Letter From Home
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Letter From Home: “Little Raccoon” 6/18/26
A couple of weeks ago, James and I sorted through a large drawer containing childhood memories. I picked up the well-used and somewhat frayed hardcover copy of Little Raccoon. My father would come into the dining room, and without ceremony, he’d reach for the book that was included in a pile of my childhood reads. I… Continue reading
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Letter From Home “The Embosser” 5/23/26
The old man in Maine looked like he had more local wisdom than anyone around, so I asked if he had lived there all his life. “Not yet,” he said while grinning back at me. The best folks to talk with when traveling are the ones with weathered faces and eyes that link with yours:… Continue reading
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Letter From Home: “Farewell, Ted Kennedy” Reprint From 8/30/09
It has been a week of memories, melancholy, and musings about the past. It was one of those weeks when I needed to seek out time alone to reflect on the news and images flooding the airwaves in the aftermath of Senator Ted Kennedy’s death. The absolute necessity of solitude—on long walks or while sitting… Continue reading
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Letter From Home: “Time” Reprint From 8/7/09
Watching a woolly caterpillar cross the sidewalk this week made me very aware of the transitions all around us. Depending on which grandparents we remember listening to in our youth, the width of the black stripe either predicts a snowy winter or a more moderate cold season. Either way, we are in the last half… Continue reading
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Letter From Home: “That Neighborhood Feel” Reprint From 7/8/09
It was a pleasant sound that drifted across the warm air. A group of about ten women from a writers’ group had gathered on a neighbor’s back patio to talk about their creative projects and offer each other feedback. (Our neighbor is sending out her first children’s book to publishers.) Their light‑hearted banter and gentle… Continue reading
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Letter From Home: “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah And A White Pine, Too” 3/30/26
There are those days in life when you must stop and slow down, recognizing that what is playing out is truly wonderful. Not because you are on vacation or won the lottery. As the day is put into perspective, all the events are rather ordinary. Yet putting them together, and taking nothing for granted, they… Continue reading
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Letter From Home: “Just Like That!” 3/12/26
There’s a certain morning each year when, no matter what is occurring or what the radio newscaster is saying, I simply stop and smile upon opening the window blinds. It always happens overnight on Lake Monona. The deep winter‑long silence of ice is just gone. Granted, it does not just (snap my fingers) disappear. The… Continue reading
Caffeinated Politics 