Loon Shots

Loon Shots

by | Aug 4, 2020 | Musings

I’ll never forget the first time I saw a loon. She made a fool of me. It was August of 1978, on the first day of  a 100 mile canoe trip with my college roommate on the iconic Allagash River in northern Maine–the same trip Thoreau memorialized in his Maine Woods...
A Merganser’s Master Guide to Homeschooling

A Merganser’s Master Guide to Homeschooling

by | Jul 17, 2020 | Musings

6:15 am, June 17, 2020Poland, MaineWhoosh! A loud fluttering sounded over the chorus of chirping birds that had already awakened me. Turning quickly to my right, I looked out the large picture window and caught a glimpse of what appeared to be a duck in flight headed...
Are We Still Having “Fun”?

Are We Still Having “Fun”?

by | May 11, 2020 | Musings

I spent a weekend in Manhattan back in the fall of 2018 with two old college friends: Leslie, a documentary filmmaker who’s lived in Paris for many years, and Bonnie, a recently-retired high school English teacher living on a cattle ranch in the Kansas Flint Hills and...
Watching My Trees Grow

Watching My Trees Grow

by | Apr 26, 2020 | Musings

I like to think of them as my trees, two sibling white birches rising out of the bank of Thompson Lake in Poland, Maine. They arch towards the water, just a few yards beyond the screen porch from which I’ve watched them grow since their infancy. I probably shouldn’t...
Subway Diary # 2: The Underground Banjo Player

Subway Diary # 2: The Underground Banjo Player

by | Mar 16, 2020 | Musings

This is the second in a series of Subway Diary entries: snapshots of life’s noteworthy experiences underground in NYC. The events described here took place in late January as I zig-zagged my way around Manhattan on crowded subways before COVID-19 restricted my ability...