Personal
I read The Brothers Karamazov (here) a long time ago, when I was an undergraduate. By that time I had learned (finally!) that rounding up a cluster of neurons and throwing them into action (with purpose) could be exhilarating. I plowed through that prodigious novel over a three-day weekend. A […]
My 90th was like no other. Thanks to clever innovations by younger members of my family, readership exploded here yesterday. The blast unleashed a flood of good wishes and made my sweet day even sweeter. As most newcomers may have discovered, this blog is unfocused and hard to classify. I […]
Today, I proudly announce, I’ve landed upon an elevated plateau, the one labeled Age 90, the Big NINE O. I saw it coming, of course, but even that advanced warning didn’t diminish the grin-producing pleasure streaking through me as I awakened this morning. I’ve actually arrived! I know of no […]
May this year fill you with cheer and gratitude. May you have fewer Covid worries and more mask-free days. May you enjoy warm, gratifying moments with friends and relatives. May you endure fewer chilling travel restrictions. May you soak up 365 days of simple pleasures. Happy New Year, 2022! I’ve […]
Do you get charged up over holidays? For most of them I don’t, but the pair now approaching always key me up in the right way, sharpening my focus on family and friends, and intensifying a feeling of – there’s no better word for it – JOY. I can’t explain […]
Below is the second installment from the beginning of my revised memoir. This part is newly added and does not appear in the original Bending the Twig (See here). As I explained in my previous post, the revised manuscript is as yet unpublished. I was twenty-six when I enrolled […]
I passed a minor milestone about a month ago. I noted it silently at the time, but, as I said, it was a minor event, so I didn’t even celebrate the occasion with a Manhattan, my favorite drink. What was that minor achievement? Drum roll, please. I completed my first […]
How many times has this happened to you? Your mind is stuck on a specific thought pattern and then “boom,” up pops a made-to-order complementary object that tops off your thought as neatly as a cherry tops off a sundae. That happened to me yesterday. I was thinking of […]
My friends, Martti and Kaarina, as is common for many Finnish families, own a summer cottage on a lake shore. When I first visited their site a few decades ago, the only building standing was a rough-hewn log cabin, its left side walled off and made into an authentic smoke […]
“Mr. Rauch, a senior fellow at the Brookings institution, argues that human beings have a natural tendency to believe what they wish, irrespective of evidence.” (From a book review in the October 13, 2021, Wall Street Journal) Let’s look at some specific evidence related to our nasty battle over the […]
