Staying Home Because I Have To

More than once I have rejected a potential blog entry because it sounded too much like Andy Rooney. Maybe I shouldn’t do that. I wish I wrote as well as Andy Rooney. Some of his witticisms are as good as anything by Mark Twain or Will Rogers. I just don’t want...

Two Worlds Other Than My Own

On the night before Manyu and I were to return to the United States from France, my niece Sheela stopped by to see us. Her home is in Los Angeles, but she was en route to a destination wedding in Sardinia. Sheela is an influencer, and reporting on the weddings of her...

A Rainy Fourth of July

It is the Fourth of July, and I am writing from my front porch. A steady rain is falling. Usually when I work from my porch, my back is against the house, and I directly face the street. When it rains, I have to move my writing table tight against the house, so it...

La Crosse Is Alive This Summer

  It might be my imagination, but I think there is more wildlife in and around La Crosse this summer than in other recent years. I’ve been seeing more groundhogs and beavers. My yard has chipmunks and red squirrels, two species that show up only every third or...

Blackbird

This morning I was sitting on the front porch of my house when a blackbird flew within inches of my face, smacked into my living room window, and dropped onto the table alongside my coffee cup. I left it where it lay, hoping it had knocked itself out and would soon...
Steven Simpson