Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
OCTOBER 10, 2021 – Thirty miles from the Red Cabin, I stopped to buy a Subway sandwich. After grabbing the goods, I realized that I’d been subjected to . . . unnecessarily loud music. I wondered, For what purpose was it so loud? To keep the minimum-wage workers sufficiently alert not to confuse sliced cheese …
SEPTEMBER 28, 2021 – When you’re a kid, you view life through a narrow prism. When you’re a geezer, the perspective delivered only by age allows you to see through a wider lens. Take, for example . . . learning to ride a bike. That rite of passage brought extreme anxiety when I was a …
SEPTEMBER 27, 2021 – Long ago, Barnes & Noble maintained a large store in downtown Minneapolis. At lunchtime on most workdays, whether I was grabbing food, running errands, or enjoying a rare power lunch at Murray’s Steakhouse, my office-return path took me to Barnes & Noble. Often, I made the bookstore my only destination over …
SEPTEMBER 24, 2021 – To divert myself from worldly woes, I leap to the future when all of earth is scorched earth and “alien” visitors search for evidence that water once flowed here. Then I return to the present for a fresh look at . . . worldly woes. Take, for example, packaging. Why should …
SEPTEMBER 22, 2021 – In 1926, T. E. Lawrence (the “Lawrence of Arabia”) published his autobiography called, Seven Pillars of Wisdom. I’ve never read it, but I was impressed when at a block party a few years back, a neighbor revealed his ownership of multiple editions. While other attendees of the party were grillin’ and …
SEPTEMBER 21, 2021 – I’m beginning to harbor second thoughts about my life-long profession. “Beginning”?! Well, not exactly, but as we’ve seen on stark display over the recent past, denialism and rationalization run rampant in our species. What’s led to second thoughts? “Repetitive introspection.” After hitting one’s skull against the wall 10,000 times, one discovers …
SEPTEMBER 16, 2021 – No one’s asked me recently, “If you could do life over, what vocation would you pursue?” If I were asked, I’m unsure what I’d say. I might surprise myself and answer, “Law.” With partial sarcasm, I’d say, “Construction crane insurance agent,” because an insurance executive once told me “that’s where all …
SEPTEMBER 15, 2021 – Yesterday, my wife and I picked up our granddaughter from kindergarten. I learned that early birds arrive at the head of the line. I doubt that this saves time, since early birds wait longer before the bell rings and later birds wait longer after the bell. Other factors apply, such as …
SEPTEMBER 11, 2021 – On 9/11 I shared in the universal reaction to horror wrought by extreme misanthropes. Then came the “War on Terror”—a game for which we set the rules: 1. The game has no end; 2. No matter how many points we score, the other side wins by scoring once; and 3. The …
SEPTEMBER 6, 2021 – During a woodland walk yesterday in the reaches behind the Red Cabin, my wife and I encountered a formal sign marking the entrance to Grindstone Woods Conservancy, 70-acres of undeveloped land that lie behind us and adjoining property owners along the northwest shore of Grindstone Lake. The sign was crafted by …
AUGUST 31, 2021 – Yesterday, my wife and I fell into a funk over issues that divide the country. One matter was the pandemic, brought home by the advisability of me getting a Covid test—and quarantining. Thank goodness we have the Red Cabin, and of course, my wife and I are fully vaccinated. I made …
AUGUST 30, 2021 – The other day, my sister Jenny wrote a funny email to our other three sisters and me, describing the big music show in Central Park that Hurricane Henri cut short. As I chuckled at her descriptions of Andrea Bocelli, Jennifer Hudson, and Barry Manilow, I thought, Who will save this email? …
AUGUST 29, 2021 – Last week my wife accompanied our going-on-six granddaughter (on roller skates), Illiana, down the alley. Soon I heard, “Our shrubs along the alley look terrible.” I jumped to. Soon I was on our stepladder, reaching to trim this year’s growth off our 12-foot-high shrubs. For an hour I clipped until I’d …
AUGUST 26, 2021 – Today’s headlines could drive any thinking person into a cave, protected from a world on fire and free from people obsessed with their individual freedom—to hell with the rest of us. To calm myself down, I decided to play an old mind game: What would I do with a billion bucks? …
AUGUST 22, 2021 – Yesterday I took a hike in the tree garden of Björnholm. It was my inspection since our recent three-week road trip to New England. The day was beautiful—warm, sunny, with a breeze off the lake and reaching into the woods With hand-clippers I tamed the more aggressive raspberry bushes that had …
AUGUST 21, 2021 – I used to joke that in “Libertaria,” traffic lights would be privately owned, coin-operated, and voluntary. I’m no longer joking. Our biggest single threat is unfettered freedom to do whatever it takes to make a buck—and whatever purveyors of falsehoods, religious beliefs, or conspiracy theories order us (ironically) to do. What’s …
AUGUST 20, 2021 – In these days of debacle, I imagine a conversation with my long-gone elders. We’re sitting on the porch, sipping lemonade while discussing current events. Aging folks view the world differently from how they found it in their younger years. I thus apply a range of settings to my imaginary time machine. …
AUGUST 12, 2021 – I used to worry our country would descend into civil war—Dems vs. Reps; haves vs. have nots; people who relied solely on Fox for news vs. those who didn’t. Now, I’m not so sure. Perhaps the outcome is simply . . . a wholesale breakdown of norms; a chaotic unraveling of …
AUGUST 8, 2021 – Now I’m a full day of being a year older. It’ll take getting used to, just as it did (back in the day) entering the correct year on checks written in January. Of my many August 7ths so far, yesterday’s rated high. In the morning, I basked in the generous affection …
AUGUST 7, 2021 – For me and a family member of far greater stature than I, today starts yet another year around the sun. Yesterday, I closed out my 66th year with an excursion up the Connecticut shore from Old Saybrook to Watch Hill, RI, then back to our base in Chester. Highlights included a …
AUGUST 6, 2021 – Yesterday we roamed the local scene just up river from Old Saybrook. Of all the scenes, shops, and people we encountered, none beat the junk store along a sleepy stretch of a lazy route. Stacked, strewn, and leaning outside were things large and small, rusted and peeling, collected from who-knows-where-or-when. After …
AUGUST 4, 2021 – Yesterday evening we were joined by friends in a full-scale repast, a piece of living art framed in a tastefully appointed setting. In one corner of the painting we partook from a charcuterie board bearing cheeses, fruits, pâté, and specialty sausage, all perfectly arranged in resplendent abundance. To the side, wine …
AUGUST 2, 2021 – On Sunday we—my wife, son Byron, daughter-in-law Mylène, and I—made a Home Depot run in Middletown, CT, followed by a near total buy-out of current inventory at an adjacent Price Chopper grocery store. I was familiar with “Home Depot”; I’d never heard of “Price Chopper” As we grabbed “price-chopped” stuff off …
AUGUST 1, 2021 – Yesterday, our son Byron and daughter-in-law, Mylène, gave us a walking tour of their new home-town, Chester, CT (pop. 3,994), then drove us to Rocky Neck State Park on Long Island Sound. On the rural route back, we stopped for locally-made ice-cream. As we enjoyed the scenery of these parts, where …
JULY 29, 2021 – Late yesterday afternoon, we arrived at the door of my wife’s cousin Kathy, a short walk from Lake Michigan off Milwaukee’s South Shore. Kathy had moved into the Bayview neighborhood a few months ago and was eager to show us around. Kathy’s sister Sandy, who lives nearby, joined us. Together we …