Kenn

Last Thursday night I was playing three-handed sheepshead at my friend Buzz’s house. Also known by its German name of schafkopf, sheepshead is popular in Wisconsin and played almost nowhere elsewhere in the United States. This regionalism is odd, because it is a...

The Valet Key

The plan was for me to meet at Tom’s house 5:30 in the morning and then drive north together in his car for three days of fishing. Manyu rode along with me, so she’d have our car while I was away. Our dog, Jack, came along, because he comes along whenever he is...

Marching Band and Cross Country

Riding my bicycle across campus, I saw a former colleague coming out of the student union. Recalling that one of his two daughters had just started her freshmen year in college, I stopped and asked how she was doing. He said, “I just received a photo from her. It was...

Man and Nature, In Combination

I have a quick thought that probably will go nowhere, but I want to get it down in writing.  A few blogs ago I wrote about slogging through the novel The Moonstone. At the time, I did not mention that I endured 550 pages of meandering prose before coming across one...

Finally Going Back

When this blog uploads automatically Monday morning, I’ll be in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. If I had to guess, I’d say I’ve visited the BWCA about fifteen times. I’ve been there in all seasons except ice-in and ice-out, but my last trip was thirty-five years...

Fishing and Writing

If I had to rank my favorite recreational pursuits, I’d probably settle on fishing and writing as my top two.  The other day, while I was writing about fishing, I wondered how two such disparate activities could reside side by side at the top of my list. Hunting and...
Steven Simpson