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Last evening, I took myself off to bed at the usual time—having done some minor tidying around the house. I’d settled in reading when one of the boys began yowling, thumping, scratching, throwing objects around—somewhere….
Tough as Boots Heroes
For a bunch of years, I’d abandoned Craig Johnson’s Walt Longmire series. I’m three books into catching up with about five more to go. And it took a book or two to remember why I’d…
Sunflower Summers
They are everywhere this year—right now. The lovely scraggly sunflowers of my Kansas youth. Not the sturdy nine-footers that gardeners covet for borders or birdseed. The ones with giant faces–often planted next to the hollyhocks….
Tiger Lilies
Our flowers loved this Montana summer: daffodils and tulips early on; iris and lilacs; and then when the days heated up delphiniums and petunias and zinnias and marigolds and morning glories and tiger lilies. A…
Beyond the End of the Line: Compensating
Helena, Montana, is a very lovely, very small capital city. More a town in many ways. Our official population stands at 33,000, though surrounding suburbs now account for another 20,000 or so. We began life…
End of the Line
In 1980, two months after I moved to Montana, I had to return, briefly and quickly, to Washington D. C. for a hearing. Except I couldn’t. I got there and back, but not quickly. Or…
Bad Behavior Under the Big Sky
In the autumn of 2022, Montanans—who, I swear, didn’t quite realize what they were doing—managed to cherry pick the worst of our citizens for almost every political position available. There are, of course, some notable…
Confluence: The Boys at One
And Marcella at 76 Sometime well after I’d acquired Tuxedo and Tiger Tiger, I did the math. And realized that when they reach 15, I’ll be 90. What was I thinking? I don’t even see…
Two Weeks on Wineham Lane . . .
Which is a mid-sized rural road linking Cowfold Road/A272 and the Henfield/Wheatsheaf Road in West Sussex. And West Sussex is, as you likely know, a British county (once a shire) in between London and Brighton….
Within Earshot . . .
June 1968. Newly signed on as a summer ranger at Gettysburg – 11 guys and me, we appeared in our brand-new Hart Schaffner and Marx green gabardine uniforms. Veteran ranger and summer supervisor Nick and…