1. The Shoe Store I bought a new pair of shoes, yesterday. It was a strange experience. When we walked into the place, the smell of leather was wonderful. Unlike our previous forays into three (count ‘em, three) old-guard departments stores, this place felt genuine. They were selling shoes, period. Ok, I think there were […]
Yearly Archives: 2017
Telling Stories
Sun, 28 May 2017, 07:08 PM (-06:00)
We had been on a hike — several miles of steep ascending and descending paths along a creek that sometimes gurgled and sometimes disappeared into the limestone boulder field. We were tired. We all agreed that tomorrow we would be stiff. We were happy to be sitting in comfortable chairs on a restaurant patio with […]
Backwards Speaking
Sat, 27 May 2017, 09:40 AM (-06:00)
0. Synopsis Software developers aren’t good an explanations. They get things backwards, assuming their audience already understands everything. This isn’t good. 1. Mathematicians I once worked with some guys who were closet mathematicians. No, that’s not accurate. One of was a mathematician. Still, we were doing software development, which means that his math-y nature was in […]
St. Elmo Bluegrass Night
Fri, 26 May 2017, 06:18 AM (-06:00)
1. Sitting Down to Wait “You can sit right here,” we said, and I motioned to a man with a dog. “Ok,” he said with a glad look on his He had been walking back and forth evidently looking for a place to sit, for a while. The people at the table next to us […]
Evening Snack
Sun, 21 May 2017, 08:28 PM (-06:00)
Time for a little something… I went to the refrigerator and pulled out the last of the raspberries and some half-and-half. And I put them into a brown-eyed-susan bowl. My taste for fruit has not returned, so I did not get the enjoyment on my tongue that raspberries bring, although I suspect my taste buds […]
AirDrop at Graduation
Sun, 21 May 2017, 07:55 PM (-06:00)
Back to Berkeley… 1. The Procession After perhaps an hour, accompanied by Pomp and Circumstance, the graduates filed out of a tunnel on the north end of the stadium, walking (not particularly solemnly) behind the chancellor and a banner of Berkeley Blue and California Gold. There were many of them. The procession went on for […]
The Epitome of Industriousness
Sat, 20 May 2017, 10:08 AM (-06:00)
Saturday morning. A storm has just passed over and is receding into the east. The rumbling thunder is leaving Central Texas behind. She walks into the study. Standing in the doorway with a smile on her face, she claps her hands contentedly, seemingly just as pleased as Charlie who is curled up under the desk […]
A Theory of Charlie
Sat, 20 May 2017, 09:32 AM (-06:00)
1. Some Facts From the day we adopted him, Charlie has been afraid of riding in the car. Horribly afraid. Whereas Izzy lives for jumping into the car, as did Mr. Guinness, when we go somewhere with Charlie, his face is grim and he begins to shake. And we discovered today that the same applies […]
The Fruit of our Labors
Wed, 17 May 2017, 08:17 PM (-06:00)
A cold wind blew out of the north-northwest. The thermometer never topped 60 during the days, and it plunged into the 30s at night. But the sky was blue, and at times the sun was warm. (This, mind you, comes from a Texan who left 90 degree days in brief exchange for the wind and […]
Black and White Only
Wed, 17 May 2017, 07:51 PM (-06:00)
There were dogs in Michigan when we put the dock in — two white dogs and one black one. Izzy would have run circles around them (in the literal sense, not in the my-dog-is-better-than-yours sense), and then she would have run straight into the woods which would have been the last we saw of her, […]