My mom had a hard time leaving our childhood home. My siblings and I, grown up with kids of our own, had been out of that house for decades. There wasn’t a chance we’d ever be back. But we’d left shadows of our kid-selves in every corner, and Mom fought letting go. I suspect that…
Mummers are Scary
I really dislike mummers. They scare me. Knowing this about myself, maybe Newfoundland as a road-trip destination wasn’t my best choice. For those unfamiliar with mummering, it involves people disguising themselves and coming to your house to make you guess who they are. Their heads will be covered with cloth, making them resemble the Scarecrow…
Chasing Icebergs
There’s an iceberg waiting for us when we walk into our Airbnb rental. It’s right outside the big picture windows that line the northeast side of the house, sitting in a cove that opens into the vast North Atlantic Ocean just beyond. It’s like Hollywood’s idea of a perfect Newfoundland scene, so perfect it’s almost…
Crossing the Border
Crossing the Canadian border by car this past June was different from when I’d last done so in October 2019. Back then, I drove along the West Coast to cross at the Peace Arch, one of the busiest checkpoints along the U.S./Canadian border. Multiple lines backed up and intertwined as vehicles approached the rows of…
Aerial Lift
I come to Duluth because I want to see the Aerial Lift Bridge. I’m not the only one. The Duluth Aerial Lift Bridge is one of the most popular attractions in Minnesota. According the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, about 1.5 million pedestrians a year visit the Duluth Ship Canal piers to watch the 900-foot…
The Night Mind
The night mind is the worst. Awakened from sleep, it gets its revenge by inflating every issue it can find. Unfinished concerns from daylight hours are dealt the worst possible outcomes. Problems become insurmountable. The night mind takes loose ends and ties them into knots. Who can sleep with all this worrying going on? It’s…
The Writing-Go-Round
I stopped writing for a while, not because I didn’t have anything to say, but because it seemed pointless. Why bother writing if I couldn’t get anything published? And I couldn’t. I probably still can’t. Years ago, I finished a manuscript I love but have been unable to launch into the world. I have two…
