Birds
There’s a cardinal buried in that photo. From my office window here at home, there is a major thicket out back — and in the length of time it took for a five-minute phone call with my sister I counted a pair of Cardinals, a few Juncos, three Chickadees, two Robins and two different kinds of […]
More snow
It’s snowing again! We’ve had 45″ already this winter; the last few layers of snow have come in quiet and soft dusting of an inch or so. Just enough to cover up the footprints and dirty snow and leave the branches with a nice gouache coating on the upside. Very pretty. I prefer cold and snow […]
Wildlife Top Ten
Time for a year-end wildlife top ten. It was a nice year, maybe not the most exotic list I’ve had. 10. Three raccoon sitting in a row on the deck railing taking turns at the bird feeder 9. This winters’ group of chickadees and juncoes 8. Cedar Waxwing — at home, getting loaded on […]
The Birch Walk
At the retreat house at DeMontreville, right outside Stillwater, Minnesota there are loads of beautiful, quiet places and space to think, meditate, be silent. I’m not sure what this narrow walk between the birch trees is for but it’s compelling symmetry is really appealing to me. It was nice to walk through this. Really inexplicably, indescribably […]
200,000
I caught it. I mean, over the years I have set out on a drive thinking I would soon see 100,000 or 150,000 or 123,321, and gotten busy thinking about something else and looked down to find 100,006, or 150,003, or even 123,322. Not this time. I actually am not sure what the deal is; but, […]
I Love Graffiti
I love Graffiti. I can’t help it. I know it’s probably destructive in some sense, I guess; kind of like sticking bubble gum under your desk at school. Someone might spend a lot of money cleaning it up but it really doesn’t harm anybody — just means somebody left a relatively harmless remnant of being ‘naughty’. […]
The Gift of Karate
There are two critical creative forces in my life today — recovery and karate. Recovery saved my life; karate gives me one way to honorably show up for it. I got sober in 2001 — had been crushed by alcoholism. I spent most of 2002 on crutches and a cane – couldn’t walk fifty yards without […]
Tractor Crossing
On your way to the Fargo Dome, right on the main drag, before You pass the end of the runway at Fargo International Airport; there’s a sign warning about tractor crossing. It’s close to the Ag School at North Dakota State University. The NDSU Bison beat the South Dakota State Jack Rabbits on Saturday — […]
Emily
From the category, “Old jokes Minnesota men tell while driving up north to the opener”…

