Dinner in a box didn’t used to be anything but KFC and other junk food. Today we got a delivery from Peach Dish, one of the new online services that offers fresh ingredients and easy recipes brought to your doorstep each week. There were snafus in the ordering process, so this box was unexpected. I had … read more Food fun
Month: August 2016
The woodworker
At the rental house, there are two garages, but one of them isn’t for cars. It’s a woodworking shop, and it belongs to Amanda. She let me see it. I got to ogle the band saw, the power saw, the shaping tools that I don’t know the names of but would like to. I got … read more The woodworker
The snake and the bear
As a treat for myself, I made the time to head up the mountain on a strenuous hike. This trail is the one that traverses steeply, gaining more than 1,000 feet just in the last section. My previous time, mid-June, was 45 minutes going up, but after two months away I wasn’t hoping to match … read more The snake and the bear
Remnants
I’ve been back to the house a half-dozen times now, maybe more. Each time there is some other small thing to gather up. Fragments of the life of this house. The packers, who wrapped, boxed and inventoried every single item in the entire house before carting it off to storage, randomly left little pieces. They … read more Remnants
Empty boxes
Tom quit smoking on my birthday. He didn’t actually start the day intending to do that. It just happened. When you are hospitalized with a stroke, they don’t let you light up in bed, oddly enough. So that took care of the first month of quitting. What surprised him was that he had no nicotine … read more Empty boxes
The King
Around town, they called him King. He was the only son of Louis Tyler, owner of a popular downtown store who served as mayor and played a silver coronet. The King was handsome. He had an air of smug certainty that life would go his way. It’s a photo I’d never seen before, a young man … read more The King
Kickin’ it
I didn’t know what to wear. Tina said exercise pants below the knee, a T-shirt, tennis shoes. I don’t have any exercise pants that aren’t shorts or full-length. I don’t have “tennis shoes,” only running shoes. My T-shirts are in storage boxes or else are abominable rags. After a lot of contemplation, I chose stretchy … read more Kickin’ it
The distance I feel
I used to love to talk to my sisters on the phone. We’d talk for hours. There was never enough time to talk to my sisters as much as I wanted to. I’ve got old friends who I used to talk with that way, too. Hours. Today, I talked to one of them. I squeezed it in … read more The distance I feel
Law-abiding but oblivious
What’s wrong with this picture? Nothing, from a legal standpoint. There’s a handicapped parking space, and the non-handicapped driver has parked in the adjoining space. However, that adjoining space is where the cutaway sidewalk and ramp come up from the parking area. By parking there, this person has completely cut off access to the pool … read more Law-abiding but oblivious
The 11th day of the rice and sugar cult
Every day I go to a tree, any tree. Around the base, I scatter a mix of sugar and rice. There is no incantation, no prayer, no special method of scattering the rice and sugar. I have done this for 11 days in a row. The ritual is to break my chain of bad luck. … read more The 11th day of the rice and sugar cult