I had fun reading my Uncle Nat’s journals, which my cousin Max thoughtfully dropped off at the nursing home where I was recuperating. It’s a chance to sit down with my beloved uncle once again and hear what he’s doing …

This is an account of my bout with pneumonia and staph, which, so far as we know, was not related to the Covid pandemic.

When I came down with the flu in February, I followed my usual procedure and went …

I’m re-re-reading Ernie Pyle’s two books ‘This is Your Wat” and “Brave Men, Brave Men.’ I’m not given to hyperbole, but I would like to say, on this third reading, that Ernie Pyle, in his quiet, unpretentious way, is one …

My New Year’s resolutions are the same every year. I have two.

The first is never to be annoyed at the bad manners of others. I know, I know; it’s impossible to keep. But it gives me the right attitude. …

I’ve been going through the notebooks of my late friend Bob Hay, and in this second batch of notebooks I’ve found some excellent long poems of interest to me and possibly other friends of Bob, but not much to present …

“Once to every man and nation,” goes the poem by James Russell Lowell, “comes the moment to decide, in the strife of Truth with Falsehood for the good or evil side.” The poem was set to music as a hymn …

There’s a funny scene in Gran Torino, one of the best movies I’ve ever seen, where Walt Kowalski (Clint Eastwood) and John Carroll Lynch (Martin the barber) try to teach Thao Vang Lor (Bee Vang) how to talk like a …

I was saddened to learn of the death of Mike Kittredge because I had hoped he would recover from his stroke and apply his immeasurable talents to making the world a better place, which he surely would have done if …