Things I learned on my summer vacation
“There are no shortcuts.”
I can’t get no satisfaction
From William B. Irvine’s A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy.
Stoic-colored glasses
From William B. Irvine’s A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy.
Happy Anniversary
My parents, a great-looking couple, then and now.
Roz Chast on her parents
Good reading for children of all ages.
An -itis I have known
Nasal sprays can be dangerous toys, especially when used correctly.
Jim Leddy tells it like it is
My dad on life in rehab.
Making it work
Elaine Stritch on being away from New York: “I’m going to make it work wherever I go.”
The Pennsylvania Turnpike, then and now
Driving to New Jersey last month, we attempted to recreate the scene on this 1949 postcard, the Blue Mountain Tunnel as seen from the Kittatinny Tunnel. I got into the left lane and Elaine filmed with an iPhone.
Growing optimism
I have sometimes described myself as “cautiously pessimistic,” but I am an optimist at heart.
Il laberinto
Entering the grading zone.
Jim Leddy FTW
My dad.
A Thanksgiving essay
Joyce Wadler, writing in The New York Times about a holiday, an illness, and mortality.
Progress, slow, and more of it
My dad on the mend.
Making Slow Progress
“Many things to work on. Key word: Progress. Adjective: Slow.”
How to help the Philippines
Links from USA Today.
Kurt Vonnegut, advice for students
“Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what’s inside you, to make your soul grow.”
Doyle and French
“Not long ago I remembered, out of nowhere, that my professor Jim Doyle once mentioned that he was a minor character in Marilyn French’s novel The Women’s Room.”
Vin Scully on statues
“I would rather just be part of the scenery, rather than be standing out.”
Apropos of yesterday
I saw the number 29.
Happy anniversary
I am an exceedingly fortunate guy.
Funny because it’s true
What does the third switch do?
Officemates
A photograph of the folks who share my office.
Word of the day: presbyopia
I went in for my biennial eye exam this week and learned that I have presbyopia. No, I am not seeing the world through Presbyterian eyes — though in a way I am.
Some rocks
For some time now I have been hoping to espy “some rocks,” the mystical triad that appears again and again in Ernie Bushmiller’s Nancy.
Happy birthday, Dad
A second-generation cardmaker.
Bear in/on tree
Enough nature.
Advice from Sydney Smith
The cleric Sydney Smith writes to a friend with advice for overcoming “low spirits.”
Mad breakfast skillz
The things we humans can do!
A poem for RZ
A Yeats poem, in memory of a friend.