… and God Laughs

I sometimes read literature just beyond my understanding. That is why I pick up Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson at least once a year. I don’t think I’ll ever understand Emerson, but I still appreciate him. The appeal is not the challenge, nor is it a hope that...

Leopold Days

Every March people in the La Crosse area (and in several other Wisconsin communities) gather to celebrate Leopold Days. Fans of A Sand County Almanac come together, meet at local nature centers and on various nature trails, to publicly read passages from Aldo...

Music Like Fishing

From where I sit to do my writing, I see Clare’s piano across the room.  Clare did dabble on the keys for five minutes the last time she visited, but otherwise it’s gone unplayed for months. Sitting on the floor alongside the piano are her saxophone and her two...

Senior Living

One of the reasons Manyu is in Taiwan for an extended stay is to help her mom figure out her living situation. My ninety-year old mother-in-law is healthy for her age, but her home is a third-floor walkup. Soon the stairs will be too much.  Manyu has taken her mom to...

Peanut, Peanut Butter

Buzz called me on the phone, and the first thing he said was, “Did you put an empty peanut butter jar in our recycling bin?” He and his wife Pat had just returned from a Florida vacation, and I had been watering their plants and shoveling their driveway while they...
Steven Simpson