First, I apologize to any subscribers who got notifications about recent posts that turned out not to be there. I wrote the posts, then thought better about making them public and took them down. More on that at the end here. My excuse is I’ve been waiting for MRI results this long holiday weekend, and […]
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Surprising Watkins Glen
I could tell before we pulled into the campground that I was going to hate this place. Tons of out-of-town traffic, signs and parking lots for shuttles, restaurants and gift shops, all for some bunch of waterfalls or something. But Tracy insisted I go on a certain short hike he’d been on years ago. He […]
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Our Fav Happy Hour Lives on in Delaware
This story began with a coupon book full of a year’s worth of deals at a brewery. This was no ordinary coupon book, though. See, back in Bethesda, Maryland, Tracy and I used to meet friends Bob and Ben after work occasionally for a beer. One day, Bob and Tracy bought Ben and me special […]
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Déjà Vu with a Twist of Wist
We’re in Cape Henlopen State Park, Delaware, visiting our friends Bob and Ben, who have been delightful hosts in every way. I’ll write about this visit, next. Before I do that, though, I have to get this out of the way: the photos I found and the feelings they evoke from the first time we […]
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Convalescing in My Home Woods
Good grief we’ve been sick. I’ll have an hour here or there when I feel better, which, you know, gets a person through. Tracy, though. Yesterday, he declared he was going to make lunch (something he does for us every day but hasn’t in more than a week), but when I go inside to check […]
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25 Years of Playgroup
For those of you not in the know, playgroup is when parents get together regularly to complain about parenting and to compare their babies. (Just joking!) Playgroup actually is a way to let babies and toddlers who aren’t in daycare socialize. (Okay, if you’ve ever tried to get toddlers to socialize, you know that’s a […]
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With Love, from Gainesville
It’s especially difficult to blog while on the Friends and Family tour. There’s this intimacy you feel, after you’ve made all the arrangements and finally caught up with someone—Yay! I miss that feeling when I’m alone and cherish it when I’m with someone. But it’s intense and it’s brief. One minute you’re borrowing barrettes and […]
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Come Along for a Fall Foliage Hike
I’m going walking around Sessions Lake, a reservoir in central Michigan. Want to come? It’s four miles long and winds through the woods and along the shore. And look! Finn’s going to join us. While we’re walking, let’s talk about Finn’s work in physics, in a very basic way. Particle physics is the study of […]
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Three Surveyors and Another Guy
That’s what surveyors call Mt. Rushmore, since Roosevelt was not a surveyor. Surveyors are extremely proud of the foundational role surveying has played in our country, and rightly so. (Warning for extreme grumpiness and ranting.) I gotta say, though, that I approached Mt Rushmore with a cold shoulder. I mean, nearly everyone in this country […]
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Once More in Alaska for the Bears
(I’m writing this without cell signal and can’t do even the smallest bit of research, so please forgive inaccuracies.) We decided to cross the border one final time, driving down the inside passage—along braided rivers and seemingly endless mountain ranges covered in a new, light layer of powdered snow, plus glaciers peeking out when you’re […]