It’s a favorite breakfast food of mine. It comes in a plethora of forms these days. I treated myself to a breakfast of Eggs Benedict Blackstone, which replaces the traditional bed of Canadian bacon with thick, smoky, perfectly fried bacon. A seemingly insignificant change, but transformational. I enjoyed it at a favorite local café, Poor … Read more
This ragged northwest corner of our country has a personality all its own. Whatcom County. Had you been born there, as I was, you might have considered developing gills. I grew up in a cloud, praying fervently the night before a picnic for the rain to stop. That’s how much precipitation we get there, especially … Read more
This ragged northwest edge of our country has a personality all its own. Had you been born there, as I was, you might have considered developing gills. I grew up in a cloud, praying fervently the night before a picnic for the rain to stop. That’s how much precipitation we get there, especially during the … Read more
I, like our friend Robert Frost, have safely trodden under the leaves of another year. We have successfully removed the oak leaves from our 15000 square feet of lawn, not a mean feat in one’s 70’s, and dumped them into the woods to be matted down by winter rains and snows, to be reclaimed by … Read more
My sister is a consummate teacher. If we were to gather all the students whose lives she has touched through the years, we would probably have to rent a venue the size of Madison Square Garden. She is affectionately known to us as “Chikka” her childhood nickname, which originated from her care of her baby … Read more
It’s a quirky little duplex with no central heat source, but the price is right for our Navy pay. $60 a month rent. And it’s furnished, but oddly. Take the bed. The mattress is so soft and tired that it folds under the slightest pressure. We must levitate to get onto it. Space heaters help … Read more
I’ve never been a big fan of scary stories, especially those involving the supernatural. Perhaps it’s because my cousin and I were allowed to view Alastair Sim’s film version of Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” (circa 1951) at a very early age. I still remember the spine tingle I felt when that silent “ghost of Christmas … Read more
The history of dentistry is replete with horror stories. Mark Twain tells of a dentist who extracted a patient’s entire skeleton along with a stubborn molar, sending the poor guy home in a pillowcase. And most of us are familiar with the dentist in “Little Shop of Horrors”. My stories do not rise, or sink, … Read more
I squeezed my way down the aisle of Flight 532, threading my carryon and myself all the way back to Seat 34B. Flanked by two large young men, I did my best to settle in between them as we sorted out the seatbelts. There is a certain unspoken etiquette here, and we managed nicely. Six … Read more
December has arrived in northern Minnesota. Harvest is past and the fields lie sere and spent, tufts of the first snowfall caught in their stubble. Chilling silently, they brace against the cold. Their year’s work is done. Halfhearted sunlight, thin and watery, spreads over the land. Farmhouses once brimming with life now sit silent, their … Read more