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The Holiday Nobody Understands
Labor Day is one of America’s great mysteries. It arrives every year on the first Monday of September, carrying with it the promise of a three-day weekend, backyard barbecues, mattress sales, and the vague feeling that summer is over even though the thermometer (and the calendar, for that matter) strongly disagrees. Officially, Labor Day is…
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Goodbye Jackie
For almost a week now, I have been struggling to write about Jackie, a bald eagle that lived in a nest with a live webcam trained on it 24/7 high above Big Bear Lake, California, in the mountains just north of me. You see, she died last Monday, and I have been profoundly sad. There…
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Books for Looks
In my apartment, I have a small credenza sitting under a window that faces north and offers me a stunning view of San Gorgonio Mountain, which, at 11,500 ft., is the tallest mountain in Southern California. On the credenza sits a plant, a photo of Gordon, a tchotchke, a Mexican ironwood (the Olneya tesota tree…
Your mileage may vary.