Book Group

I always get a little nervous when it’s my month to pick the book. You’d think I would have gotten used to it. After all, the eight of us have been in our little book group for 13 years now. Whoever’s month it is gets to pick the next read. This time around I’ve assigned the least likely selection I would ever pick, the cyberpunk, sci-fi classic “Neuromancer” (1983) by William Gibson. Having just finished reading it I know I have reason to be worried how they’ll react. It’s a very strange novel, virtually impossible to follow through a delineated plot line – a hybrid that merges the film “Matrix” with William Burroughs’ “Naked Lunch.” At least I’ll be able to count on lively conversation about the book. And that all who attend will have read it. Among the many great things about our group is that we come prepared and stick to the topic. That’s been the most satisfying thing about the group – and the fact that we have basically held together, through the occasional illness, job loss and, lately, pandemic. We still meet eleven times a year, skipping only August. And folks show up on time, precisely...Read more
Life Returns

Life Returns

I had forgotten how good EGGO waffles taste for breakfast. That’s one of many losses endured over the last year. It took our first trip to the grocery store in 54 weeks the other day to be able to wander around the shelves and aisles; that’s when I fully realized how limited it is to be relying upon Instacart. The EGGO box caught my eye in the frozen food section. Thus began five idyllic mornings in a row of toasting, pouring real maple syrup and dabbing butter on the waffles and eating as slowly as possible while I lingered over a crossword puzzle. It’s been a very long year, and the excursion to the grocery was one of those newly regained freedoms that have been made possible by our being vaccinated. Of course, we donned masks but were otherwise let loose to gawk again at all the goods. The occasional impulse buy seemed like scant reward for having been incredibly fastidious the past year in isolating ourselves and adhering to protective measures. Of course, during the shopping excursion I could not help but look with alarm at all the packaging, processing and junk food that was on offer. Some things...Read more
Claude the Bear

Claude the Bear

We can tell here in north central Connecticut that we are coming up on spring because it’s time to take the bird feeders down. If we don’t do it, someone else will. In this case, it’s our latest neighborhood denizen, a circa-325-pound, male black bear that, for obvious reasons, we are calling Claude. With warming temperatures of late before the latest chill we figured the bears would be back. They have become increasingly common visitors to our yard and to our area since we first started taking notice of them 15 years ago. Far from encouraging them, we do everything we can to avoid tempting them, which is why we keep our garbage pail stored in the garage until we put it out at the last minute. I had a premonition of things to come Monday morning when I found the pail up top by the street on its side and partially emptied. The wind had been howling, and it’s possible a gust blew it over. But now I’m pretty sure it was the work of our newest incarnation of “Ursus americanus.” We had already taken to bringing in the bird feeder at night; its location just outside our kitchen,...Read more
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