Knoxville Ballet School In 2006 I launched Knoxville Ballet School with the goal of bringing classical instruction in its purest form to a city of roughly a half million—unrelenting quality in that singular discipline, and nothing else, would be the thing to distinguish what I was peddling from what other schools in the area offered, … Continue reading Surviving a Pandemic: Got a Plan B?
COVID-19
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
Sunday Photo Essay: Look Busy
Saturday morning busy I can't recall a moment in my lifetime at once so exciting and completely anguished. SpaceX launched the Dragon Endeavor successfully yesterday with two American astronauts aboard, and today docked at the International Space Station. Meanwhile, American cities are burning, we're still navigating a deadly pandemic, and people are dying. This control … Continue reading Sunday Photo Essay: Look Busy
Frozen Moments: A Memory
Impressionist-like landscape Leaving work last Friday afternoon, and even a couple of moments earlier in the week, I paused to drink in the landscape around our office campus, so eerily quiet just now. It always possesses a bucolic beauty, even on the bleakest winter days. But at some point when I was too preoccupied with … Continue reading Frozen Moments: A Memory
Journal Entry: Rules and Regs
I follow rules and regs. (What are rules and regs?) COVID-19 wouldn’t have impressed my great-grandmother Gracie too much, I’ll bet. I was expressing this notion to a few colleagues on Friday in an office ping thread where we were heaving a collective sigh over the language that’s everywhere you turn right now: in these … Continue reading Journal Entry: Rules and Regs
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
Sunday Photo Essay: When a Pandemic Hands You Lemons…
...make lemon chicken soup with orzo, obviously. My craving began on Friday; I satisfied it today in my kitchen. I found this version on a blog called pinchofyum.com; I like the way this food writer thinks (and you've gotta love somebody who married a man named Bjork—seriously, I want to invite these people over to … Continue reading Sunday Photo Essay: When a Pandemic Hands You Lemons…
Sunday Photo Essay: Spring Is Open for Business
However haltingly commerce goes on during a pandemic, the changing of seasons waits for nothing and no one. We ventured outside for a brief walk in the moderate temperatures and glorious sunshine yesterday, The Chef and I and one Goldapeake Retriever called Scout. I've always thought of our little hamlet in the Southwest corner of … Continue reading Sunday Photo Essay: Spring Is Open for Business
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
Journal Entry: Salve for a World Unglued
hold your loved ones close I stood at the bathroom sink early Friday morning and felt tears welling in my eyes, fought them, and then finally relented and let them flow. A short while later I emerged sweet smelling but a tad puffy in the face, ready to push up my sleeves and start the … Continue reading Journal Entry: Salve for a World Unglued
