Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
NOVEMBER 13, 2024 – (Cont.) Almost nine years ago I inherited a matter from a law partner who was leaving the firm. The case involved a swanky medical office building owned by two groups of doctors. The two groups were also members of two parallel practice groups that occupied portions of the building. The rest …
NOVEMER 12, 2024 – Life for me has been a huge connect-the-dots project. I’m not sure what the final figure will be once all the dots are connected, but if I were to guess—which I’m about to do—I’d say the final figure will be full of flashbacks, intersections, coincidences, circular side-trips and the inevitable open-ended …
NOVEMBER 2, 2024 – I’m no foodie; never was and probably never will be. In cooking up this restaurant review, I have to acknowledge my lack of culinary credentials. During my law school career, which coincided with the most intense phase of my competitive running career—I lived alone and cooked for myself. My daily diet …
OCTOBER 22, 2024 – Yesterday evening I experienced local government at ground level. My overall reaction to the encounter was, “Where was Norman Rockwell?” The place was the Bass Lake Township Town Hall between Grindstone Lake and Lac Courte Oreilles in western Sawyer County, Wisconsin. As far as anyone knows, there is no “Bass Lake” …
OCTOBER 19, 2024 – Yesterday I celebrated the complete take-out of lake cabin Dock No. 1. Today I failed in my attempt to de-install Dock No. 2. But it was not a total loss. First, I didn’t break any limbs—or worse—nor did I lose or damage any tools, accessories or the dock itself. Second, I …
OCTOBER 18, 2024 – Last spring in a three-part series—Zen and the Art of Dock Installation (See 5/12 through 5/14)—I described my engineering project up at the lake. Today I reverse-engineered it. That is, I took out the dock and staircase that I had so carefully installed last May. I’m 70, mind you, which means …
OCTOBER 17, 2024 – “Garden of Eden” is how I think of the 20-acre (or so) tree garden within the larger woods of Björnholm along the northwest shore of Grindstone Lake in northwestern Wisconsin. Perhaps I get carried away by the peak foliage and gorgeous weather that has prevailed since I arrived here Tuesday afternoon. …
OCTOBER 16, 2024 – This morning I completed the second of two remote, hours-long sessions with a researcher at the University of Minnesota. Our family had been recruited some 25 years ago to participate in the Sibling Interaction and Behavior Study (“SIBS”) of adoptive and non-adoptive families undertaken by the Minnesota Center for Twin and …
SEPTEMBER 26, 2024 – Blogger’s Note: I skipped posting yesterday because I was preoccupied or more precisely, anesthetized, while medical personnel jabbed a foot-long (I might be exaggerating that by a couple of inches) needle into the left side of my pelvis to draw bone marrow samples in a “routine” annual exercise to monitor the presence …
SEPTEMBER 22, 2024 – I remember well the record jacket: it featured the head, shoulders and left hand of a smiling gentleman performing the violin. A row of stage lights burned brightly above him. In big gold capital letters above the image on the jacket was the man’s last name, “FRANCESCATTI.” In much smaller letters …
SEPTEMBER 21, 2024 – After breakfast on the porch I ventured out to the dock to survey the unsettled weather. The wind was picking up from the southeast, and dark clouds lined the horizon. It wouldn’t take long for a clearer picture to form. By 10 o’clock the wind was roaring at 20 miles an …
SEPTEMBER 5, 2024 – (Cont.) When Susan and her husband Bob pulled into the yard, I had no idea what to expect. She was such a young kid when we’d last met on the deck of her family’s swimming pool in New Jersey, she’d made no lasting impression. We’d had no contact since. Jenny, who’d …
SEPTEMBER 4, 2024 – (Cont,) Many families experience splits, rifts, friction, upheavals, estrangement. The fractures in our own—cousin vs. cousin (Carol’s father vs. my uncle) and, it seemed, brother vs. brother (Carol’s grandfather vs. mine)—were not unusual as families go. Only a specialisit in abnormal psychology, however, could categorize the discord that ebbed and flowed …
SEPTEMBER 3, 2024 – (Cont.) In anticipation of our mini-reunion with Carol and her husband Barry, Jenny and I talked about things we could do and places where we could dine out. On our list were “Anna’s house” two doors down, where Anna and her husband Mickey lived. They were shirt-tail relatives of ours, though …
AUGUST 29, 2024 – (Cont.) Mother and UB—the last of their generation in our family—died within two months of each other in the first half of 2017. In August of that year my sisters and I and two members of the next generation gathered for three days at Lyme Light. It was the first time …
AUGUST 28, 2024 – (Cont.) Over a century ago our great-grandfather oversaw tasteful landscaping of his property. The enhancements included a mix of flower and vegetable gardens, strategically placed shade trees, a small orchard, rose bushes, and a hedge along the 300-foot roadside border, interrupted by an entrance marked by twin stout stone-and-mortar pillars. On …
AUGUST 27, 2024 – (Cont.) My three sisters and I inherited the place from our elders, who’d inherited it from their elders, who’d inherited it from their elders. After succeeding in business back in New Jersey, our great-grandfather returned to our great-grandmother’s Connecticut roots to establish a veritable Shangri-la over-looking Upper Hamburg Cove just a …
AUGUST 26, 2024 – Ever since I was a kid I’ve been persnickety about yard and garden landscaping and maintenance. If you asked my wife about this self-assessment she’d say, “Huh?!” followed by “If what he said were true, our yard at home wouldn’t look so sinfully scraggly, and he’d get around to pruning [“that huge …
AUGUST 19, 2024 – My main objective in taking the boat for a spin was to see if I could get the darned thing off the lift. I’d already experienced difficulty in this regard before our trip to Portugal two weeks ago, and the lake level has dropped another inch or two since. In the …
JULY 22, 2024 – Here I sit on the porch of the Red Cabin, surrounded by the sound of a soft rain dancing on a billion leaves. In the background thunder rumbles unevenly but continuously. Through the trees that line the berm along the lakeshore 75 feet away I catch glimpses of the lake and …
MAY 25, 2024 – (Cont.) In the morning of May 25, Dan and I found our way to the Dalkon Shield Settlement Claims Administration facility occupying a full city block in downtown Richmond. On hand to greet us was Mike Sheppard. I remember him well even without the aid of my journal. He engaged with …
MAY 21, 2024 – (Cont.) The years passed. While I was in my second year of law school, Fred died at the age of 80. I was saddened by his passing; over the years I’d enjoyed many meaningful conversations with him. Ruth lived in the big house for a few years after Fred’s passing, then …
MAY 20, 2024 – (Cont.) Fred and Ruth had two small house dogs—a Corgi (I believe) named Bambi, and Chico, which, as you can tell from the name, was a Chihuahua—and three kids: Tom, Julie, and Sara. Tom was the oldest—way older than my oldest sister. He was well into grown-up status by the time …
MAY 19, 2024 – (Cont.) Fred was a successful businessman (See 1/3/24 post) who exuded intelligence and whose wry humor was always close to the surface. He liked to joke that everyone in town knew that our neighborhood was the poorest in Anoka because “We all lived on Rice.” While battling the city of Maplewood …
MAY 13, 2024 – To conclude series, The Neighbors, I now reminisce about the Moores, whose expansive river lot faced the Rathbuns’ house and our yard. Moore’s elegant home had been designed by an architect with pleasing sensibilities. Three well-proportioned second floor dormers faced the street, as did the two windows with shutters on the …