner among friends, staff and performers of A Prairie Home Companion, enjoyed a nearly three-hour production of the famous show led by the ultimate …
MAY 11, 2025 – This morning my sister Jenny stopped by for coffee and conversation. Though she’s married to the official humorist of the family and our niece is the professional stand-up comedian of the clan (on occasion, the two have joined forces on the big stage), Jenny is the one who can guarantee occupational …
APRIL 23, 2025 – We go through life taking lots for granted. In many respects, that’s okay. If we stopped at every turn to take full stock of the miracles in our lives, we’d make little progress in compiling additional miracles to take for granted. Furthermore, if we shifted our attention from pressing challenges and …
APRIL 22, 2025 – I remember the first Earth Day—this day in 1970. I was in my sophomore year of high school at Interlochen Arts Academy, parked in the wilds of the northwest part of Michigan’s lower peninsula, 15 miles south of Traverse City. Across the highway that ran past the entrance to our campus …
APRIL 18, 2025 – Just over a year ago I took my wife and our granddaughter to see the Canadian Ballet Company perform Giselle at Northrop Auditorium on the main campus of the University of Minnesota. I featured that experience in my 3/23/24 post. I don’t remember a thing about the ballet itself, however. That’s …
APRIL 3, 2025 – While the investor world along with major stock indices seemed to be in a free fall today, I happily stuck my head in the sand—figuratively speaking. After all, I was driving and wouldn’t have been able to travel far with sand in my eyes. My first stop was the Asian Foods …