Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
APRIL 27, 2023 – Finally, 650 pages and the comprehensive survey of the worst conflagration the world has ever known are behind me. I speak of Inferno, The World at War, 1939 – 1945 by Max Hastings. Few books have had such an impact on my psyche and my world view generally. I could easily …
APRIL 25, 2023 – Rumor had it—actually a local newspaper reported it in an article about my dad and our family when at 32 he was appointed to the public servant job he’d have for the rest of his working days. “It” was my mother’s notion that parents should always use positive language when framing …
APRIL 18, 2023 – The other day I enjoyed a long conversation with a college friend-classmate during which we talked a fair amount of politics. He’s a student of history, and in the context of our political discussion, historical perspectives necessarily came into play. He struggles, as do I, with making judgments about the views, …
APRIL 17, 2023 – (Cont.) I hadn’t intended to watch the “making of” segment that automatically followed the final episode of Transatlantic, but after a couple of minutes’ worth, I was hooked. Having read a few books on filmmaking back when I naively thought (and did) write a screenplay, I had some inkling of a …
APRIL 16, 2023 – (Cont.) I was soon drawn into the series by the wits and courage of the protagonists. They were young and well-educated Americans who put grand-scale principles of personal gain, pleasure and safety. They exhibited unusual chutzpah and were leagues ahead of their government in understanding the full implications of the coming …
APRIL 15, 2023 – I’m amazed by what people do. I speak here not of the bad stuff, though granted, we do a lot of that too. No, I refer here to the extraordinary feats of creative, curious and determined minds that produce works of wonder. My astonishment exceeds ever so slightly my ignorance of …
APRIL 14, 2023 – The world is a beautiful place because it’s full of beautiful people, many of whom I encountered today. They provided me with befitting material to mark the fourth anniversary of this daily blog. The stream of encounters began with a call this morning from my good friend, Linda Hoeschler, whose late …
APRIL 8, 2023 – The snow was already soft by the time I got underway with one load of gear for the slog to the car parked a mile away. From there, the paved roads were mostly clear, but already, the twisting, undulating back roads were so checkered with potholes, I drove as if I …
APRIL 7, 2023 – I threw the plastic sled in at the last minute, thinking it might come in handy. Good thinking. On impulse I’d decided to take a quick overnight trip up here to ski sections of the Birkebeiner Trail tomorrow morning for Day No. 124 of a record season. The forecast calls for …
APRIL 1, 2023 – My grandpa Nilsson, a violinist, launched my three sisters on their own careers as violinists. He and they were in perfect synch: he was a serious teacher, and they were serious students. In my case, he practically stood on his head trying first to get me to practice, and when that …
MARCH 26, 2023 -Yesterday’s post expressed anxiety if not pessimism about the nation’s current heading. Today a burst of spring weather, including uninterrupted sunshine accompanied by snowmelt off the back roof, helped temper yesterday’s worry. But what better assuaged my concern was another 50 pages (thus far today) of Inferno by Max Hastings (see 3/16, …
MARCH 23, 2023 – A few posts ago I mentioned Inferno, a brilliant survey of WW II by the British journalist and military historian, Max Hastings. I’m now several hundred pages deeper into the conflict and to borrow a phrase that George W. Bush deployed in hubris when we invaded Iraq 20 years ago this …
MARCH 20, 2023 – Today I was ant on a hill. Nothing revelatory about that. Gazing up at the stars on a clear night or looking down at the earth on a clear day from 36,000 feet reminds me that each of us is . . . an ant, or more precisely, something far less …
MARCH 15, 2023 – If you want to check out from the woes of the world, spend a couple of days with a first-grader at a snowbound cabin in the Northwoods. That’s the formula that my wife and I followed starting Tuesday evening. After our seven-year-old granddaughter’s swimming class at the “Y,” the three of …
MARCH 12, 2023 – Sorry, back to the dismal science, because truthfully, I’m fascinated by dismal science and . . . of all the immediate and intermediate things for us good people to worry about, the economy ought to be front and center. If a light breeze now carries our excursion vessel—full lunch buffet included—around …
MARCH 11, 2023 – Today I have much to write about—thoughts, delights, reactions, encounters, contemplations. But as the weekly snowfall quietly accumulates outside our windows, possible topics are subsumed by the pleasant memory of afternoon’s trip to “Little Switzerland”—ski day no. 96 of the season. According to my basement-wall-tally system, out of 29 years of …
MARCH 9, 2023 – At the outset of last year’s personally notable medical expedition, I experienced unusual anxiety. Physically, I was feeling, well, not so well. The worst occurred when my side of the earth was turned away from our local star, and the worst of the worst was when I climbed into bed each …
MARCH 8, 2023 – (Cont.) Brother Abraham’s letter is entitled, “My Favorite Things,” which is as innocuous as his first sentence is predictable: “Life in a monastery is designed to give the monks and guests constant reminders of the centrality of God.” Brother Abraham then mentions the seven daily corporate prayer sessions in the Abbey …
MARCH 7, 2023 – My mother was heavily involved with her branch of Christianity—the Episcopal Church. Over decades, she was church organist, youth choir director, Sunday school teacher, vestry member, Bible study leader, building committee member, chief informal advisor to the rector, head of this committee and that . . . not to mention a …
MARCH 2, 2023 – (Cont.) Despite my career as a lawyer, I’m not a legal geek, but as I explained in my previous six posts, I got sucked into following the trial, then the broader Faulknarian story of the Murdaugh murders. Now that the trial is over, I can close the book, return it to …
FEBRUARY 23, 2023 – As is other headliner news, the full derailment story is a Venn diagram of causes and effects. In an authoritarian society, the diagram would be obscured by a giant ax falling on the necks of people whose survival threatens the hand that wields the ax. In our fractious democracy, the diagram …
FEBRUARY 22, 2023 – Today, as any school kid of my generation could tell the teacher, is George Washington’s birthday. It wasn’t a hard thing to forget when in the first few years of grade school, February 22 featured some prominent reminder: cherry cupcakes for lunch; a story reading by the teacher; an art project …
FEBRUARY 21, 2023 – For the next several days, our region is under a winter storm warning, with the threat—or promise?—of 20 inches of new snow. We desperately need something to cover the ubiquitous ice that threatens every one of us with a takedown faster than you can think, “banana peel.” (For the record, when …
FEBRUARY 14, 2023 – Michaela, the smart, cheerful nurse who administers the study I’m in, understands me well. That’s partly a result of the trouble I caused at the outset by asking questions to which she replied, “I’ll have to get back to you on that.” By regular injections of humor, however, I was able …
FEBRUARY 13, 2023 – Amidst the day’s stresses, missteps, mishaps, curveballs, roadblocks, news headlines and yes, ice-canyons in the alleyway, the sun smiled—when I looked up long enough to notice. Plus, there were the gems—my monthly, uplifting appointment with my hero, Dr. Kolla; a walk with a friend and scintillating conversation about the study of …