Do you hold grudges? Crows do. They have a keen intelligence on the level of chimpanzees and can identify and remember faces—and remember wrongs. I recently read a feature about crows and the people tormented by them (New York Times). The American Crow One of the victims was Gene Carter, from Seattle, who once waved a rake in his backyard at crows encroaching on a robin’s nest. Since then, crows...
I had two encounters yesterday—random occurrences but related thematically. In the morning, I pulled into the parking lot at the auto parts store where I’d gone to get a new battery installed in my vehicle. As I approached the entrance, a man came out of the store and approached me. He apologized for bothering me and said he hated to ask, but he was short three dollars for a part he needed and...
I’ve had a few days to collect my thoughts—and they aren’t good. At first, I stumbled about in disbelief, finding it hard to believe that snake got elected again. I hadn’t realized how sure I was that Harris would win. I never stated this, even to myself, but my shock and grief at the outcome proved I hadn’t been remotely prepared for what happened. I accept what happened now, and am figuring out...
Yesterday, Harriet and I participated in an organized trip to Scranton, PA to canvass registered Democrats and encourage them to vote in this swing state. I couldn’t have been more out of my comfort zone: knocking on strangers’ doors and engaging in political conversation. I might be more comfortable on the front lines in a war zone. But with a fervent desire to see Trump defeated and relegated...
Fifteen feet up in a tree stand, sitting on a narrow perch and tucked among fragrant hemlock branches, I witness nighttime become morning. I’m too deep in the canopy to see the sun lift above the horizon, but as the sky lightens, shapes appear around me: the sandy, rutted path that descends from the hill to my right and crosses a gully where a stream trickles along; the meadow to my left and the...
I don’t post much about politics because it leads to divisiveness and arguments, and I can easily be out-debated, but we’re less than three weeks until election day and anxiety is slithering through me like a dark snake. I’m having trouble sleeping, the news is like a drug I crave but fear, and the polls are spiking my blood pressure. I agree with this guy. I’ve engaged in several discussions in...
So much on the homestead list during this seasonal change and only a few hours allotted today, putting away the patio furniture and raking and getting the storm windows washed and up, and damn if one of the sills isn’t chipped and needs to be painted and on another window the exterior casing is coming off and must be tightened up, these extra tasks biting into my time, I’m not going to get done...
I had the honor and pleasure last night of being one of eight presenters at Pecha Kucha night hosted by the Opalka Gallery at Sage College. Pecha Kucha is a unique and fascinating presentation format. Every presenter works within the same structure. You get 20 slides, each slide stays on screen for 20 seconds and then automatically advances to the next. You get exactly 6:40 to present (20 slides...
Four years ago I stopped mowing a section of lawn behind my house. It was a couple of hundred square feet we no longer needed for soccer, baseball, and football from when the kids were young. I no longer built backyard ice rinks. What was the point of having all that lawn? I allowed the patch to return to nature’s whim. During the first summer the grass grew uniformly tall and a breeze...
On a secluded mountain lake, a silent, cool morning, I am compelled by reality’s transient and illusory nature. The simultaneous coexistence of two states: the object and its mirrored image. The reflection is and is not reality. Both conditions feel true. Like our own reflections in the mirror: it’s us but not us. The two worlds feel equally real, equally important. And so I pay close...
I’m putting on my suit for my nephew’s wedding. Jack and Kristin are getting married today on a perfect September day in Portland, Maine. It’s true: I own only one viable suit, and I haven’t worn it since . . . there’s something in the jacket pocket, and I pull it out—a memorial card for Thomas Grande, Jack’s uncle who passed away last year. This is my wedding and funeral suit. I last wore it at...
“Learn a New Skill.” This item has been on my To-Do list since I started making such a list a couple of months ago. I turned to list-making because I didn’t always remember what I wanted or needed to do, and a few tasks were slipping through the cracks. I haven’t yet crossed “Learn a New Skill” off the list. It makes an encore appearance every few days when I update my list. I’ve dabbled in...
We’re in Snyder’s Shoes in Manistee along the shore of Lake Michigan, where we vacationed with the family for many years when the kids were young and spent a week with Harriet’s sister. The two photos (taken 15 years apart) were an annual tradition. We posed with a statue of the tallest man who ever lived. Robert Wadlow stood 8 ft. 11 inches and survived until only age 22, dying in 1940. He...
The love triangle is a classic narrative device in literature and film. It has been used throughout storytelling history, serving as the structural foundation for prize-winning literature, genre novels, classic films, and B-movies. The love triangle comes pre-baked with powerful story elements such as complex human emotions, moral dilemmas, and social dynamics. Inevitably, there’s one character...
Twenty-five years ago, when Nikki first became my barber, my hair was thick and dark brown throughout. Now it’s thick and dark gray. Together we watched over the years as the hair clippings fell onto the floor around her barber chair. I started by saying, “Oh, there’s some gray in there,” and then haircut by haircut, year by year, some became a lot, and I eventually said, “Oh, there’s still a...
