One week ago I tore into my first box of books, and immediately began delivering them by bike to individual readers across the city and countryside. This here was one of my last deliveries that evening, after seven hours of haphazardly criss-crossing the area. I reached home just before it became too dark. Close call! … More Tales From the Pedaling Book Peddler, Part 2
The weather was intensely RAW during my bike delivery today, like the emotions depicted in my book. I rode up the North Shore of Lake Superior, out of town, to deliver a single copy of the book to a former co-worker this morning. It was wet, 33 degrees, I rode straight into a 15 mph … More Tales from the Pedaling Book Peddler, Part 1
One final breath. Then, with a subtle exhalation of release, nothing. She was gone. Her body remained, but grandma was no longer there. Born a century ago in 1915, this dreaded moment loomed for years. It seemed she had been around forever, and would go on indefinitely. Indeed, another lifetime like her’s takes you back … More Grandma Lights the Way
From this distance the sign advising of a bus stop may as well designate a hidden cache under the ice for a hungry explorer. I brave four lanes of traffic on Central Entrance in order to reach my destination. The sidewalk is snowed in and the bench is buried. My waddling motion with two heavy … More An Urban Adventure for Sixty Cents
I felt like Napoleon, who after escaping from his first exile on the tiny island of Elba in the Mediterranean, briefly regained power as Emperor of France for 100 days. The regiment of troops that had been sent to intercept him merely shouted, “Vive L’Empereur!” and marched with him to Paris. This was my first … More My Napoleonic Return to the Economy
OUCH!!!!! I smashed my thumb a second time with the business end of a hammer. This was followed by an egregious mistake while cutting an outlet opening into a 12-foot-long tongue and groove board while plugging away at finishing out my wife’s new art studio. It took these bone-headed confrontations with an impenetrable wall of … More Foolish Impracticality is the light at the end of the tunnel.
This is my newly stacked cache of firewood, illuminated by the light of the morning after: All of the wood used to heat my small writer’s “shack” is hand-cut. Most of it is junk wood that is eschewed by everybody else. Following walks with the dog, I often arrive home dragging a branch that previously … More Combustion
Two powerful assets for parents are lists and friends. As hydrogen and oxygen combine to make water, so these two tools may be amalgamated in the lifetime battle against what bestselling author Richard Louv describes as “nature deficit disorder.” A growing body of evidence links a wide range of behavior and emotional problems to a … More Lists and friends for a better world
44 years. That’s the answer. The question is a little more drawn out, and should cause one to reflect in one’s soul. The quantitative answer here really isn’t satisfactory, and doesn’t tell the story or address quality of life, etc. I work hard to integrate an active lifestyle into daily life. On the day this … More “Green,” or just common sense?
Like most people, our tendency will naturally be to hole up for an extended period of time this time of year, and have less and less contact with our neighbors or even fellow humans in general. Our house, being rather small, cramped, and frequently untidy, will often feel like a less than ideal place to … More Tapping a Renewable Resource in Your Neighborhood
Ed's Big Adventure 