Welcome to our collection of random articles, essays, braindrops and whimsy. You can pick a category or see our most recent offerings, which may not be very recent, below the categories.
A few months ago I decided to celebrate my 75th birthday by climbing a “14er” in Colorado. 14ers are mountains over 14,000 feet tall. Not Everest, but not my backyard, either.
The decision was met with...
Nora and I are going bike the Katy Trail in Missouri in June. 250 miles more or less in 7 days more or less. As we’ve been preparing for it, I’ve been a bit concerned that we might not be able to put all...
Boonville was gray first thing, and the forecast was gloomy. I love lightning and thunder and rain, but I prefer it on the back porch with hot chocolate instead of on a bicycle. That’s the only reason...
The Katy Trail Day 3
Our mileage is increasing. 34 today. Or 35. We’re not sure, although as tightly as we count our miles, one would think we’d know. It’s just that the GPS sometimes gets even more...
We lingered in the morning, in no rush. Once packed up, we went to a café for a breakfast that included a piece of pie apiece, made (according to the waitress) by the Amish. If that’s true, the Amish are...
It’s not easy to define when a trip starts. When we first think of it? When we start Googling it? When our first piece of equipment lands on our doorstep and we go back to Amazon to find out how to return...
Sometimes we just get lucky.
Looking through a very long list of possible things to do in our last week in Budapest, I came across ads for an organ concert at St. Stephen’s Basilica. It sounded interesting...
I’ve wanted to ride a Segway for a long time. I mean, for a long time I’ve wanted to ride a Segway. Since I hadn’t done it, I had no idea if I’d want to ride one for a long time.
We got our chance when...
It’s a question that has certainly plagued more than one country: What do we do with statues and plaques that are part of a history we do not want to honor?
Hungary has a tortured past, both literally...
The text message was brief: “On Thursday evening Gulyas Party at 7:00 pm on the 6th floor. No formal dressing is required.”
That would be the 6th floor of a building in Budapest overlooking the Danube,...
