It’s time for the last installment in My Year of Excellent Essayists. random notes: If you’ve been reading here for a year now (and how lucky I am if you have), you’ll remember that it was my thoughts on Adam Gopnik that inspired this project. I started 2009 bemoaning the fact that after years of [...]

I hesitated about posting this photo. But I checked with its author, Mr. T, and he okayed it. This was a slip for our Advent box. A box in which, during Advent, we place slips of paper sharing how we’ve brought light, somehow, to someone else. Mr. T wrote this one. He didn’t fold it [...]

The bees had a festive time. And so did we. Requisite annual monkey pull-apart bread photo.   Chris and I got, finally, our own stockings. Handmade by Lulu. Daddy got guitar picks. Mama got yarn.   Some of the best gifts were old ones. For a long time, Lulu has wanted an old typewriter. Chris [...]

This post brought to you courtesy of the creativity of the ever-crafty Lulu. Last Friday I spent the morning descending into the internet hell of IP addresses that would not work, computer settings improperly changed, baffling terms like DNS and PPPoe and DHCP, and several futile phone calls to a so-called service provider who would [...]

Hey, how about a less wordy post for a change? How about some projects? The first is a knitting project that I actually finished a while back, and have been meaning to share. This is the sweater that made my sweater coat jealous. The sweater is Jane, from Custom Knits by Wendy Bernard. The bottom portion [...]

For my little project this month, I read  Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father and Son by Michael Chabon. I loved this book. I think my copy now bears more blue and green highlights than any of the essay collections I’ve read this year.  random notes: Judging from the blurbs and praises [...]