Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
APRIL 11, 2020 – (Cont.) Göran edged his way down to a point where the ledge swung to the right, narrowed to nearly nothing, then bent left around the mountainside, out of sight a few feet before turning right again, coming back into view. I saw him clutch a small, rock formation at the bend, …
APRIL 10, 2020 – My daily breakfast fare includes blueberries. Each serving reminds me of the time I (nearly) fell from an airplane and (actually) landed in heaven—the largest patch of wild blueberries on earth. This defining event occurred two-thirds of the way through my Grand Odyssey around the globe. Years later, when my mother …
APRIL 6, 2020 – (Cont.) The next day came. My sister Jenny called from New York to give us a full report on the view from her family’s apartment. In the sitting room adjoining my wife’s book office, I put Jenny on speaker and chatted away. The conversation drew my wife from her office (her …
APRIL 3, 2020 – Social distancing now being imperative, I recall my encounter with its polar opposite. Thirty-nine years ago, in my callow youth, I saw fit to see India—alone, or so I thought. Naïveté, I soon learned, is an essential human trait—without it, wholly insane but totally wonderful things in life would never occur. …
DECEMBER 30, 2019 – No sooner had the full image taken shape, when disaster struck. Down I went, as if shoved violently into the snow and . . . How on such a cold day, after such a cold week, with everything frozen hard, could I be in . . . liquid water? This wasn’t …
DECEMBER 29, 2019 – Years ago an ice fisherman reportedly went through the ice on White Bear Lake, just north of St. Paul. What was remarkable about the story was: (1) It occurred after a two solid weeks of subzero temperatures; and (2) The guy had just augured a fishing hole through a foot and …
DECEMBER 24, 2019 – We knew him as Santa Claus, and indeed he was. As reliable as the calendar, Uncle Bruce would arrive a week before the Big Day. He flew on a night flight from Newark to the old terminal in Minneapolis, where Mother and Dad would pick him up. His arrival was past …
DECEMBER 20, 2019 – What’s as predictable as Christmas is the alacrity with which it arrives. Now. When I was a kid, the slow passage of time allowed me to savor the approach of the biggest holiday in American culture. When I was in second grade, our teacher, Mrs. Lundring, who seemed way past retirement …
DECEMBER 6, 2019 – A thousand years ago, or so it seems, I landed in what was then known as Bombay, India. I’d flown from Australia, where I’d been on the loose for the previous month, after the month before in New Zealand. Many of the European travelers I’d met “Down Under” had come via …
NOVEMBER 16, 2019 – (Cont.) A few miles further—and a few tunes later on ‘Kool 108,’ the radio station that features hits from the 60s and 70s—the announcer said, “Good morning everyone, to the sound of Kool 108, where all day long, we play all the songs you remember from the 60s and 70s.” An open …
NOVEMBER 15, 2019 – Blogger’s Note: For several years quite awhile ago, my sisters, mother, nieces and I wrote daily stories on an online family bulletin board. By the end of our experiment, we’d accumulated thousands of pages of material. Here, in two parts is an entry I posted describing a ride to school one day …
NOVEMBER 11, 2019 – Among my treasures is my memory of my mom-in-law, Cleo Boger, who would’ve turned 99 today had she lived another three years. She was born the same year as the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. Cleo lived just long enough to vote for a woman candidate for …
Blogger’s Note: Of 182 posts to date, this is the first to exceed the self-imposed cap of 500 words. It will remain the exception. In the writer’s opinion, slavish adherence to the rule, even via serialization, would detract from the story. NOVEMBER 4, 2019 – This past weekend up at the Red Cabin, I sifted …
OCTOBER 26, 2019 – Sixty years ago I entered kindergarten. My older sisters had blazed the trail, and I remember their enthusiastic anticipation of my first day of school. They told me about all the fun that was in store. “Oh, and you’ll get to ride in the boat, too!” said sister Elsa. “The boat?” …
OCTOBER 21, 2019 – This weekend we had Illiana, our just-turned-four granddaughter, stay with us at the Red Cabin. She’s a dynamo—moving, talking, doing non-stop. During her visit, I wondered what details she’ll likely remember. Gathering “unicorn food” with her grandmother? Sniffing a wintergreen leaf that I folded in half and put to her little …
OCTOBER 20, 2019 – Fast forward two years. Another client, from Florida, had just bought out of bankruptcy, a short-line railroad running from a small manufacturing town 60 miles west of the Twin Cities to a railyard in Minneapolis. He hadn’t acquired the railroad for its freight-hauling business. He’d bought it for all the “sleeper” …
OCTOBER 19, 2019 – (cont.) I’ll never forget the settlement meeting that ensued. The developer was owned by two brothers who’d immigrated from Italy years before. The older brother had been a tank commander in North Africa under Rommel’s command in World War II. Of the Renowned Club principals in the room, one was a founder, …
SEPTEMBER 2, 2019 – Friday, while at historic Fort Snelling just outside Minneapolis, I was struck by a map of Minnesota on which just a handful of names appeared—neither of the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and Saint Paul) being among them. The map depicted important sites in the lore and history of the Dakotah Indians who …
AUGUST 13, 2019 – “Doc” Andberg, our town vet and family friend, ran his first marathon a few years after B.C.E. 490 when Pheidippides ran from Marathon to Athens. I thought Doc was too old to be doing such a thing. He was older than my dad, for Pete’s sake. However, one day on the golf …
AUGUST 12, 2019 – Yesterday, my wife and I continued preparations for 112 guests at our cabin. Nothing else makes the mind so single minded. Among my assignments: cleaning up the writing table in the “scriptorium,” which has become a guestroom. The surface of my desk, which I’d built years ago out of beautiful, reclaimed pine, …
AUGUST 4, 2019 – The next day was another hot, sunny day. Starting around 10:00 in the morning, we jumped on our bikes and patrolled the beach end of Rice Street. Occasionally we’d take a spin around the block. By 11:00 a sizable crowd of swimmers and sunbathers had gathered. Time to strike. I felt an …
AUGUST 3, 2019 – I went to work on my clump of clay: Jedediah Carson passed by here in the year 1845. Bobby watched closely. When I finished, he asked, “What should I write?” I thought a bit and recalled the American Heritage article about the Kensington Runestone—the large stone uncovered by a farmer in rural …
AUGUST 2, 2019 – It was in early August before fifth grade. I’d been down at the beach most of the day. For a change of pace, I went home, hopped on my bike and rode figure eights in the street in front of our house. Something—boredom?—triggered a thought. I pulled out of a figure eight …
AUGUST 1, 2019 – Every good story involves a little background: FIRST: By the age of eight, I was hooked on history. My dad ensured that. He read aloud to me books like William Prescott’s Conquest of Mexico and articles out of his bi-monthly issues of American Heritage magazine. History fired up my imagination. SECOND: Our house …
JULY 26, 2019 – (cont.) As for my part, I was thrilled. Dad, the anti-sports fan, was showing me a new and unexpected side. We hopped in the car and proceeded down West River Road, bound for Bloomington and old Metropolitan Stadium. Along the way we stopped at a burger drive-in in the Camden neighborhood …