I keep on plugging away at classical guitar, resurrecting this discipline I haven’t studied in so many long years. I’ve more or less worked my way through the book that was my introduction to playing, compiled and composed by one Christopher Parkening, and have moved on to some slightly more intermediate-level exercises and pieces. This … Continue reading Talent—or Time? Searching for the Special Sauce
The South
Travel Story: A Vacation Lamentation
O, Plague that has stolen so much from so many, will you truly deny us our annual purgative pilgrimage? (Unmoved, Plague replies through a yawn, a pox upon your house.) Back in February we began the calculus as always, surfing for dog-friendly digs, option weighing, and atlas consulting—the old-school version with the spiral binding, a … Continue reading Travel Story: A Vacation Lamentation
Aw, Snap: Technical Difficulties
I’ve had some spam problems lately, finally had to contact my phone service provider earlier today to help me block one shifty international caller in particular. But I’ve also had a few problems with the other kind of spam—the canned meat variety known as SPAM®, a concept I find revolting, innovation though it must have … Continue reading Aw, Snap: Technical Difficulties
COVID Story: Post-Pandemic Positives
still life with pandemic A few months ago when I started trying to tweak some lifestyle choices, let’s say back in October, I read online somewhere it takes 21 days for a new practice to become a habit. Okay, just under a month, I get it. Can there possibly be a one-size-fits-all calculus for a … Continue reading COVID Story: Post-Pandemic Positives
A Reflection: Finding Grace in Solitude
You may be by yourself, but you’re not alone. I couldn’t have foreseen sitting outside in our lovely outdoor space on the first warm, sunny spring day in Vermont while our world suffers through a pandemic, but here we are. Yesterday The Chef pulled all the outside furniture out of winter storage, brushed off the … Continue reading A Reflection: Finding Grace in Solitude
Thanksgiving Journal: Family Ties
Today when my irreverent twenty-something video messaged me, I explained I was making cookie press cookies. He watched me mix in the flour and work the batter until the dough was the right consistency to extrude through the press. I said the last time I used this little device he was still in elementary school, … Continue reading Thanksgiving Journal: Family Ties
Journal Entry: When Change Is Good
In a recent video chat with my irreverent twenty-something, I mentioned I’d heard a song on the radio that really resonated with me (it was a Blues Traveler song, in case you’re wondering), and after several days with that earworm, decided I must have this music, in spite of the negative review one critic gave … Continue reading Journal Entry: When Change Is Good
Travel Journal: Knoxville in a Day
I feel less connected to Knoxville every time I go back there, a thing that makes me all kinds of sad, but also somehow helps propel me forward, make my peace with where I am now. Don’t get me wrong: I shall never be a proper Yankee, but will remain forever a Southerner, wherever I … Continue reading Travel Journal: Knoxville in a Day
Travel Story: We Feed Goats in Chattanooga
Goats were not specifically why we traveled to Chattanooga (we got there by way of Christiansburg, VA, thence to Knoxville before finally arriving), but the goats proved an entertaining and comical diversion one sultry evening on Missionary Ridge; they also made splendid subjects to photograph. I’ll get to them. A theme that popped up again … Continue reading Travel Story: We Feed Goats in Chattanooga
Travel Story: We Visit Fallingwater
Let me start backwards with stories of our Way Down South trip, that is to say, start at the end, while the images and sounds and smells from our special day at Fallingwater haven’t yet faded or grown too stale. We drove out of our way to tour this exquisite Frank Lloyd Wright house, widely … Continue reading Travel Story: We Visit Fallingwater
