EAST MONTPELIER – The claim by CNN that the presidential debate of June 27 would be “historic” turned out to be right on the money, but hardly for the reason they expected. As the curtain mercifully dropped on the scene, my friend Bea turned toward me and said, well, I[Read More…]
Willem Lange
That Kind of Day
EAST MONTPELIER – So foul and fair a week I have not seen. It seems appropriate to paraphrase Macbeth talking about the weather and current events as he welcomes King Duncan (soon to be the late King Duncan) to his castle. He’d just had that kind of day, and was[Read More…]
Well, it’s Hard to Forget
EAST MONTPELIER – For some decades I’ve tried to do something new each week: something I’ve never done before; something I haven’t done for a long time; or something I never thought I’d do again. I’m not always successful; and the something, whatever it is, isn’t always something I’d want[Read More…]
Vulgar Enthusiasm from Various Media
EAST MONTPELIER – I talk back to the television quite a bit. I get away with it; there’s nobody here but Kiki to comment on either my behavior or my performance. My wife used to point out, sometimes none too gently if I was commenting upon an especially egregious line[Read More…]
In Full Flower During Recent Debate
EAST MONTPELIER – I’ve been listening to sermons for over eight decades. At first, of course, it was because I had to. Next, because it was the thing to do. Now, occasionally, because I want to. And I must say that over those more than 80 years I’ve heard a[Read More…]
Backward Between 1300 and 3000 Years
EAST MONTPELIER – The great state of Louisiana, not content with labeling mifeprestone a dangerous controlled substance, has, in a move stunning for its chutzpah just launched an attempt to vault its government backward between 1300 and 3000 years, depending upon different versions of the history of Western religion. Either[Read More…]
These Were Especially Offensive
EAST MONTPELIER – It’s just past lunchtime up here on the little hill, and I’m feeling extremely grumpy. This is not my usual post-lunch mood. Normally I’d collapse into my recliner, wait for Kiki to jump up into my lap and turn around till she found a spot, and begin[Read More…]
It’s Impossible to Know
EAST MONTPELIER – We started the kids out early, Mother and I. From summers working on an island and living in a wall tent off the coast of Maine, and little weekend outings, we progressed to a trip down the Allagash when the oldest, Virginia, was 11 and the youngest,[Read More…]
So Off We Go
EAST MONTPELIER – If we start down the driveway in late afternoon, Kiki knows it’s either getting the mail or going to the park. If I pass by the mailbox, she knows her dream is coming true, and climbs partway over the barrier that’s supposed to keep her in the[Read More…]
Even the Fax Machine was Still in the Future
EAST MONTPELIER – Twenty-four hours of daylight starts tomorrow! That notice popped up on my Facebook page this morning. It was posted by my dear friend Larry Whittaker in the Inuit village of Kugluktuk at 67.8º N, 115.1º W, on the shore beside the Northwest Passage at the mouth of the[Read More…]
A One-in-ten Chance
EAST MONTPELIER – When my wife and I were married, back in 1959, our prospects were so grim that the priest to whom we went for our church-mandated counseling gave our union – “frankly,” he said – a one-in-ten chance of survival. She went to work in an S&H Green[Read More…]
Shouting Importantly into Their Phones
EAST MONTPELIER –Tom’s Taxi, of Lynn, Mass., has been faithful as the sun for us. If you tell them that one of you uses a cane, they usually send a van. Which I do, and which they did. About half an hour later we pulled up in front of Portugal[Read More…]
