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It’s Gnawing at Me
[Click Play button to begin. While audio is playing, volume control appears at left -- row of little vertical bars.] [Audio clip: view full post to listen] Help me out with something here: What, exactly — even approximately — is the deal with mice? meaning, specifically, mice as humans? (I do recognize there are many [...]
The Teachable Moment
I don’t usually just post a link to someplace else, without using it as a springboard for my own ramblings. (Indeed, one of those ramblings is forthcoming.) But this slice of life would be ruined by elaboration: “Choose your own adventure at Lee NAILS” (Deb on the Rocks, via Maggie). Highly recommended reading for parents [...]
“Just Where Have You Been, Young Man?!?”
So, yes, I disappeared for[...counting...] four days there. (Friday’s whiskey river-based meditation brought to you through the miracle of WordPress’s scheduled-posts feature.) Long story short (so unlike me, I know), for now: I spent the time with The Brother, up in NJ. We were joined Saturday by The Sisters. That’s the three of them in [...]
These Things Must Be Done Delicately
From the originating page: “Osmanthus [JES: a/k/a cinnamon flower] is a unique Asian flower, with a smooth and rich scent of green tea, apricot and suede leather. It is used to scent green tea as well as special confections and Chinese baked goods. The peak of the osmanthus flowers season is… end of September until [...]
No Wonder Johnny Grew Up So… Troubled
You may have imagined that until the Internet, parents didn’t need to worry that technology might endanger their children. If so, you were wrong. Photo below the fold. Found it at the wonderful Found in Mom’s Basement site: “Vintage advertising — found in my mother’s basement, flea markets and various corners of the Internet — [...]
Notes from the Clearing
[Above "homage to Miller's Crossing" also represents a tip of the hat to Froog.] So it’s been a year now: 365 days, 309 published posts [Editor's note: 310, or have you forgotten that you wrote this one yesterday?], 1,295 comments (counting my own replies to comments, and occasional replies to those replies). When I started [...]
Brief Fable for Our Time, Maybe, from the WIP
Emrys ap Rhys, an 18th-century Welsh brewmaster-to-be, is bidding farewell to an old man he has met on his return from London to Wales. He and Charlie met during a steady rainfall, in the shelter of a lean-to attached to the back of an English family’s barn; they’ve shared what food they have, and Charlie [...]
“There Is No Next-Time-Round”
From whiskey river: Shifting brilliancies. Then winter light In a doorway, and on the stone doorstep A beggar shivering in silhouette. So the particular judgement might be set: Bare wallstead and a cold hearth rained into – Bright puddle where the soul-free cloud-life roams. And after the commanded journey, what? Nothing magnificent, nothing unknown. A [...]
Another Reason to Love NYC
Tweenbots. Tweenbots are human-dependent robots that navigate the city with the help of pedestrians they encounter. Rolling at a constant speed, in a straight line, Tweenbots have a destination displayed on a flag, and rely on people they meet to read this flag and to aim them in the right direction to reach their goal. [...]
Programmed Dyspepsia
[This is the second of three brief(ish) posts on the experience of being sick, sorta-kinda-like, for four (sorta) days. (Here's part 1.)] So I was sleeping quite a bit. Going online or otherwise sitting at the computer, almost not at all. Beyond that, pretty much, I was on the living-room floor, with The Pooch. Watching [...]