I walked the National Mall on a recent Saturday morning with a friend. We wanted to be ahead of the crowds and the heat, and we beat the crowds – but not the heat. There are few names that I would recognize on the Vietnam War Memorial. It does not really matter; the space is…
Category: Memory and Story
Varnishing
It has been a long time since I sanded and varnished as much as I have these last few days. The impetus to woodwork comes from a number of directions. It has been oddly mild this year, so August weather has allowed long days in the yard, on the driveway, working. My oldest daughter is…
Cousins Gather
We have landed back at home after our road trip to South Dakota. We started on a rough note with some suspected brake problem that sent us home to trade cars. Folded like human origami we headed west. We buried Mom’s ashes in a beautiful service, stopped in Chamberlain, and ended up across the state…
Love what is mortal
On Saturday we buried my mother’s ashes. In the Catholic section of Greenwood Cemetery, we gathered – Both of my siblings, most of our children, one beloved first cousin and his sons, my uncle, and Mom’s best friends. After a week of intense 100+ degree heat, the glorious weather made the gathering a relief. It…
Dare to Live the Life You Dream
Today we attended a memorial service for the father of my dear neighbor and friend. Phillip was 89 – he died last Thursday, and with his death the world is a poorer place, though he left behind a rich legacy of music, family, food, passions, and friends. He was many things: a composer, music educator,…
Mom – laughing at the stars
It was a year ago today that Mom died. It’s been fast and it’s been agonizingly slow. I took today to do some things that Mom would have liked. I listened to Stan Kenton, I went to mass, and tonight I’m going to enjoy a glass of scotch. My daughter Emily reminds me that Mom…
Lovely Beckoned Again
Well, I cut school and went to the Bean. Not exactly school, but I ducked out of the conference that I was at during the small group discussions and headed to Millennium Park and the Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate for the 11-11-11 Beckoning of Lovely. I towed along with me four other teachers. We saw…
Summer Plums
I have all kinds of fruit trees and plants in my yard. Pears, apples, a peach tree, grape vines, mulberry (if that is something you consider a fruit and not yard litter), some black raspberries, and one or two strawberries. I even have a plum tree or two, but they never produce fruit and are…
If You Wish To Make an Apple Pie…
If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe. — Carl Sagan I went to the farmers market today. I had a few things on my list. In particular I was hoping to find a grower that had padron peppers, a small green pepper that you toss lightly…
Looking for the Colonel
Today I went in search of the Colonel. Francis Wayland Parker was a New Hampshire boy, and he was also the founder of the school where I teach. I found out after I had been at CMK last year that he was buried here in Manchester. I actually think that his cremains are interred here…
How Small is the World?
Pretty darn small. Let’s just acknowledge that the earth is a tiny planet full of organisms that we recognize or we do not. And when I recognize a plant or a bug in my garden, that is one thing. All those faces in the world: those that I do not know and the ones that…
Before the World Was Searchable
“Before there was Google, there was Joan’s vertical file.” This is still my favorite thing that I read in the many condolence cards after my mother’s death. It is so true. My mother had a vertical file to be envied. So much hard work was represented in that collection of clippings and images that it…
Living on the Lip of Insanity 