I don’t consider myself a skilled or talented gardener. I don’t remember the names of plants or when they bloom or what goes with what. But we have a front and back yard, and therefore we have to do something. Harriet and I consult, and then we work. Move a sapling here, plant a bush there, perennials in this spot, annuals in that one, let that part of the lawn go wild, give the milkweed free...
Deep in the Catskills, the trail to the summit of Wittenberg Mountain begins in a campground not far from Phoenicia. The trail starts steep, then continues steeply, then rises more steeply until the top, 3.7 miles one-way. I’ve hiked Wittenberg before, maybe six or seven years ago. And yet, I chose to hike it again because of the incredible view from the top and my ability to forget pain. This...
Band of Brothers, one of the most acclaimed series ever filmed about World War II, Part 3: Carentan. Private Albert Blithe, suffering from the terror of combat, admits to Captain Ronald Speirs that he hid rather than fought. Speirs says to him: “The only hope you have is to accept the fact that you’re already dead. And the sooner you accept that, the sooner you’ll be able to...
I’ve always said I wouldn’t attend my 50-year high school reunion when the time came. I have not kept in touch with one person from my high school days in Buffalo. And although I did have some great times in high school, I wouldn’t say it was a “great time.” But when the invitation arrived and the time grew closer, I began to waver. A lot of my classmates might have said the same thing as I did:...
Having been immersed in completing a challenging project, I’ve been unable to write blog posts recently. The daunting task I embarked upon was memorizing the W.H. Auden poem, “The More Loving One.” I got caught up in this effort when I saw The Poetry Challenge that appeared in the New York Times on April 20. It’s hard to back down from a challenge that’s both literary and a brain tester. W.H...
Dear Ferrara: I noticed on your website your corporate positioning statement stating that “Ferrara has stretched the sugary limits of imagination for over 115 years to create confections that bring people joy.” You have certainly brought me a lot of joy, particularly through your iconic and aptly named Atomic Fireball! What a devilishly hot and spicy red orb of sweet burning cinnamony sugar the...
Not long before my future son-in-law proposed to my daughter, he asked me what’s the secret to a long and successful marriage. I responded quickly, without much thought: “Marry the right person.” My answer sounded facile, on the cheeky side. Sure, marry the right person, that’s the obvious secret—but how can you be sure you’re doing that? I believe the foundation, what you must have, is...
I attended my third No Kings protest yesterday on a cold and windy day. For me, it was the best one yet. Not because I believe the fascist administration will in any way change their behaviors—they won’t suddenly start policing their own corruption; they won’t stop shooting U.S. citizens or throwing immigrants in camps without due process; they won’t stop protecting pedophiles; they won’t...
This time of year during this still-wintery month, when the clocks have changed and I’m often up early and at my desk while darkness still grips the sky, I may be rewarded at dawn by a dramatic display of color and contrast, perhaps a painter’s dream, so quickly come and gone yet reminding me the dark will give way, the world may not be as bad as it seems, and even if nothing else shines my way...
A few years ago, I tapped two maple trees on my property, collected sap, and boiled it outside on a single-burner hotplate to make syrup. With a ratio of 40 gallons of sap needed to create one gallon of syrup, I ended up with about eight ounces of maple syrup—enough for a couple of pancake breakfasts. It was a classic situation of the effort not equaling the reward. But over this past weekend I...
There comes a time in life when a person acquires a pill case. That time has come for me. I used to think pill cases were only for old people or the very ill who took lots of meds daily or for those who are supplement-crazed. It’s true I’m trending older, but I take only one prescription medication, and just three times a week. I pop a daily low-dose aspirin, and not having seen much sun this...
The spotlight is hot and unrelenting for those Olympic figure skaters. If you’re a downhill skier and you crash or miss a gate, your race is over. If you’re a speed skater and you wipe out on the oval track, you’re finished. But if you’re a figure skater and you mess up or fall, you have to keep going. We were watching the 21-year-old skating phenom Ilia Malinin perform his individual free skate...
The day you’ve been waiting for has finally arrived: the publication of my sixth novel, STILL LIFE, about a young artist whose creative energy and love life go sideways when his estranged father tracks him down. The best way to get your hands on this book (and extra copies for your friends and family) is to order STILL LIFE right here. I hope you like STILL LIFE, will write a review on Amazon...
Not only did my beloved Buffalo Bills suffer yet another brutal and heartbreaking playoff loss, but they followed it with what I believe is a major organizational blunder. Fans of the team saw how controversial officiating calls led directly to this gritty team losing to the Denver Broncos in the divisional round of the playoffs. Sure, the team made many mistakes of their own, turning the ball...
You know when friends send you links and say you have to read this or watch that, and maybe sometimes you do? Well, a writer friend sent me a link to British novelist Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2017 acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize in Literature. I wasted no time watching it from beginning to end, forty-nine minutes. Ishiguro is one of my favorite writers. I’ve read all eight of his novels and his one...
