They say a river runs through it. “Hrumph,” you say, “hardly a river, more like a wash. Sometimes it even runs dry.” We moved into the house at the end of March after a hefty renovation. Walls moved, hardwood laid, bookshelves built-in where a closet once stood. No, I didn’t do the work. My part … Continue reading A River Runs
Month: July 2023
Would You Like Number Twenty-Three?
Would you like number twenty-three?Leave your yens on the counter, please. --Lyric from Hong Kong Garden, Song by Siouxsie and the Banshees Never mind that the plural of yen is yen. Never mind that yen is the currency of Japan, not China (or Hong Kong for that matter). Never mind that Hong Kong Garden is … Continue reading Would You Like Number Twenty-Three?
Dog Days
I’m not the one who should be writing about weather. Daily, I read about unprecedented heat in Arizona and millennial flooding in Vermont. Let the Arizona and Vermont bloggers write the weather posts, I thought. It’s pleasant in Gettysburg—high eighties, low nineties. Yes, that’s a little hot, but it’s July, it’s supposed to be hot. … Continue reading Dog Days
Van Winkle’s Fate
Hudson’s crew played bowls in the dell. Friend, they were wasted. They pounded their keg, ale after ale, a spent barrel slept in a ditch next to the live one. Somehow Van Winkle was there too. He lay passed out cold under an elm with daisies strewn about his head and body haphazardly like they … Continue reading Van Winkle’s Fate
Mall Life
Go ahead, search the tag #vanlife. Think Gabby Petito, or any one of thousands of men and women, young to old, touring the parks, seeing the sights, living in their van. Think bloggers, YouTubers and Instagramers telling their story, influencing wishful thinkers and wannabes, selling a nomadic lifestyle and maybe a t-shirt. Think of me … Continue reading Mall Life
Sugar
After our first two months of dating, Susan and I drove to Erie to meet her family. Her brother was home from college for winter break, and her sister came in for the weekend. The drive was rough. Susan and I spent three and a half hours creeping out of Washington DC in a heavy … Continue reading Sugar
The Other Stuff 