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If I die in a distant place, my instructions are simple. No coffin, no embalming, just have me cremated then shipped back in a generic box to Minneapolis. That’s it: one final flight to MSP, then scatter my ashes somewhere. Lakewood Cemetery would be a fine place for The Scattering. It’s beautifully maintained by a… Continue reading A Carny’s Final Journey

This week we welcomed a personal assistant into our home. Or, to be more precise, FedEx delivered a Google Assistant. It’s a stubby, round box you plug into the wall. It listens for our commands and talks to us via surprisingly good speakers. It connects to Google services over WiFi. It sits in a corner… Continue reading Our Personal Kitchen Assistant

The term “hidden city” conjures up all sorts of romantic notions: a Mayan city lost in a jungle; a Soviet-era science city excluded from maps; abandoned tunnels under a city, beyond the rule of law. It’s also part of a strategy some people use to save a lot of money when traveling. I’ve posted about my plan… Continue reading Hidden Cities

In 1960, in a school playground in Northern England, boys were grabbing younger boys and demanding: “Nixon or Kennedy?” If you answered “Nixon” you got roughed up. All the boys were answering “Kennedy” so I answered “Nixon.” I was nine. My nephews are eight and nine. I wonder if last week’s election has inspired bullying… Continue reading My Post-Election Microblog

This morning I photographed my shadow, firmly attached to me. Although it was almost noon, the sun was quite low in the sky. In 1847 Hans Christian Andersen wrote The Shadow, a short story that talks to the present time. Here’s the bare details: A man gave his shadow permission to leave and explore the… Continue reading The Meaning of Shadows

A strange thing happened today as I was jogging slowly round our neighborhood lake, Lake of the Isles. A diminutive older woman was trying to catch my attention. She announced proudly in a Russian accent that she was voting for the Republican candidate for President. “Very good, very good” she declared to prove her case. By… Continue reading A Strange Election

The other day I found myself poring over this Google map. Each red dot marks a place I’ve visited in the past four years. Google has been watching me. Some places don’t count: in Seoul I was in transit to Busan, in Salt Lake City we were on our way to Palm Springs, and in… Continue reading Dreaming of Circling the Globe

Every October, after the peak of Fall foliage has subsided, we head up to the North Shore of Lake Superior to walk sections of the Superior Hiking Trail. We like this time of year: the trails are uncrowded, the temperatures are good for hiking, and mosquitoes are done for the year. Besides, we don’t need… Continue reading Our Annual Walk on Fall Leaves