I admit that soccer is not high on my list of spectator sports, particularly on television. No doubt watching a World Cup match or a game of that caliber in person would be a different story. My middle daughter, now 32, played for a time when she was about 8. Her enthusiasm was minimal, matched by her skill. Mere was more interested in picking flowers and daydreaming, though occasionally she would kick the ball along if it came her way and wasn’t too much of a bother. We retired Mere’s jersey after a season, soured a bit by some of the parents who screamed at their kids as if this indeed were...
Read more...
BOSTON — The Boston Public Library is across Exeter Street from the boutique hotel in which we are staying, both located on Boylston Street in the Back Bay. It is a grand building, built in 1854 and the second oldest public library in the country. We wandered around one morning, admiring the ornate inlayed pink marble walls inside, the pair of marble lions at the top of the staircase that honor Massachusetts Civil War veterans.
The finish line for the Boston Marathon is across from the library. A lone cross nearby memorializes three of the victims of the 2013 bombing. A T-shirt vendor in nearby...
Read more...
NEW YORK CITY — It is said that one can see, buy, eat or drink anything in the Big Apple. We are staying just off Times Square, about a half mile south of Central Park. Hotel rooms are pricey if one wants to stay close to the action, and we did. After considerable gnashing of teeth, I finally gave up trying to find a bargain; three nights in a Hampton Inn — a rather nice one, but still — cost nearly as much as a month’s mortgage payment. And the hotel room would fit in our living room with plenty of space to spare.
But it is vacation time, our big blowout for the summer, so we vow not to obsess...
Read more...
Sometimes the light’s all shinin’ on me
Other times I can barely see
Lately it occurs to me
What a long, strange trip it’s been
|— “Truckin,” The Grateful Dead
|———|
The phone call came a few weeks ago while I was talking to a fellow who I lean upon for spiritual counsel and advice. Mainly he just asks questions and prods me to do the same. Rarely does he provide answers, but our conversations have been invaluable.
I ignored the phone vibrating in my pocket until we were finished, then listened to the voicemail. It was an old friend and former newspaper colleague, who asked...
Read more...
Two days before last Thanksgiving, my father-in-law was stabbed while sitting in the day-surgery center at Good Shepherd Medical Center. A nurse died in that attack and three others were wounded. My father-in-law, Harris K. Teel, lived nine days but ultimately died as well. A defendant awaits trial on capital murder charges.
The reason Papa Teel survived a direct stab wound to the heart and had a chance of recovering was because of an extraordinary surgeon and human being, Dr. David Sadler. He brought Papa Teel’s heart back to life, sewed it back up and refused to give up even when others...
Read more...
