Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
APRIL 19, 2021 – From 1897 through 2019, the Boston Marathon was held on Patriot’s Day—April 19 (after 1968, the third Monday in April). This year the traditional date coincides with the third Monday in April, though thanks to Covid, the race will run in October. I “ran Boston” five times, but my first—1978—was most …
APRIL 18, 2021 – Most “lake people” nowadays have a light-weight aluminum dock installed by easy-to-manage sections or by its own big wheels mounted under the front. In either case, most lacustrian dwellers hire out the task to a friendly, local service for a not-so-friendly fee. I don’t know of any research into the possible …
APRIL 5, 2021 – Being tree-hugger, I can’t stand a good piece of scrap of lumber going to waste. I caught this disease from my dad, who, in turn, had inherited it from his dad. My other grandpa collected scrap metal. Figures. He was an industrialist kind of guy. My dad and paternal grandpa, however, …
MARCH 23, 2021 – Forty years ago this month I embarked on a solo trek around the world. Traveling alone, I was never lonely. Without today’s technology, I navigated via guidebooks, paper maps, and total strangers, whom I learned to size-up quickly by their eyes, posture, and corners of the mouth. Though I chose destinations—such …
MARCH 22, 2021 – One day when I was a little kid my sister Elsa told me how to spell Hungary. I’m not sure of the circumstances, but in her usual, authoritative way, she informed me that although the country name sounded like “hungry in the stomach,” it was spelled with an “a, as in …
MARCH 20, 2021 – Friday marked the death of Byron Hanson, musician and teacher extraordinaire at Interlochen Arts Academy. I first heard about Mr. Hanson from my sister Elsa. As I prepared for my first year at Interlochen—immediately following Elsa’s last—she told much about his genius, dedication, and inspiration. A graduate of Edina High School …
MARCH 18, 2021 – As I lifted the receiver and started dialing home, Barbie S_________ (don’t worry; by fifth grade she’d become “Barb” and “Barbara”) interrupted me. She was one of my party group and consistently the smartest, most aware kid in our class. “We’re not leaving in the middle of the movie, are we?!” …
MARCH 17, 2021 – Often I play a mind game involving conversations with people of my past, including myself; past—as opposed to future—is only natural, given that “my movie,” you might say, is well past intermission. Speaking of “intermission,” I remember clearly my introduction to the word. The occasion was my eighth birthday party, or …
MARCH 16, 2021 – Hanneys were unusual for our insular town, which straddled the Rum River where it debouches into the Upper Mississippi. Father Hanney spoke with a Welsh accent, and his wife Nell talked with an English one, though I couldn’t distinguish between the two accents. To my young American ears, the older Hanneys …
MARCH 12, 2021 – Last Wednesday I wrote about “church town” U.S.A., which was a tad weird, given that I’m wholly unholy. Call it nostalgia or . . . the aging process amidst a world in constant tumult. My earlier post, however, didn’t go inside any of the mentioned churches. That’s because I myself never …
MARCH 11, 2021 – In her prime I didn’t appreciate Mother. She wasn’t afraid to try new things, meet new people, consider alternative ideas. As I myself struggled to conform to community standards, I found her unconventionality unbecoming. Take for instance the time members of the Minneapolis Symphony (now Minnesota Orchestra) staged a concert at …
MARCH 10, 2021 – Where I grew up, sometimes you’d run into a kid who went to Mt. Olivet Missouri Synod Lutheran Church, hidden on our side of town; the Baptist Church, standing across from Monty’s Pure Oil at Main and Ferry; the Congregational Church, sitting modestly behind Anoka Junior High School; the understated Methodist …
MARCH 9, 2021 – On today’s local news the youthful forecaster cheerfully promised bright sunshine and record high temperatures. Mercury’s already flying high—well above 40. My main concern is . . . over the past 24 hours, how much snow has disappeared from my remaining run in nearby “Little Switzerland”? Yesterday, before the sun got …
FEBRUARY 28, 2021 – Though my dad was athletic, he was not into sports. In fact, he openly despised our culture’s obsession with sports. But he loved to ice skate, and he did so with perfection. Each year he’d drive the family 20 miles down the (Mississippi) River Road to Powderhorn Park in Minneapolis, where a …
FEBRUARY 26, 2021 – I remember the story well—how Mother backed her car into a lamp post in the parking lot next to the church, bashing the bumper and trunk lid. What impressed me most, however, was Dad’s sense of humor about it. After all, Mother had managed to back into the same lamp post …
FEBRUARY 5, 2021 – During my banking years, the “Best Practices” corporate fad worked its way into on-site drinking water. Senior management imposed quotas on lower management, and soon everyone was obsessed with generating “best practice” ideas just to mollify the Quota Police. The fad topped the agenda of my boss’s weekly direct reports meetings. …
JANUARY 31, 2021 – Grandpa Nilsson would’ve turned 130 today. He died long ago, but his influences thrive. The greatest was musical, with hardscrabble origins. Grandpa’s mother died when he was 18 months old, a month following his infant sister’s death. Grandpa’s immigrant father, Johan, carried on, working 16-hour days as a Minneapolis streetcar conductor …
JANUARY 28, 2021 – My first “chew” was Juicy Fruit—Dad’s brand. Occasionally, Mother chewed gum (her favorite was Chiclets), but Dad was our family’s main gum-chewer. He never chewed alone. He always offered us kids some Juicy Fruit too. Dad’s generosity, however, was limited by frugality: he himself never chewed a whole stick of gum, …
JANUARY 22, 2021 – Yesterday my book club met via Zoom to discuss our latest “assignment”—The Contest – The 1968 Election and the War for American’s Soul by Michael Schumacher (See Monday’s post). Geezers now, we readers were 12 to 14 (me) in that watershed year. By 1967, I’d become a certifiable news nerd. I …
DECEMBER 22, 2020 – . . . Not to be confused with “The Wise Men.” I used to think Christmas my freshman year of college was the worst ever—for the simple reason that our semester-end final exams were scheduled for the week after Christmas vacation, as it was called. I wasn’t the only student disturbed …
DECEMBER 16, 2020 – Even as a kid, I was fascinated by Russia. I’m not sure what was to account for that early interest. Perhaps it was the slide show during our family’s annual get-together with the Ibeles a few days before Christmas in 1961. Warren Ibele, the dad, was Dean of the School of …
DECEMBER 15, 2020 – The overnight low reached a low for this season thus far: 11F. That’s officially . . . cold. Growing up in Minnesota I had plenty of exposure to extreme cold. I didn’t mind it, mainly because it was always a precursor to hot chocolate, which I loved—and still do. In seventh …
DECEMBER 13, 2020 – Today’s Times tells about yesterday’s pro-Trump demonstrations protesting the “stolen” election. The continuing defiance follows the Supreme Court’s “thumbs downs” rejection of Trump’s last-gasp effort to reverse reality. One protester, a woman from Jacksonville, said “God told her” to drive to Atlanta to join the pro-Trump protest there and said she …
DECEMBER 1, 2020 – In downsizing files that occupy too much household storage space, I’ve uncovered many ancient relics. Some are so amusing, I should be charging myself admission. Take for example a bound, 33-page handout from a 1999 Continuing Legal Education seminar, entitled, “Internet Legal Research ‘101’.” The first heading was, “What is the …
NOVEMBER 20, 2020 – (Cont.) Dad liked shattering clay pigeons, but neither that experience nor the shooting of the woodchuck turned him into a gun person; certainly not a hunter. Dad was counter-culture. I didn’t know a single boy (I didn’t ask the girls) in my class who didn’t hunt with his dad. During duck- …