Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
AUGUST 4, 2022 – (Cont.) If the police had been summoned to Matheny’s, it wouldn’t have been Jenny’s first run-in with cops. When Jenny was four, Mother had enrolled her in Mrs. Ward’s tap-dance academy in an old mansion a block south of the post office in downtown Anoka. The main thing Jenny learned in …
AUGUST 3, 2022 – I have three sisters, two older, one younger. The older ones have always been at the head of the class—any class in which they’ve found themselves. When we were growing up, each was my gold standard for brains, talent, and deportment. As far as I knew and observed, they always toed …
AUGUST 2, 2022 – (Cont.) At the time, I knew nothing about homeowner’s insurance, but as I now reflect on the event, I understand why horse people who invite their friends along should have plenty of liability coverage. Unlike Mother, who was fond of horses and had some riding experience in her upbringing, Dad was …
AUGUST 1, 2022 – (Cont.) On the subject occasion, whoever was leading—it might’ve been one of the hired hands—had the bright idea that when we reached the last field before returning to the stables, we should canter across. At the mention of the bright idea, Buster and I were in the middle somewhere—our usual placement. …
JULY 31, 2022 – When I was a kid, my mother would take my sisters—or at least one or two of them—and me horseback riding. About 10 miles due east of town was the “Circle Pines” horse ranch, and it seemed that on a regular basis during the summer, Mother would load us into the …
JULY 30, 2022 – (Cont.) I learned another business lesson at Matheny’s on one hot summer day when I was in fifth grade. For a nickel I went for a one-stick Fudgsicle instead of buying a two-stick Popsicle, which you could split into two, one-stick Popsicles by using the metal splitter fastened to the wall …
JULY 29, 2022 – (Cont.) At the checkout counter, Beryl rang up the groceries, then opened a drawer where a bunch of bound receipt books were stored, each with a family name written across the top binding. I recognized “NILSSON,” and by the end of first grade, I could identify the names of most of …
JULY 28, 2022 – You know you’re hearing from a codger when the story’s about the “good ol’ days” and bygone institutions such as . . . Matheny’s Corner Store. Matheny’s, as everyone called it, was at the corner of Benton and Ferry—one street up from ours and two long blocks to the east. My …
JULY 27, 2022 – Blogger’s note: In Monday’s post, I mentioned a an old banking colleague of mine, Bill McRostie. He was such an unusual character, I thought he deserved a post dedicated solely to him. In retrospect, I wish I’d asked him more questions. I’m confident he would’ve provided more answers. Bill was tall, thin, …
JULY 26, 2022 – (Cont.) In the protracted process, I’d developed a good rapport with the lead investor and spokesman for the group (although I was a lawyer, I was working in my capacity as a banker; ethically, I could deal directly with the investor, while the bank’s outside attorney communicated with the borrower’s lawyer). …
JULY 25, 2022 – Last week an insurance agent in NJ informed me by email that a recent premium refund I’d received had been overpaid. The minimum earned premium hadn’t been taken into account, and the agent’s firm was on the hook for the overpayment. He asked that I call him. I phoned immediately. When …
JULY 17, 2022 – Here in the Northwoods, life used to be far more primitive at our family’s summer cabin. There was no phone, and our grandmother cooked up a storm on a wood-burning stove. A hand-pump outside the cabin provided water for drinking, cooking, and washing. With a bar of soap, you bathed in …
MAY 20, 2022 – In early December I flew from Heathrow to JFK. In New York I presented my passport for the last time on my Grand Odyssey. It contained so many stamps I’d had to have extra pages added by the U.S. Embassy in Stockholm, and the cover was so worn, the gold lettering …
MAY 19, 2022 – The train out of Berlin sped through East Germany to Hoek van Holland. From there I caught a ferry to Harwich, England. After so many months and countries of the world, it seemed strange to be surrounded by English once again. Having started my Grand Odyssey in New Zealand, linguistically I’d …
MAY 18, 2022 – After another day in Moscow, I traveled by train to Leningrad, then westward to Helsinki. From the Finnish capital, I steamed farther west to Stockholm. There I visited my cousin Anders before heading southwest to Malmö to see our cousins Merith and Mats-Åke. The November daylight in Sweden was short and …
MAY 15, 2022 – As the train approached Yaroslav Station in Moscow seven days after departing Khabarovsk, Sasha, my carriage attendant, and Yuri, chief of the train crew, found their way to my compartment. Yuri wanted to give me directions to the upscale restaurant to which he’d invited me for dinner the following evening. Sasha …
MAY 14, 2022 – When the train reached major cities like Perm, Omsk, Sverdlovsk, and Novosibirsk, I was amazed by the size of such places that prior to my trip on the Trans-Siberian Railway, I hadn’t even known existed. Each had a population of well over a million—larger than today’s combined population of the “Twin …
MAY 13, 2022 – After a protracted account of the scenery inside the Trans-Siberian train, it’s time to detrain for a bit to visit grounds beyond the railway. As mentioned earlier, I’d scheduled an interruption of the eastward journey with a stop in Irkutsk, by far the most sizable settlement within a very long radius …
MAY 10, 2022 – (Cont.) “On board our train [from Moscow to Irkutsk],” I wrote home, “was a small group of British and American tourists headed for Irkutsk, Ulan-Bator (capital of Mongolia), Beijing, and Hong Kong. Among them was a bloke from North Dakota named Karl. Karl, about 22 years old, was tall and gangly, …
MAY 9, 2022 – As previously noted, for nine of my 14 days aboard the 18-carriage Trans-Siberian train, I was the sole Westerner aboard, which fact conferred upon me celebrity status, especially given that I was from the leading nation of the West. My unique position allowed me to optimize my time and interactions with …
MAY 8, 2022 – My other prized souvenir from the Trans-Siberian train (see yesterday’s post) was the (real) silver, commemorative Russian tea glass holder impressed with an image of the Kremlin, “CCCP” (“USSR”), and “50,” marking the half-century since the (“glorious”) October Revolution of 1917. These exquisite tea glass holders were available for use aboard …
MAY 7, 2022 – If Russians readily conceded that they didn’t enjoy the same level of material prosperity as Americans, it was because the American military threat had forced the USSR to spend even more money on defense. This was a nearly universal sentiment—er, Communist Party line—among the Russians I met. The truth, of course, …
MAY 6, 2022 – Across my many conversations with Russians aboard the train, I endeavored to find consensus about one subject or another, such as national self-perception, for example, and impression of the United States, and most sensitive at the time—attitudes about the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. One person’s opinion is only a data point, …
MAY 5, 2022 – After describing the scenery outside the train, my letter home focused on the highlight of the journey: my interaction with fellow passengers. “By living with Russians for 24 hours a day, for days on end,” I wrote, “I gained much understanding about their thinking and their way of life. I must …
MAY 4, 2022 – I took no photographs from the train or of any of the stations—it was strictly forbidden—but shot a roll of film on my side-trip to Lake Baikal and the village of Listvanka. In my letter home, I recorded visual impressions along the route. “Between Moscow and Khabarovsk there were about seven …