Today we mark a New Year. While I am never, at my age, in a hurry for any of my allotted days to pass, I cannot say I will miss 2015. Violence and misery cropped up far too often, both here and abroad. While I pray for a safer, more peaceful 2016, there is little reason right now to believe it will be. That is the sad truth.
On that cheerful note, I will make a few modest predictions about what will take place this year.
For starters, we will elect a new president in November. Since it’s a leap year, that means an extra day of campaigning — and attack ads. I boldly predict that neither...
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And suddenly it is Christmas. It is likely to be raining and in the 70s. Three years ago it snowed on Christmas Day, the first white Christmas here in many decades. This year, we will be wearing T-shirts and shorts. You never know what an East Texas winter will bring.
This can be a melancholy season. Many of us more or less equate the Christmas season with tragedy and loss. We push through it and prevail. Everything usually turns out OK as families gather, a few empty seats at the table. But there is a tear in the fabric of our lives that cannot be mended.
My Beautiful Mystery Companion attended...
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BALTIMORE — Da Mimmo is a family owned restaurant in this city’s Little Italy, about eight square blocks packed with restaurants. My lunch partner chose it and ranks it at the top of Little Italy, with perhaps one other establishment vying for the title. This elegant restaurant, with linen tablecloths and fine china, is named for our waiter, Mimmo Cricchio, the son of owner Mary Ann Cricchio. Da Mimmo marks 32 years in business next month. It has won many awards, from being named one of the top Italian restaurants by Zagat, to “Best Veal Chop” in Baltimore. That is what my partner ordered....
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’Twas a few weeks before Christmas, and creatures were stirring throughout the neighborhood. This includes a mouse that seems to have taken up residence in the covered area that houses our HVAC units. My Beautiful Mystery Companion was enjoying a sunny afternoon when the little fellow stuck her head out between the bricks, which have a checkerboard design — bricks and small square holes that are mouse-sized. Luckily, they are not squirrel-sized holes. We appear to be especially overrun with those large rodents this autumn, likely because of a heavy harvest of acorns.
I’m not worried about...
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We ran the black walnut through the planer in the vacant parking lot of the non-profit where I work. It was Thanksgiving week. School was out, so the elementary campus across the street was empty. The likelihood of us receiving a noise complaint was considerably less than if we planed in my backyard, as I did a few years ago. That was a mistake, though I timed it for an early weekday afternoon in hopes nobody was home. Nobody called the cops, but I sensed a distinct chill when I passed one of my neighbors. From now on, I find a spot away from civilization, even if I have to drive out to my brother-in-law’s...
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