Ocean

Small town folks often think that they form a tightly knit community. But I wonder: what does that even mean? That they track each others co...

Once you move past middle age (don’t ask me to define it – you’ll know when you’re there), if you’re like so many of us, you suddenly have a...

(My occasional traveling companion, Ed, returns unexpectedly early from canoeing up north on the Boundary Waters.) Was it beautiful? Sure, i...

It’s hard to believe that five months from now I’ll long for this: …but I will. Because the rain came down hard on the poor vendors at the M...

I’ve been blogging long enough (daily, for 5.5 years) that I have given some thought, at various points, to what I am doing and why I’m doin...

I’ve only been to the Wisconsin State Fair once before. Nine years ago, my daughters had some commitment there and I tagged along. I was ove...

Last night I soloed. Not in an airplane, no not that. In something far more daring: I kept the shop running alone all evening and, at the en...

Can anyone truly say “ I am not at all like my mother? ” I used to say it – without judgment; I just thought it was obvious. My tastes, my h...

August is to the summer season what New Year’s Day is to the winter holidays: the tail end of a good spell. And each – both August and New Y...

Imagine extravagance. Especially at a time of austerity – both financial (times are tough; moonlighting continues) and familial (daughters a...

I am biking home, maybe around 6 p.m., and I am going over what if details: what if the crash resulted in a serious hurt? What if I need hel...

Suddenly, nothing around me is calm. It’s as if I have stepped onto the Coney Island Flopper. [In case you’ve not heard of the Coney Island ...

When you work most of the day, in the minutes that you are not working, you exaggerate everything. Everything! For example: I suffered terri...

My younger daughter is spending time here and by the week-end, my older daughter will be here as well. Sometimes I wish they would become bo...

If you were ripped away from your routines and dropped on an island in the middle of Lake Michigan, with no phone, no electricity, nothing t...