3 min read 1 parable 2 book recs 10,000 hours rule AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes * Three men at work were asked, What are you doing? "I am cutting this stone," said the first. "I am earning three shilling and six pence a day," said the next. The last man stood,...
On Life
Degree of Separation
5 Min read Social connection on Earth in 2023 Network theory U.S. Army and Armed Forces Math geek special, logarithm AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes * Thought exercise for the day. How many friends between you and anyone on the planet? In popular culture this...
“It is precisely because life is so precious to me that I am prepared to die.”
5 Min read Letter to wife in the event of death A Soldier's Own Obituary, NYTimes 3 March 1971 Major John Alexander Hottell, III Memorial Day AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes I first saw this in my son's Bugle Notes 2020-2024, a pocket-sized book with mission and...
The Cure for Resentment and Cynicism
3 Min read 2 Book recs 1 Podcast rec Wisdom from the college graduate AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes The cure for resentment and self-abnegation is gratitude. So says Douglas Murray, author and guest on the Good Fellows Podcast.* Murray asked his friend--a...
What Makes a Single Person’s Death Feel Large?*
4 Min read 2 Book recs, on writing and on jigsaws Toolbox, the Eulogy 1 Elegy, What is Dying? for the bereaved * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY iTunes * Four friends died recently and three were my age: one from acute liver failure, one from Lou Gehrig's Disease (ALS),...
Go Slow to Go Fast
3 Min read 1 Cookbook rec 1 Book rec on writing Toolbox AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes * My nephew Donny and I were making Sally's* shortbread cookies. They're called short because of the amount of butter used. The more butter or fat, the more crumbly, tender,...
Sleep on It: Darkness Helps Us See the Light
5 Min read Dreams Pattern seeker 1 Podcast rec Digit dork alert - Fibonacci, Golden Ratio AVAILABLE IN PODCAST Spotify iTunes * A three-for, a chief in triplicate, the Don at the podium was the Don of adolescence, the Don of agency, and the Don of business school....
Belief Is a Powerful Elixir
4 Min read 1 Essay collection, Maya Angelou Music as a gift AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY iTunes * Believe in me and I can do anything. It's a powerful thing, belief. If a person believes in you, you can move mountains. As a child when I asked why I had bent fingers,...
Two Things Everybody’s Got to Do
2 min read What is love? Music in Prose Receiving a book you already own Black History Month 1 novel, Zora Neale Hurston AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY iTunes * This winter I received five new copies of books I own, four as gifts. When I've read a book, I have a...
ChatGPT on the Meaning of Life, Love, War
3 Min Read Prompts on life's mysteries Artificial Intelligence generates short answer, sonnet, couplet, haiku, blog post Writer's Toolbox OpenAI and ChatGPT * Three times a charm. I finally got onto the site in the witching hours; maybe a 3:30 AM login helps. If you...
“Good Luck and Smooth Sailing” in the Year of the Cat
3 min read Lunar New Year Vietnamese Zodiac, Cat vs Rabbit Year 2023 Writing tip, lyrics, backstory on Al Stewart's hit song * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST on SPOTIFY iTunes * Chúc mừng năm mới 2023!! Happy Lunar New Year! * It's the Year of the Water Cat according to...
How to Capture a Life in 400 Words
3 Min read The Obituary AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes * Writing an obiturary is a sobering task. I'm not sure if it is harder to write one for someone you know, because I haven't had to do that. My husband wrote his parents' obituaries and my father had written...
“Pithy and Practical” – Time in Memoir
4 Min Read Time as a Literary Element The Divided Self Christmas and the Solstice Readers Call to Action AVAILABLE IN PODCAST Spotify iTunes * Not to toot my own horn, but I'll let my cousin do so. She wrote in her Christmas card that she loved the TreeHouseLetter...
What to Say When People Thank You for Your Service
3 Min read True Story from the SMA (The Sergeant Major of the Army) Army Ten-Miler, race in Washington, D.C. with 20,000 runners * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes Sergeant Major of the Army Michael A. Grinston with West Point cadets * I want to share something I...
Key Messages: Bringing Writers and Readers Together
2 Min read Short Take - THL Key Messages Creative process For writers and readers AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes * Maybe the better way to think of this letter is, why you read TreeHouseLetter. For me, it's about why I write. Which, are two sides of the same...
“Old Age is Not for the Young”*
6 Min read 2 Book recs, by elderly writers Serial comma 10,000-hour-rule Explicit language, 13 to 103 AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes * If you believe 10,000 hours of practice will help achieve mastery, say, on the violin or as a volleyball player, then the...
Spandrel: Byproduct of Evolution and Thing of Beauty
3 Min read Word of the week Architecture, evolution, philosophy, philately AVAILABLE ON PODCAST On iTunes On Spotify The word of the week is spandrel. In my mind, it has vague associations with an Iberian water dog or a large red-faced primate. Spelling Bee...
On the Double Negative, Circular Definitions, and Children
4 min read Double negative 2 Book recs, 1 short story Roe v. Wade A Double Negative by Lydia Davis At a certain point in her life, she realizes it is not so much that she wants to have a child as that she does not want not to have a child, or not to have had a child.*...
Simba the Designer Dog? The Perfect Combination of 5 Breeds
3 Min read Dog DNA Wordplay with breeds AVAILABLE ON PODCAST On Spotify On iTunes Simba in June at 7 months, post "Breed Reveal" Bel-Ger-Sam-Box-Sky. Belgersamboxsky. Bel-Ger-Box-Sky. Belgerboxsky. Shep-Sam-Box-Sky. Shep-Box-Sky. Herd-Box-Sky. Box-Herd-Sky. BoxShepSky...
Why I Write
5 Min read Creative process AVAILABLE ON PODCAST ON SPOTIFY The main window with view of pine, poplar and birch in the TreeHouse where I do most of my writing. MacBook with this letter on a portable table. I sit in a Herman Miller office chair, an essential for the...
The Last Recital
2 Min read Piano music, composers Writer's Toolbox: the series and the infinitive phrase AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Silvermine School of Music, former Carriage House (built 1903) I shall not forget the old carriage house, the hayloft used for bedrooms, the balcony...
On Puppies and Babies: a “Communion with Terror”
4 min read Book rec AVAILABLE ON PODCAST AT THIS LINK I have a Kong chew toy but I prefer to eat my bed. Three dog beds, seven stuffed toys, multiple socks, countless tissues and trash, the corner of my coffee table, a small remote, a pair of Hoka running shoes. I’ve...
A Fool is Full and a Pool Not a Pull
2 min read Word play Nonsense and numbers AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes Google Podcast For you can spring into march like a soldier or a lion, since you leave it like a lamb. Soldiers march and lions roar, but today is the 32nd or the 60th if you prefer, because...
Adult Child and a Zen Koan
2 Min Read 1 Book Rec 2.5 Zen Koan** Em Dash* AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Anchor.fm/emelle Spotify iTunes My adult child--an oxymoron when you consider that there is no single word for grown offspring in a language with 171,476 words of which 47,156 are obsolete, but please...
A Valentine Canine and the Circle of Life
3 Min read 2 Book Recs AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Anchor.fm/emelle Spotify iTunes Herz is a good name for a dog adopted on Valentine's Day, especially for a shepherd mix because Herz is the German word for heart. The dark face and fawn body resembles the Belgian...
The Coaching Habit by Stanier: Short Take on How to Avoid Crappy Advice for the Wrong Problem
2 min read AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes Anchor.fm/emelle If you're like me and have to work with people, at home or in the work place, then you're looking for ways to improve interactions and relationships. I read Michael Bungay Stanier's bestseller, The...
Thay’s Miracle: Short Take on a Long Life (Thich Nhat Hanh)
AVAILABLE ON POCAST Spotify iTunes Anchor.fm I read the book No Death, No Fear: Comforting Wisdom for Life after my father passed away. The author was the Zen Master and spiritual leader Thich Nhat Hanh, who died this month. He was born in my mother's central...
Poetry for Emergencies: Iain S. Thomas at Daybreak
AVAILABLE ON PODCAST iTunes Spotify Anchor.fm Sometimes I wake in the middle of the night and I’m scared. It’s not often and I usually can get back to sleep. I’m lucky that way because people do suffer from insomnia and my waking is not like that. An overactive mind...
A New Year: Goals Versus Habits
Available on Podcast iTunes Spotify Anchor.fm The New Year means resolutions and goals, or so it has for me for decades. My father would ask my brother and me as children what our resolutions were. This has been a good practice to reflect on the prior year and...
Graveside Gratitude, Giving Thanks in November
AVAILABLE ON PODCAST iTunes Spotify Anchor.fm I learned more from two friends in death than I had learned from them in life. I had not known them well and perhaps that is why, but they were men I met whose lives touched mine, in a fashion,...
Summer’s End
AVAILABLE IN PODCAST Spotify iTunes Anchor.fm Late August meant vacation. If in town it meant more parking, easy shopping and less traffic. As a child, the family business tethered me to an insular life, volatile at times in its routine and intimacies. At middle-age...
Alaska Mountains Will Spoil You for All the Rest
AVAILABLE ON PODCAST iTunes Spotify Anchor.fm Alaska mountains will spoil you for all the rest. Two weeks in Southeast Alaska re-shaped a life-long sense of this remote place, which earned its statehood over sixty years ago in 1959. The fjords and mountains...
Father and His Letters
AVAILABLE on PODCAST Anchor.fm Spotify iTunes For all the fathers, grandfathers, with us and no longer with us. I wrote this to my children yesterday, Sunday June 20th. Dear C, D, and N: I sat down and read my father's letters today, not all of...
A Memorial Day Reflection and Celebration
AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Anchor.fm Spotify iTunes It’s been an emotional week and Memorial Day reminds me that I am ever grateful for this country. Flawed, even divided, or reeling from the aftermath of a pandemic, it may be the worst from of government, as...
April Dreams: a Story & Two Poems
AVAILABLE ON PODCAST iTunes Spotify Anchor.fm One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words. Goethe The bleachers were full and folks were talking...
Two Truths and a Lie, a Fools Game
Available on Podcast iTunes Spotify Anchor.fm Happy Spring to you on April Fools’ Day! This popular game Two Truths and a Lie is often used as an icebreaker and has a simple object, to guess which is false. On April First each year, I live to make people laugh....
I Met a Man at the Top of Chimney Rock
AVAILABLE ON PODCAST iTunes Spotify Anchor.fm “Would you mind if I take off my shirt?” he said. He asked me to take a photo and didn’t want to offend. I said I wouldn’t be offended. He smiled, posing atop the 315-foot granite monolith, the Broad River flowing...
Family Travel in a Pandemic – By Air and By Land
NOW AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes Anchor.fm Travel highlights for Key West in bold or with hyperlinks for reference Key West In December, my family flew to Key West direct from Newark Airport. The flight was cancelled because of snow, a foot dumped north...
Giving Thanks in 2020 and Simon’s List
AVAILABLE ON PODCAST ANCHOR.FM SPOTIFY iTUNES GIVING THANKS in 2020 Some might say that’s a tall order but I think the tough times define us. I’ve been so blessed that this is the first Thanksgiving in 21 years when I will not have all of my children home. I...
Just a Common Soldier by Vaincourt
This post is for "the ordinary fellow, who in times of war and strife, goes off to serve his country and offers up his life." It is popular on Veterans Day. Just a Common Soldier by A. Lawrence Vaincourt He was getting old and paunchy and his hair was...
Spirits of the Fall: Episode (4) Toddler Vision
AVAILABLE IN PODCAST iTunes Spotify Anchor.fm Spirits of the Fall: True Stories of the Season This is the fourth in a series of True Stories for the season, of eerie occurrences, real-life horrors, visits from the beyond and haunted rooms. Toddler Vision My...
Spirits of the Fall: Episode (3) Visits From Beyond
AVAILABLE IN PODCAST iTunes Spotify Anchor.fm This is the third episode in the series, Spirits of the Fall: True Stories of the Season, eerie occurrences, real-life horrors, ghosts and second sight. Visits From Beyond Last Night I...
Spirits of the Fall: Episode (2) Where the Driveway Ends
AVAILABLE ON PODCAST iTunes Spotify anchor.fm This is the second episode in the series, Spirits of the Fall – True Stories of the season: eerie occurrences, real-life horrors, visits from beyond, ghosts, and second sight. For this episode, I want to...
Spirits of the Fall: Episode (1) In the House
AVAILABLE on PODCAST iTunes Spotify Anchor.fm This is the first in a series of True Stories for the season, of eerie occurrences, deathly visits, haunted rooms, and childhood visions. EPISODE 1 In the House Fall is the season when...
Learning to Run
* AVAILABLE on PODCAST iTunes Spotify Anchor.fm I can’t say it’s something I like to do. It is something I ought to do and when I’ve done it I feel better, though it wasn’t always that way. I learned how to run a lifetime ago, when I joined the military. Life in the...
Would You Kneel? A College Coach and a Veteran on the National Anthem
Available on Podcast iTunes Spotify Anchor.fm [ [This letter is inspired by true events. The names and places have been changed and I am relying on mere memory. The details and ideas I relate, however, are fundamental truths for me.] “Good morning,” Tom said....
Birthday and Death Day, Catholics and Customs
PODCAST AVAILABLE iTunes Spotify Anchor.fm September 2 is a special day for me, the birthday of my daughter and the death day of my father. The cemetery is beautiful. I’ve always had a special regard for cemeteries in spite of the ghosts and the...
The Vulgar Parrot
Available on PODCAST ANCHOR.FM SPOTIFY iTUNES I’ve gotten to know my son better now that he’s left. I’ve been looking after his fish and turtle and I’ve been noticing his absence. Connecticut’s mandate had prevented gathering for his graduation in May, so...
On Becoming Sheepdogs, a Modern Fable
AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Anchor.fm Spotify iTunes In the wake of recent events regarding the tragic death of George Floyd and the ensuing protests, this letter seems more relevant than ever. It has been updated to relate my own experience and the role of the brave men and...
Why Nursing Homes Suck
PODCAST AVAILABLE Spotify Anchor.fm iTunes It was my first time visiting a nursing home and I don’t remember its name, but it was somewhere near Seal Beach. I was in California for spring training with the West Point track team and I spent my days working out...
This Bus is Empty – A COVID Photo Journey
This Bus is Empty My town opened park trails this week at April's end. Come walk with me on this photo journey, no mask and no worries. Let me show you what the COVID-19 Stay Home, Stay Safe mandate looks like in Connecticut, less than an hour...
Poetry Dinner Night – A Quarantine Scene
Does she or doesn’t she? Do you recognize this from the 1956 ad campaign? Does it elicit unsavory thoughts? This Hall-of-Fame advertising slogan was used for Clairol’s Hair Color and within six years seventy percent of women were dying their hair. Maybe you remember...
Are We Killing the Fat Man? The Corona Trolley Dilemma
AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY ITUNES ANCHOR.FM THE TROLLEY PROBLEM The Trolley thought experiment, first put forth by the philosopher Philippa Foot, pits two schools of moral thought against each other: deontological ethics and utilitarianism. In simple words, the...
For the Class of 2020 During the Pandemic, a Poem and a Mother’s Wish
AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify Anchor.fm iTunes Today's letter is for high school seniors, for my son and his classmates, for my friends’ children, for Andrew and for Allie and for Brian, and for my friends with college seniors, Jane and Emma. I want to tell you a bit...
The Three Gifts – So what have you learned in 50 years?
AVAILABLE ON PODCAST iTunes Spotify Anchor.fm ** A child's note, three gifts from a parent, and Tolstoy's famous story ** I stumbled upon a note recently from my ten-year-old son, written in print with a pencil, the scrawl tending slightly downward. To...
The Light in Your Day – A New Take on Winter
AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY Anchor.fm iTunes It’s winter; the holidays have passed. It’s a new year and a new decade. Each morning, I’ve been checking to see how much earlier the sun rises, its orb in the poplars outside my windows a rosy welcome to the day....
A Book for Everyone, Even Nonreaders and Grinches
PODCAST INTERVIEW Anchor.fm Spotify iTunes PODCAST SUMMARY (please click on links above for full interview) I talked with editor, writer, and friend, Hayley Swinson, about books and how they help us get into the spirit of the holidays. She shared a...
Giving Thanks in 2019 – Looking Back on Life’s Big Questions
AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify AnchorFM iTunes Each year at this time I give thanks for my blessings. Some years the mire and muck in life make that harder than others. This year, a blessing came as a surprise. I had a chance to talk to a friend’s mother who was...
A View from Above: an Army Commander in Afghanistan
Hear Colonel Mintz on PODCAST Anchor.fm Spotify iTunes *** Please listen to Podcast to hear full unedited and unscripted interview: Colonel Mintz shares the story and reflects on Afghanistan and the broader context of the war today *** What is...
Murphy’s Law & the Army Ten-Miler
Listen to Podcast iTunes Spotify Anchor.fm Murphy’s Law states that anything that can go wrong will go wrong, an adage that’s been around for decades. But, did you know that Edward A. Murphy, Jr. was a military officer* and 1940 graduate of the United States Military...
For the Love of Milk – When the Search for One Thing Leads to Another
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST iTunes Spotify I have a story to tell. This just happened and I’m not quite sure what to make of it. I am sitting in the back of a great Hall with soaring ceilings, dark murals on the wall. The place reminds me of the neo-gothic mess hall at West...
The Case for the Personal Letter
Listen to PODCAST iTunes Spotify To Read or to Listen? This is a letter about letters. In the age of electronic books and audiobooks and podcasts, I don’t read like I used to and I certainly don’t write like I used to. Friends and family tell me they listen to...
Suicide and Suffering – Army Veteran and Secular Buddhist on the Four Noble Truths
LISTEN TO PODCAST Apple iTunes Spotify This letter is dedicated to the memory of my classmates and friends and all of those who decided that life was too much for them, too tough, that there was just not enough will or strength or support to carry on. A post...
Whales, Migrations, & Back-to-School
APPLE PODCAST SPOTIFY PODCAST The sperm whale takes 40 years before it masters the global oceans, traveling with its mother for years and then joining a pod of wandering bulls. I heard this on National Geographic’s Great Migrations. These massive animals weigh up to...
In These Walls
NOW ON PODCAST at iTunes, Spotify, Anchor.fm/emelle Click Link below iTunes Apple Podcast - In These Walls Listen to Podcast on Spotify It was the middle of July and the middle of the week. I’d been hearing it for a few days, a faint sound, the kind you weren’t sure...
Kili at 50 – Hiking Kilimanjaro on the Machame Route in Six Days
NOW AVAILABLE ON PODCAST iTunes Spotify AnchorFM View of Kibo from atop the Barranco Wall “Did you train much?” my guide Evans Erick asked, the man with two first names, the grandson of a Maasai tribal chief. It was on the descent when he inquired in his...
Work Hard & Do the Right Thing – A Tribute to an Old Sailor
“Work hard and do the right thing,” was Ted Varga’s mantra. His son Stephen Varga shared this in his eulogy at the Hoyt Funeral Home. I had come to know Ted these past years through Meals on Wheels, when I delivered his Monday food. He was an old sailor with a brass...
Walking With Homer – A Connecticut Odyssey
Today I was in for a surprise, an unlikely and timely gift. It was a sunny Sunday in January, just breaking into the 30s after a cold spell. I put on yoga pants and dressed in layers, a puffy vest, a sweatshirt with black date stamps printed on the front, like the...
Little Free Library – One Year Anniversary
Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. Joseph Addison One year ago my children and a couple of West Point cadets helped install our little road-side library, digging a two foot hole, steadying the large bird feeder shaped box and its post with...
A Remedy Much Desired – Suicide & Three Poems by Max Ehrmann
Fun, colorful, classic. The first two clash with the third, because when we think of classic, especially in fashion, we think modest, elegant, subdued. Designer Kate Spade made the trio possible for professional women, the idea that classic could also be fun and...
Deep Work, Digital Detox, and the Year of the DOG
Deep Work If you haven't read Cal Newport's book Deep Work, Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World, I recommend it. A friend gave it to me for my birthday and I finished it in a day, putting off any type of work to imagine the lasting impact of getting in the...
Fruitcake & Friends & Truman Capote
WINTER SOLSTICE There are sunnier days ahead! The days are getting longer with the winter solstice just past. Day length on December 22 is two seconds more than yesterday in my town, if you consult the chart for 2017. It's hard to believe the sun sets at 4:29 PM, but...
Pawfect Rescue – Our First Adoption Dog
Buster Brown came to town on September 16, 2017. He is our family's first 'rescue' dog. Until now we had dogs from a breeder and the pet store, and a cat from the hedgerow. We've had success with each source, though not without challenges. Dogs, like other...
Little Free Library – Charter # 46480 – For the Love of Reading
The Little Free Library (LFL) is up, in the yard, along the road, by the wooded end of our lot. It is full of books of all kinds, fiction, non-fiction, young adult, children's, and even an Inaugural Poem, mind games, and a field guide. It is open for fall and school...
July 4th – An Oath Ceremony at West Point
"I, [state your name], do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and bear true allegiance to the National Government; that I will maintain and defend the sovereignty of the United States, paramount to any and all allegiance,...
The Pursuit of Excellence – Music & Mother’s Day
What is the average amount of time a student spends on task without interruption? What are the three root causes of interruption? How do students achieve excellence given these digital age realities? To answer the first, a Ted-Ed survey of 260 students said the...
Keep Chirping – Poetry & What Divides Us
Word of the day: a cephalophore is any of a group of Catholic martyrs who were supposed to carry their heads in their hands. Also: The family of mollusks with distinct heads. Family of ventricose or filliform mushrooms. (wordnik.com) I came across this image in a...
Spring Cats – Feline Poetry & T.S. Eliot
This spring cats are everywhere, in my reading, on my whiteboard, in illustrations. I came across Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot in Haslams, a sprawling old book store in St. Petersburg, Florida. The subject didn't appeal to me and...
Unity or Chaos? C.S. Lewis on Stage in NYC
On Thought & Existence Do you believe that thought is a collection of atoms rolling about at random in a bony skull? or that the arrangement of such atoms for physical and chemical reasons happened at random? Because if you’re waiting for an answer to this...
Battleground State – Shots Fired in Virginia
Range The shooting range was set up for the use of handguns and rifle using handgun ammunition from 22LR through 45 ACP (long rifle and automatic colt pistol), not most long arms. My brother brought both handguns and rifles to the range and he had to return...
Can You Just Spell Your Name? Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
If any man should ask you how the name Antoninus is written, would you, with a straining of voice, utter each letter? What if the questioner grew angry, would you be angry, too? Would you not go on with composure and spell out every letter? Just...
Chuc Mung Nam Moi – A Rooster Year with a Cock-y Start
The monkey year ends today and we welcome the sign of the Rooster as the Lunar New Year festivities begin tomorrow. Two descriptions on the Chinese zodiac follow. Rooster (or Chicken) ranks the tenth among the Chinese zodiac animals. In Chinese culture,...
An Inaugural Weekend – Hats, Cats, & Spittin’ Mad in D.C.
We stayed in Old Town Alexandria this past weekend for a very different reason than the multitudes heading south from New York for the inauguration and protest march. We went to a volleyball tournament at the National Harbor Gaylord Convention Center. Even though we...
The Daily Stoic – Only They Truly Live
Of all the people only those are at leisure who make time for philosophy, only they truly live. Not satisfied to merely keep good watch over their own days, they annex every age to their own. All the harvest of the past is added to their store. Only an ingrate...
Hapa Haole in Kauai, Oahu, Pearl Harbor & More
Happy New Year! A PRIME YEAR The number 2017 is prime, which means it is divisible only by itself and the the number 1; factors for this year are 2017 and 1. It is an inauguration year which means we will have a new president on January 20; inauguration years follow...
Why Send Christmas Cards? Yankee Ingenuity & Real Miracles
The Christmas card may be a casualty of digital media and social photography. There's reason enough to loathe it and love it. I loathe it for the time involved, the process, and the inevitable complaints from my teenagers when they arrive. I love it when I hear from...
Big Personalities and How to Deal with Them – Marcus Aurelius’s 9 Principles
This Thanksgiving I want to share something I learned from my reading this year, but first a little back story on why it resonates so deeply. BIG PERSONALTIES I grew up with some big personalities and in hindsight, as a child I didn’t know much else. My first hint...
The Last Salute – Surrender With Dignity – On Battles & Elections
The Yacht Club Red carpet, stairs, and glitter welcomed us at the Riverside Yacht Club. Mark joined the mass of suits and the occasional uniform to register (sign in and provide credit card) for the gala, a fundraiser for the Children of Fallen Patriots. It was the...
College Application Season – “What the rankings don’t tell you”
Location, tuition, rankings, size, program offerings. "What's the right college for me?" is the question of the season and it's become so intense, students don't tell each other where they apply. These factors loom large on the landscape of choices today, but two key...
Grammar Matters – So, Three Pronouns Walk Into a Bar
Grammar matters. OK, really truly, it does. So here are some grammar matters worth sharing with fellow word nerds. AND there's even a little something for math geeks too. BAR JOKES Three pronouns walked into a bar. She let him have it. An interjection...
BitterSweet Dreams – The Tea Ceremony & Life’s Rituals
Woke from my dream at 4:00 AM with the word 'bittersweet' in my mouth, the accompanying silence and absence of flavor, a dark room, the image of my father's grave. The day before was the seven year anniversary of his death and the sun was shining, the hydrangea blooms...
On Riddles & Language – A Cabinet of Curiosities by Roy Sorensen
Assassination Proof? As Nero became more powerful there appeared to be no limit on who he me could eliminate -- even his mother. His philosophy teacher, Seneca, warned Nero that there was someone he could not kill. Who was it? (Sorensen) This riddle felt appropriate...
Which President Succeeded His Successor? – Boston by the Books
“Tell me what you read and I'll tell you who you are" is true enough, but I'd know you better if you told me what you reread. François Mauriac BOSTON FOR BOOK NERDS Boston by the books meant a visit to four bookstores and two stationary shops this past...
Two Young Fish, Two Guys in a Bar, & David Foster Wallace – The Real Value of a Real Education
Story 1: There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says "Morning, boys. How's the water?" And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the...
Volleyball Nationals – Heroes Wanted in an Age of Victims
Whistles screeching, balls flying, and girls screaming were served daily for nine days at the world's largest volleyball event in Orlando, Florida on 177 courts, with 27,000 athletes aged 10 to 18 from all over the country, 40,000 spectators, 9000 coaches, and 502...
A Toast for All Times – Weddings & Graduations – Marcus Aurelius
The flight to Seattle from JFK was perfect, a clear day across most of the country. I had a window seat behind the wing on the left side of an Airbus 320, or the south side going west, giving me a bird's eye view of the good old U.S. of A. My neighbor slept and most...
What is a Good Life? – Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
Stop philosophizing about what a good man is and be one. The Roman emperor (161 - 180 AD) Marcus Aurelius wrote this in his personal notes. Considered the last of the Five Great Emperors and regarded as the philosopher king by historians, Aurelius left a legacy in his...
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up – Marie Kondo – a Gift for Mom and for You
There are three approaches we can take towards our possessions: face them now, face them sometime, or avoid them until the day we die. ( p. 184) The third approach is a grim reality which readers may relate to. I have a basement of storage boxes, electronics,...
Poetry Month – Today – Billy Collins Welcomes Spring
Spring came late this year to Connecticut with mornings still in the 40s. We hosted an exchange student from Spain and she experienced her first snow in April, not once but twice. It was just the right amount to cover the ground, dust branches, and melt by afternoon....
Zest for Life: Five Types of Eaters and The Conquest of Happiness – Bertrand Russell
Five Types of Eaters British logician and philosopher Bertrand Russell asks readers to consider five different ways a man may receive his meal. For some it is entirely a bore, no matter how good the food may be. They have had excellent food before, probably at...
WORDPRESS FATAL ERROR – When Your Site Crashes
You know the game of 20 questions. Check out these three and see if you know the answer. What is your mother’s maiden name? What is the name of your big dog? Who is your favorite uncle? If you’re not sure, Eric said they only need “two out of three” and Jade didn’t...
Alan Rickman & Kate Winslet on Women & Beauty
Today is International Women's Day. If you're like me, you saw it on Google's search page, and by holding your mouse cursor over the Google logo, you can watch the video and proceed to the link to learn more. So it's a good time to share this exchange between...
A Nice Cup of Tea – George Orwell on the “Mainstay of Civilisation”
My world is falling apart from the inside out, and I mean that literally. I knocked over my Replogle globe which unhinged at the North Pole, my Whirlpool dryer died, leaving a tide of laundry in its wake, and a thirty year old oak dropped dead across the driveway last...
When Business Becomes History – Why Industry is Leaving Connecticut
"Abe Lincoln may have freed all men, but Sam Colt made them equal." It's an interesting idea to ponder. President Lincoln is praised universally today, across the aisle, and around the world, but what of Samuel Colt? Who is Samuel Colt? The last couple of years, I've...
Thinking Inside of the Box – A Merry Birthday
My mother was worried my gift would not arrive on time. I checked later that day. The mailman put the well taped package with nine priority mail labels and tracking sticker in my mailbox. Just narrower and taller than a shoe box, the Amazon prime tape showing...
“Does your cup runneth over?” – Tao Te Ching – Verse 9
The bible mentions this cup, but how very different are its meanings in Psalm 23 and the Tao Verse 9. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Psalm 23 V5 (Link to NIV Commentary) The cup...
The Year 2016, Monkey Stamps, & Volleyball
As we return from warmer climes, wintry adventures, distant family, geographical and emotional rambling, we find ourselves back in our homes and at our desks. Here are some random thoughts. The Year 2016 2016 is an election year and a leap year, evenly...
A Christmas Memory – Truman Capote – “It’s Fruitcake Weather!”
Here is a gift, a thoughtful and powerful tale about the true spirit of the day. Regardless of your beliefs, there is something here for everyone. It's the best story I've read this season and I'm not sure I will ever think of fruitcake in the same way. The full...
Blooms in Winter – Faith Amid the Darkness
My mother’s plant has not bloomed for a long time, years she thinks. She gave it to us when she moved and it sits in the front window which faces south. The sun is lower in the southern sky during the winter since we live in the northern hemisphere. The light is weak...
Giving Thanks For Teenage Children
My first baby screamed for six weeks. We didn’t know what we were doing; neither of us ever babysat a child, much less an infant. I remember coming home from the hospital and setting our baby and her carrier in the entrance, letting out a breath, thinking “Phew, the...
“Do you feel lucky?” – The Luck Factor by Dr. Richard Wiseman
Here’s a story I shared with my teen-aged daughter when things weren't going so well in class. Martin and Brenda Martin stopped by the coffee shop one morning before his meeting. On his way in, he noticed a five pound sterling note by the door and he picked it up. He...
Women of the Year – No Glamour, All Guts
They don’t make Glamour’s list. Its 25th Anniversary Women of the Year Awards include a fashionista, Hollywood hero, transgender champion, and the president of Planned Parenthood. There’s little glamorous about the path these two women took, no time for navel-gazing,...
Running With the Marines – the 40th Marine Corps Marathon
The 40th Marine Corps Marathon may well be my first and last time running around Washington, D.C., but oh what an event it was. Four days later the race is with me still, the image of double amputees on handcycles, veterans running on prosthetic legs, photo placards...
Poetry is in the Trees – Frost & Dickinson on Autumn
Poetry is in the trees this time of year. They whisper and wink, with emerald eyes and golden hair, all aglow with love. This couple welcomes the day and I see them on my morning commute. Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost Nature’s first green is gold, Her...
“The Night House” – Billy Collins – the Body, the Heart, the Mind, the Soul
My brother called today, and we got to talking about stuff like our kids, aging parents, deceased parents, life. You know, all of it. He read somewhere about a person living so long that everyone she knew was gone. Our mother turned 75 last month and she was visiting...
Suicide & Suffering – Army Veteran & Secular Buddhist on the Four Noble Truths
LISTEN TO PODCAST Apple iTunes Spotify This letter is dedicated to the memory of my classmates and friends and all of those who decided that life was too much for them, too tough, that there was just not enough will or strength or support to carry on. A post...
Don Quixote on Presidential Debates and Military Service
The Republican debates have made history with 23 some million viewers, just north of the average NFL football game at 19 million! Americans are concerned about this upcoming presidential election, or at least as much as their fantasy football league. This is progress...
Born to Run, and Fall – Oso and Athena – Big Runners
The cement gutter seemed to rise towards me after my foot caught on a perfectly fine stretch of road across from the Chevy dealer. It happened so slowly, the images were a series of stills. My center of gravity was beyond recovery and my legs were like drying pasta,...
Classical Music is Cool, Again
Four dads from Utah performed an uplifting, classical/modern, soul wrenching performance at Tanglewood Friday evening. I laughed at corny jokes and cried to the sweetest notes I’ve heard this year. My tween introduced me to the Piano Guys. They made...
Interracial Love, the World Child, and Pearl Buck
The name Josui Sakai sounds lovely; it rolls nicely on the tongue, JOH SOOEY SAH KAI. Josui left the United States with her parents during WWII to avoid being placed into the Japanese American internment camps, a decision her father made. American born and raised...
When Lightning Strikes, Are You Ready?
We were all shaken out of bed this morning at 5:25. I'm pretty sure the house, or very nearby, was hit by lightning. I smelled electrical smoke. Spent the last 2 hours walking around inspecting but could not see the strike. Cable, Internet and phone still out. No AC...
Walking on Water – Faith & the Adirondack Loon
“I was artfully created by God!!!” screamed a young man, the words loud on the morning lake and louder still than the bell rung before to begin the daily ritual. We had paddled across to see the camp and explore the far shore, the water still and dark from its evening...
Postcard from New Orleans – a First-Timer’s Sketch
Jamal pulled his Black Chevy Impala along the corner of Toulouse and Chartres where we flanked the bay window of a jewelry store, hiding from what amounted to a spit of rain, a gift from above. The heat dropped into the 80s and the rain tamped down the smell of human...
An Appeal to the “Supreme Judge of the World” – July 4, 1776
Just 1300 words long, the Declaration of Independence is worth reading this weekend. You'll learn something about the United States, about its history, and about yourself. If you have children, include them. For the last few years, our family has read this founding...
Three Tales from Dubrovnik
A Story Fit for a King Long ago, two royal suitors proposed marriage to the daughter of the King of Epidaurum who decided that whoever performed the better deed would win her hand. One man set out to sea and brought back the finest cloth in the world and the means to...
Gifts From Croatia
Our Croatian driver Nico said, "What three things does the U.S. President use from our country every day?" I didn't know when I first arrived in Split a few weeks ago, but I've returned with answers for curious readers. Nico smiled in the rear view mirror. "The...
Battalion Commander’s Meditation on Memorial Day
by Colonel Kenneth Mintz ... after a year of combat, I saw a group of haggard veterans, lean and sinewy in uniforms bleached by sun and sweat, soldiers who had been through a terrible crucible and who absolutely loved each other... On Memorial Day we take pause to...
Millennials & the Prom – PROMposals in the Digital Age
For their fifth birthday they rented a bouncy gym, for their tenth a pirate ship, and for confirmation the country club with DJ, dance, and photography. The millennials (and their parents) do nothing by halves. Asking a date to prom is a rite of passage into adulthood...
A Mother’s Day Gift – The Lanyard by Billy Collins
Here's a gift for you to give your mother, but be prepared to laugh out loud and to cry. First I have something to share. My kids have one grandparent now though they once had five, lucky them. This weekend we think about our parents, mothers in particular. We are...
Common Core SBAC Testing – “Stupid Brain Abuse and Cruelty” – an 11 Year Old’s Civil Disobedience
My sixth grade daughter has been pleading with me to "opt-out" of the Common Core testing she's endured this past week, a trial battery of testing. She's been testing for seven school days now and that includes a combination of tests: CAT for Computer Adaptive Test,...
Can You Feel the Love? Thich Nhat Hanh – How to Love
Can you feel the love? Keeping Elton John out of this, when the emotional bank account is low, drained from winter and children and parents and life, I find consolation from the Vietnamese teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh. In his book How to Love, the Buddhist monk and...
Disappointment on Ellis Island Field Trip, Shattan’s Day Off
"The field trip was a huge disappointment. It took us four hours of driving, two ferry rides, and we had half an hour in the museum," my son said. "Did a guide or a ranger give you a tour?" I asked. "No. Our teacher told us to do three things. We had to sketch...
Spring into Books
Tulips have sprouted at the base of the plum trees. On my run this morning, bare branches shook and trees creaked from the north wind, but the sun was defiant and the ground mushy and littered from weeks of melted snow. Spring is for flowers, gardens, lovers, and...
Liberty for Sale: Philadelphia and the Downside of Capitalism
April 1 Philadelphia played a significant role in our country's history and I'm just back from my second visit in recent months. But be warned, you won't like what I have to share. Good stuff first. The City of Brotherly Love was once our nation's capital and...
The Meaning of Human Existence – Edward O. Wilson – Ant Scientist Has Answers
This book is an interesting source for answers. I guessed the author would be a philosopher or a novelist, maybe a rabbi or priest. But he is none of those. He is a myrmecologist, or scientist specializing in the study of ants. Edward Osborne Wilson won the Pulitzer...
Taking a Teen to NYC
Freaky Friday is here: it's the first day of spring and there's a snow storm in Connecticut. We're just back from a blustery cold visit to NYC. My teen daughter and I took our first trip, three days and two nights, just us. We watched An American in...
“Who says Pi are squared? Pi are round!” March 14, 2015, the Ultimate Pi Day
It's a once in a lifetime, OK once in a 100 years anyway, so don't miss it! Today is the ultimate Pi Day! 3-14-15 9:26:53 If you missed it this morning, no worries because you have another chance this evening! This date, hour, minute, and second represents the...
Withdrawal From the Orgy: Rise of the Asexual and the Demisexual
American society has become so sexualized, young people are seeking refuge in labels that make them feel OK to pull out of the orgy. Withdrawal by a new name, they call themselves asexual and demisexual. Think of the asexual or "ace" as the atheist of the religion of...
Piano and Poetry: a Primer on How to Critique Music
Here are my late night texts to my husband on how to critique piano music. Can you hear Caroline playing? Listen for clean articulation of each note, even tho it's fast A musician must be heard and given feedback. It's stunted when she doesn't get anything. But wait...
High… How are you? Cannabis in Colorado
Rocky Mountain High has new meaning after our ski vacation last week in Aspen. I visited a pot shop. The front half was empty save for an ATM machine. It's a cash business because banks won't support the industry. The back half of The Green Dragon Cannabis Co looked...
The Super Bowl, My Son, & Home Economics
EXTRA! EXTRA! Read all about it: my son learned how to clean a toilet this week. In earnest. We're making real HEAD way. We had friends over to watch the superbowl and needed to clean house. Our housecleaner of six years retired and woe-to-my-children, they must...
Marginalia – Notes in Books – To Write or Not To Write?
Marginalia as a word may bring forth varying associations, but focus on the first two syllables for its meaning, as opposed to the last. Readers write in books along the margins, on the flyleaf, making various marks, scribbles, appendages and annotations. As a...
The Sheep, the Wolf, & the Sheepdog – LTC Dave Grossman & American Sniper
AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Anchor.fm Spotify iTunes ON BECOMING SHEEPDOGS * ORIGINAL POST 2015-1-30 There are three types of people in this world: the sheep who go about their business, the wolf who feeds on the sheep, and the sheepdog who protects the...
American Sniper – Sold Out – Deservedly
I saw the movie this weekend and as a veteran, I found it a powerful and honest portrayal of one man's experience. Clint Eastwood shoots the scenes from Chris Kyle's life, verb intended; there are parallels. Kyle shoots for a living too, or shot for a living. The...
A Year of Reading
If you could see a summary of the food you digested in 2014, you might find some surprises: 17 pounds of chocolate, 47 of bottles of wine, 5.7 servings of red meat a week, 1.3 fast food visits per week, the venial sin in this quarter is fried chicken or Five...
“Water Color” and “Nocturne in Black” – Nguyen Dinh Nhac – a Love Story
Here is a tale as old as time, a love story. We associate a lot of things with Vietnam and there is much written about it, so I want to share a romance. The poet Nguyen Dinh Nhac is my uncle and I can count the times I've seen him in my life on two hands. In Vietnam...
“The Woodbine and the Scholar” – Nguyen Dinh Nhac – What is my purpose?
What am I and what is my purpose? In Nguyen's poem, the scholar solves one of life's mysteries and I wonder if it is that simple: it is easy enough to see, if only we would look closely, or step far enough away, or ask a scholar who may happen to visit. If we shut our...
“Poem Written Here” – Nguyen Dinh Nhac – an Expatriate’s Song
If prose is the soul in words, then poetry is the soul dancing. The dance, this dance, may not reach us at the moment, busy as we are with work and family and life, though I suggest to you that that is one way poetry is better than music. If you missed it because...
Out With the Old & in With the New
Pruned the Christmas tree today and left the knobby trunk in the stand, because there's something beautiful about the bones of a thing, like the poplars outside my windows, skeletal and dusted in snow. Destruction and demolition felt good. My hand is sore from...
Crisis of Faith? Read What a Nurse Says
A friend wrote on Facebook that her son found out the truth about Santa Claus. The post generated a few comments, my own included which I will share here. MyLinh: Dear Laurie - please read this and maybe your son should too, the most reprinted editorial in history....
Eavesdropping on Greenwich Teens: Are They Going to Pot?
Greenwich is one of the country's wealthiest towns. The other day, I drove there, parked the car on the main avenue, and walked 30 meters to a shop, when I overheard a conversation behind me. "Don't you want to hear my story?" a girl said. "Jackson was so worried. ...
Where Are the Tough Teachers? Mediocre Music & Why We Need Mr. K
I drove to my son's winter concert listening to Yo-Yo Ma's holiday album with musicians Chris Botti on trumpet and Natalie MacMaster on fiddle. I wanted to get into the holiday spirit, but perhaps I set myself up for disappointment. The school's preparatory ensemble...
“Christmas Sparrow” – Billy Collins – a Holiday Poem
Stories, books, poems, and music are a favorite part of Christmas. Over the Thanksgiving holiday, we take out the songbooks with popular tunes and solemn carols. I like playing the songs and reading stories with my children; last night I stumbled on a poem by a...
Did You Mail Your Cards Yet? a History of the Christmas Card
Have you mailed your Christmas cards? Did you receive any at Thanksgiving, astonished at the organizational efficiency of your friends, reconciled to the fact that for better or worse the season is upon you? My annual card regimen boils down to a paste and edit on...
Train Dreams – Denis Johnson – Here’s Why I Steal Books
I steal books. It doesn't happen often and if possible, I make a confession, appealing to the owner's sympathies and good will. I replace the books when I can, though one librarian was not happy about it. The surroundings have as much to do with it as the writing and...
A Passion for Puzzling
There are puzzles and then there are puzzles. If you like jigsaw puzzles, you're familiar with the kitschy cardboard variety depicting Disney characters, classic art, nature, or animals. The pieces often consist of two outward tabs and two inward blanks and are apt...
Giving Thanks in 2014
It was Sunday before Thanksgiving. As she guided the felt through the sewing machine, Paige suggested everyone share what she was thankful for. Sixteen teenagers were making stockings, sewing them actually, the old fashioned way; then they decorated them and filled...
Just Back from Afghanistan, Army Colonel Discusses War and Peace in the Middle East
“Priorities: I was watching one of the sports channels on the Armed Forces Network the other day (I'm deployed to Afghanistan). I was amazed at the level of comprehensive, thoughtful analysis of a single football game. It occurred to me that our democracy currently...
Don Quixote’s Advice for the New Congress
Election results are in. A news anchor announced last night that Congressman Michael Grimm from Staten Island won reelection, though he faces 20 counts of fraud and a pending federal indictment. Then she asked, "What does that say about the other candidate?" Just who...
“The more you buy, the less you have” – Parent’s Tao Te Ching – Verse 47
This is poem 47 from the Tao and the Parent's Tao. I wrote about William Martin's book because his simple words are more compelling than those of any 'parenting manual' I've read. (Link to Parent's Tao Changed my Attitude on 'Parenting') Martin writes the 81 poems...
What would Don Quixote do? Quixote on Families and Greatness
Don Quixote himself will answer this question, and I promise to relate such counsel as faithfully as this modern, wretched hand will permit. You may ask, "Who cares what Quixote thinks or does?" The sane madman and the wise fool (Sancho Panza) are two of the most...
Taken for Dead – Edgar Allan Poe in Minnesota – a True Tale
I visited Rochester, Minnesota last week and stayed at the Ivy Lodge where the brothers William and Charles Mayo once resided. Often confused with the Mayowood Mansion, today the lodge is the home of good friends who suffer an endless parade of visitors mistaking...
Two Monks and a Woman – A Zen Story not a Bar Joke
One day, two monks set out on a journey to a temple in a distant village. Along the way, they came to a shallow and fast moving river where a young woman waited, full of despair for fear of falling in. The monks looked at each other because the rules of their order...
Parent’s Tao Te Ching – William Martin – Changed My Attitude Towards ‘Parenting’
I have given many copies of this book to friends, especially new parents. When I first received this, I read it in starts but it began to creep into my consciousness. After reading so many books on children, I learned to take solace in these simple...
High School Sports: Vulgarity vs. Virtue
Exhausted and losing, the Viking girls huddled on the court and referring to their opponents, team captain Idalis Figueroa said, “That’s not who we are. At King we believe in the virtues: kindness, integrity, respect, perseverance. This is how we play.” (This may...
Quiet: the Power of Introverts – Susan Cain – in the Top 10
This makes my top 10 list. Here’s why. With her book, Susan Cain gave me a gift as lasting and substantial as any literary work I’ve read. Every now and then you read something that reaches you, touches you deeply in ways you could not imagine. Quiet does that...
Women at West Point & Women in Combat
The New York Times Magazine ran a feature on women at West Point this month which touched on historically controversial issues such as female enrollment and women in combat arms. I thought I’d share my insight on these issues as a female graduate of the Class of 1991,...
Oklahoma Sunrise, Going West & Getting Hitched
A glowing orange ball is on the horizon, the land flat and expansive. Here's the sunrise from our hotel window along with the United States Flag, and a pickup truck. The Hotel is located on Garth Brooks Boulevard. It's good to be out west, but there's loneliness...
School Guidance, Common Core & the Orwellian State
Our Middle School principal sent guidance on the topic of town safety: students are discouraged from walking into town after school. He shares the numbers and concludes: Anyway you “do the math”, you can calculate that a large number of unsupervised middle school aged...
Ten Books That Stayed With Me, a Facebook Meme
"Ten books that stayed with me" is a post circulating on Facebook. I write about books on this site, so when a friend asked for my list, I thought I would share them here too. Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling (favorites in series...
“As droplets fell through the dark” – a Poem for 9/11
Poet Billy Collins, then U.S. Poet Laureate, was asked by the Librarian of Congress to write a poem to remember the victims of 9/11 which he read at a special joint session in September 2002. It is titled "The Names" and is worth listening to or reading. This is the...
Did You Get Your Latex-Free Gloves? Back-to-school Supplies
My son has a rotating eight day schedule annotated in as many colors. A suggestion is noted in bold on the school's shopping list: "Please try to have students color-coordinate their class supplies with their class colors (ex. Yellow Binder for Yellow Math class)."...
The Age of Insolence & Politically Correct Nursery Rhymes
The stair and attic lights were on when I went upstairs. I whispered goodnight to my daughter, then reminded her she left the lights on. "David and Laura left them on," she said. I walked to David's room and told him to turn off the lights. "Why me?" he said. "I...
Hiking With Your Dog: Rocky Peak Ridge & Giant Mountain
Belle is a five year old boxer, all muscle and tireless. She is a good running companion who keeps pace easily enough on three to five mile runs. We wanted to include her on a day hike in the Adirondacks. But dogs, like people, need to prepare. She would carry her...
Message From an Iroquois Guide
The Iroquois guide sat quietly in the pine bark room, filled to the rafters with artifacts, out of place ones like the bison head and longhorn skull and recent ones like a dug out canoe discovered at lake bottom. Hand designed historical posters lined the walls...
See No Evil – Poet Billy Collins – “Poetry is Balm for the Soul”
The Trouble with Poetry was wedged between Annie Proulx's Close Range and the Peterson Field Guide, making up a lifetime of books, purchased, not borrowed or lent, but loved enough, standing one by one like a row of sentries flanking the mantel, guarding two wooden...
Hiking Mt. Colvin, Blake Peak, Nippletop, & Dial Mt.
The gate to heaven is a tunnel of birch trees. There is no photo of God's Gate but this silver birch forest offers a glimpse My family has been hiking several years and we set a modest goal for our first overnight trip: to hike 4 of the 46 high peaks in the...
You Get a Line and I’ll Get a Pole, an Unlikely Catch
Mountain lakes, wilderness hikes, fishing. E.B. White who is known for Charlotte's Web was a notable American writer. His essay "Once More to the Lake" was first published in Harper's magazine in 1941 and explains this summer ritual. One summer, along about 1904, my...
Spirts at the Blind Tiger: Signs & Superstition 2
Charlene told me Beth's old music group was playing at the Blind Tiger on Tuesday evening, June 17th. Sometime after they began, Tim suggested they play Beth's Waltz. But Beth hadn't played with them for a long while and no one could remember the tune. (Link to Blind...
What’s in a Name?
After the funeral service, we got to talking about names. Uncle Harley told us about his mother's. One day his grandfather was standing on a bridge in Rochester, watching boats and ships go by, and a vessel came out on his side. Printed in large letters along its...
“Repeated Injuries and Usurpations” July 4, 1776
A family friend told me that every year on Independence Day, her family read the Declaration of Independence. Each took turns until they read the document in its entirety. I thought that was an excellent way to enjoy the day's events and will try it in our family....
Do What You Love – a Teen’s First Job – FLSA Child Labor Guidelines
My 15 year old daughter got her first job. OK, she's had jobs before like babysitting and chores. But this is her first real job, complete with I-9 and tax forms. She also had to go to the bank to get a letter for direct deposit. So what's she doing? Here's the fun...
Not in the Car! Not in the Street! Case of the Missing Wallet
It's easy to be a cynic. Police Officer Callinan met me in less than five minutes after I called yesterday. Together we reviewed the video footage from four different cameras in the town's burger joint. From the register to the table, we could see the exchange of...
It’s a Messy Business – “Urinal Dynamics”
I love Wired magazine and if you aren't already a subscriber, this might be motivation enough for the ladies. Most of the readers are men, which is good because they are the target for this article. But I'll leave targets to the experts, researchers Tadd Truscott...
Greek Stoic Epictetus – Life is a Festival
Epictetus teaches and instructs, even today, almost 2000 years later. So it is with the great thinkers. A freed slave and Stoic, his philosophy is often compared to that of Jesus Christ though he never met any Christian teachers. Like many teachers of the classical...
Signs, Superstition, and Life
I'm not superstitious though my family is, at least my mother's side. It could be cultural and it is certainly an individual thing. But I am second guessing my own beliefs now. We lost our dog in April (Link to post) and I couldn't bring myself to go back to the...
Playing His Song, Father’s Day
It seems only a short while ago when I wrote this column. My father lived another three years. To all the fathers out there and to the friends who lost theirs, I will play you a few songs. My father knew these by heart, the notes and the chords and the lyrics. He...
Not Your Average Support Group, Teen Birthday & Fault in Our Stars
They joined her support group Saturday. What kind of support? The best kind, for celebration and friendship. Do we need cancer to support each other? The book The Fault in Our Stars opens with John Green’s characters meeting in their cancer support group. One...
How Do We Teach Creativity? Odyssey of the Mind
In the Age of Information with energy challenges and dwindling resources, we need more and more creative, innovative solutions to the world's problems. The existing education system does not teach this well. So how do we teach creativity today? I'm just back from...
“The Boys of Iwo Jima”
A friend sent a story worth sharing. I did a bit of checking and it's true, mostly. These things get circulated online and picked up and added on and they remind me of a fish tale. Even the photo lies. The fish is like my finger during a Facetime chat, it takes up...
Memorial Day, Remember the 1.3 Million
I awoke one morning with a clarity of mind and knowledge I had not possessed before. I realized something about my three children: they will serve in the Army. My ten year old daughter brought home the “newspaper” she published in school and for a fill-in-the-blanks...
Yale Commencement – Awards for Everyone
This year's Yale University Commencement consisted of two acts, a dozen Honorary Degrees followed by Awards for Everyone. Act one occurred on the Old Campus at 10:30 AM and act two moved to the residential colleges at noon for awards and diplomas. Secretary of State...
Mother’s Day Menu: Wild Onions & Grammar
Good morning from the Tree House where I have just been served my menu du jour by youthful decree. My selection includes omelet with wild onions, cranberry juice, and berries. Brunch will be served promptly at 9:30 they inform me. I particularly like the wax seal...
The Only Gift Is a Portion of Thyself – Emerson
It’s that time of year again. In addition to a Bar Mitvah and graduations, we have birthdays and anniversaries. I received a couple invitations from ECHOage last year. Here’s their homepage mission: “ECHOage is an online birthday party service where kids get the...
Amy Sedaris on Dogs and Humans
Friends have been supportive about the loss of our dog because many have been there themselves. K sent along a quote which you might find insightful. Sometimes losing a pet is more painful than losing a human, because in the case of a pet, you were not...
Number One Deterrent for Burglars or Anyone Else Visiting Your House
Ten years ago our lives changed. A lot. We don’t do things by halves in our family, so we moved into a new home, I gave birth to my third child, and if that was not enough, we bought the biggest, baddest dog we could find. A third pet. I’ll share more about...
Sunday Aerial Banner: The Funeral is Cancelled
We were not alone on Clearwater Beach this Sunday. The churches may have been full and Tampa columnist Steve Otto (Tampa Column) said he would attend Catholic Mass then Protestant church service, but there were as many locals hitting the silky white, 2.5 mile...
Going Postal — Miss Trunchbull & the Chokey
I had forty five minutes at lunchtime and thought I would mail my tax checks. It’s April, so maybe that was my first mistake. My town post office moved onto Main Street and there’s no parking unless you want to circle the block, park at the cemetery, or jog in. So I...
Going Home, Aging Parents
A house tells you so much about a life. I’ve never visited Binghamton and my husband’s childhood home when his mother wasn’t there. It was strangely quiet without her dogs and though the cats were still in the house, they stayed hidden the whole weekend. They know...