Death
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Encounter at Panera
The other day Carole and I walked into the local Panera and placed our order. I went to men’s room while our food was being prepared. There was a gentleman standing at the urinal. I put my hands in my pockets, leaned against the wall and waited quietly. He moved to the wash basin. Soon Continue reading
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Greetings (of the Season)
“We must be less than death, to be lessened by it, for nothing is irrevocable but ourselves.” ~ Emily Dickinson, in a letter to Thomas Wentworth Higginson * * * I want to ask you a question and you have to promise that you will not do any mental calculations before answering. Continue reading
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Life Studies
I study lives. My text book is the biography. The first grown-up book I read was a biography of Mark Twain. I was, I think, in 6th grade. The most recent book read, finished a couple days ago, is Robert D. Richardson Jr.’s biography of Emerson, subtitled The Mind on Fire. Before that, earlier this Continue reading
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My cousin Neal.
One of my hero philosophers said that the length or brevity of a life is of little importance in the grand scheme of things. What is important, however, is how the life is lived. Continue reading
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“Indian…Moose.”
On his deathbed in Concord, Mass., Henry David Thoreau, drifting in and out of consciousness, muttered two works, “Indian…Moose” and died. His mind had gone to Maine and his adventures in the Great North Woods. I thought of Thoreau on this morning’s run. Lucy and I have made this run up the ridge all but Continue reading
...the house I live in... 