Category Archives: Uncategorized

September 16, 2016 I remember, it was warm, it was cold; the rain was falling, there was deep, deep snow; her hair was rust red, was apple gold. She was a Vermont Yankee, a Georgia peach. Crisp leaves, colored like … Continue reading →

September 9, 2016 Charles Dickens, upon making a pile of money from the publication his story, “A Christmas Carol,” lamented to a friend that he had created a monster. Before the story, Londoners celebrated the holiday modestly. After the story, … Continue reading →

September 8, 2016 “Like a Rolling Stone” My September started off with a bang. I had planned a two-week excursion through several national parks, including Mesa Verde and the Grand Canyon, starting and ending in California. I was due to … Continue reading →

September 2, 2016 My friends Mike and Cathy have had a fruit and vegetable stand for a decade. And Monday, it closes for good. Cathy has serious heart trouble and Mike is battling cancer, his second battle. All their doctors … Continue reading →

August 23, 2016 Dear Mr. Baldwin, I am a director of marketing at Speedo, and a big fan of the Genehouse Chronicles. As you may know, we just yesterday fired that rapscallion and disgraced Olympian Ryan Lochte. We won’t be … Continue reading →

August 26, 2016 I walk for three hours, starting early in the morning to avoid the creeping heat and humidity. I hear steam coming off the fields, like so many hissing snakes. The ground is soaked from last night’s storm … Continue reading →

August 22, 2016 There are four walkways up the bluffs near my house, ranging from easy to exhaustion. Stroke Hill is steep, but not so steep as to be overly challenging. Clifton Hill is moderate, but you’re walking alongside the … Continue reading →

August 15, 2016 He drove his rusted out, smashed-in pickup truck to the local fruit stand, parked, and took fifteen minutes to get out of the truck and order some cantaloupes. He was in his mid-seventies, short, as wide as … Continue reading →

August 16, 2016 “This is the crime for which I accuse my country and my countrymen, and for which neither I nor time nor history will ever forgive them, that they have destroyed hundreds of thousands of lives and do … Continue reading →

August 12, 2016 I fell in love with Paul Jacobson the minute my family moved to Alton. We were very different, but we shared the same wicked sense of humor in which nothing – not Jesus, not anything – was … Continue reading →