Fraught and Complicated Relationships
Noodling through the Internet this past weekend, I couldn’t help but see the hundreds of tributes inspired by the observance of Mother’s Day.
Read moreA Yankee Notebook
Living Among Friends
The soft rains of early May come and go, pass and move on, like mild surf on a quiet beach. I look up now and then from my desk, toward the edge of the roof at the foot of a valley, to gauge their intensity, rejoicing that my roof doesn’t leak and the systems of the house are, at least for now, working.
Read moreYou Can Go Back as Far as You Want
On a nearly perfect mid-April morning, a group of us gathered at a freshly created parking lot near the western foot of two small mountains near West Newbury. Tucker Mountain, dominated by its less spectacular, but taller (by 52 feet) neighbor, Woodchuck Mountain, was our goal for the day.
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Like the Adventurers of Antiquity
On Friday evenings during that long-ago summer, I drove home from work on the construction job, showered, changed, and downed a snack.
Read moreRetreating into Simplicity, Suspicions or Conspiracy Theories
The older you get, the more you know. And the more you know, the more you realize how pitifully little you know.
Read moreI Lay Still for a Few Seconds
About a week ago, in literally the blink of an eye, I went from giving Kiki a treat to lying face-down on the tile floor of the kitchen. It was, thankfully, my own damn fault, and not a systemic collapse.
Read moreYet, Few of Them Are as Civilized
few days ago, after the supermarket shooting in Boulder had become the topic du jour, I engaged in an exchange with a Facebook “friend.”
Read moreWe Betray a Childish Indifference
Those two comments on the United States government are separated by about 125 years, but express a skepticism – a cynicism, even – that’s dogged our republican experiment ever since the revolution that started it.
Read moreA Bit Over the Top
“Then the wolf shall live with the sheep, and the leopard lie down with the kid … the cow and the bear shall be friends …. The lion shall eat straw like cattle; the infant shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the young child dance over the viper’s nest.”
Read moreWe Seem to be Getting on Better Every Day
A dog can initiate and ratify a tradition in one day. What happens this afternoon, good or bad, will be repeated or avoided for the rest of any dog’s life.
Read moreIt Smelled Bad, Anyway
A little after six each morning, I greet Monsieur Café effusively, pour him a carafe full of fresh water, and add a couple of heaping soup-spoonfuls of fresh coffee.
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