About a year ago, I wrote a three-part story about the life and death of my friend Freeman. The story struck a chord with a…
Return, part 2
Posted in Marvels
Month: November 2017
Return, part 1
Posted in Marvels
My friend Freeman lived for an unlikely outcome: that things, despite all the evidence that his restless, skeptical mind made regular and thorough note of,…
Going Through
Posted in Ankle
First there’s the waiting for admittance, then waiting to be called, then everything happens rather quickly. I am checked, briefed, and queried by at least…
A typical CT scanner weighs 4,400lbs and costs about $450/lb. It is a huge, glossy donut sculpture, with the hole being just big enough to…
Seattle is a hilly place. If you head east from downtown, the first hill you come to is First Hill. That is the official name,…
48 years ago I was at the top of a 45-foot-tall scaffolding tower. It fell over. As I was about to die — it was…
Coming Home
Posted in Travel
We have been away from home, away from our lovely and familiar home. Unlike some places I could name, Port Townsend is not a nice…
In the middle of WWII, Clifford Ashley traveled from his home near New Bedford, Mass. to New York City. He took with him a…
The Constitution
Posted in Boats We Know, Rigging, and Travel
By wonderful chance, I was invited aboard the USS Constitution for its annual tug-powered turnaround. This is ostensibly an utterly mundane exercise, meant to assure…
The Eastern Shore
Posted in Travel
The parking meters in downtown Chestertown, Maryland have “free parking” written on them. All of them. I am guessing that, when bloated big box stores…