That’s Puzzling Before everyone stared at their phones or television all day, people read books and played board games, cards or other activities that occupied and expanded their minds in leisure time. And jigsaw puzzles were a notable preoccupation for people with a little time on their hands as well. Originally created in 1767 in…
Opting Out of Outrage On Monday night I was reading Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises with a soundtrack of Stan Getz’s Samba De Uma Nota So paired with a glass of red wine and I had almost forgotten that it was still Monday and the Patriots epically coughed up that game the day before and…
Anticipatory Anxiety Some people get stressed on Sunday afternoon thinking about the work week ahead. “Sunday scaries” is one term I’ve heard. I’ve felt that way before in jobs I didn’t like all that much, or when I had a particularly tough week ahead of me, or when I was about to travel for work…
Bootstrapping and Double Dipping “Life really is generous to those who pursue their destiny.” – Paulo Coelho There are several ways to start a business. Raising capital and going big seems to get all the attention. But bootstrapping a business while you’re doing the 9 to 5 is a more attractive option. Largely because going…
A Stake in the Ground Here in New England, if you own property and you want the keep your lawn intact you have to mark the line where the lawn meets the street. This is so that tired plow drivers don’t take the shortest path between two points and plow straight across your lawn. Having…
Handshake with History Whenever I visit a place, I try to understand a little bit about the place. Who came before me? What happened here and how has that changed this place and the world we live in? You stumble on ghosts walking through quiet woods when you come upon a stone wall running straight…
Senses overwhelmed with sulfur, the heavily-accented English and the green twisting glow of the Aurora Borealis, lighting an otherwise dark sky. Bracing against the cold winds on the fringe of the arctic circle and anticipating adventure. A glance to the west and I see it. Follow the sunset far enough and you get there. Walking…
Across the Pond Sailing from Boston to the English Channel took roughly a month in the 18th century. Sailing in the other direction took longer because of the Gulf Stream and prevailing winds. Today the Queen Elizabeth II sails in both directions in seven days. You can fly to London from Boston in under seven…
In some way my walk on Salisbury Beach today was a bookend moment for 2018. I took a similar walk on this beach earlier in the year (writing about sea glass). This time I was looking at my computer screen and decided I needed to take a walk. Where better to walk than a quiet…
Statues and Semaphores It’s said that there were 17,000 statues in Paris that were removed and melted down by the Nazis. I was reading The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway where his main character is driving by the statue of Claude Chappe, the inventor of the semaphore. Semaphores were used for rapid communication across…
