What Matters

Note: Everyone in this story is vaccinated. I am back from a major flex of my very flabby social muscles. After at least two years of very quiet Thanksgivings I this year attended two dinners on two days with a total of 17 people and broke bread with friends and family at two other meals. […]

Goat

Once in my sister Terri’s storied athletic career, she made what she deemed a giant error. I don’t recall what it was, and being away in college I wasn’t on hand to witness it. I think she perhaps missed a free throw or two in the final stretch of what became the last basketball game […]

Waiting for . . . Chris Christie?

Here’s something I don’t know that I ever expected to see myself write: Chris Christie, former governor of New Jersey, sounded like the voice of reason in a recent book-stumping appearance on The Daily Show. Now, before we all get too carried away, let’s set the bar as it now stands: perhaps you missed the […]

Treemendously Deer

It’s a darn good thing I talk to my neighbors when I see them, so I know what’s going on and am not as surprised as I could be when men knock on my door wanting to know where I want the trees I haven’t ordered. This was back in March, and I knew Lynn […]

Whither Normal?

Yesterday started at 5:30, when I got up to find Lynn studying a message on her phone: You have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive for covid. That’s the sort of cheery, heart-warming message everyone ought not to start their day with. As Lynn continued with her plans to head to […]

For Remembrance

Through the Miracle of the Internet, I’ve already reviewed the first of two sections of today’s weekly Gunnison paper. Omar, sometime employee at Pat’s, got his picture on the front page participating in a school project; we had an in-town shooting; lots and lots of school contretemps over masks and non-existent critical race theory . […]

Belted and Buckling

I have been awake since 3:30 and find myself in total agreement, for once, with Marco Rubio. The Florida senator is on a quest to end this time-changing nonsense, and I am — on this issue — completely in his corner. Is it enough to make me a single-issue voter? Yes, at 3:30 a.m. It […]

Hospital-ity Lacking

Frequently, like yesterday, my visits to the Gunnison hospital last mere minutes and consist mostly of waiting. No matter my reason for visiting, though, sooner or later I’ll get a survey mailed to me, usually from someplace in Florida, wanting to know how my visit went. The question that befuddles me every time is: Did […]