Posted on April 13, 2024
Kevin and I are not alone in our migration to Boston. This year, there are 32,000 runners with probably as many family members providing support along the course. This doesn’t match the number of arctic terns or monarch butterflies who flit the globe annually; but it is impressive since humans have the ability to choose whether they migrate or not; animals do it by instinct.
We are staying in an Airbnb for the first time, because hotels have become too expensive. What we spent $250 a night last year at the AC Marriott is now $400. So L, Kevin’s partner, who is a pro at finding space with good vibes and fewer dollars involved, booked a flat for us in a neighborhood about a mile and a half from the AC at about 50 percent of the cost.
We don’t know what the other 31,999 runners are doing this evening, but we assume most of them have arrived, possibly picked up their race packets, and are bedding down for the evening. For most serious runners, tomorrow, the day before the race, is devoted to relaxing, carb loading, and going to bed early.
In that regard, the 32,000 migrants are all in sync.
See more 10 Minutes in category Me/Family, Special Events, Travel
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Posted on April 11, 2024
The arctic tern holds the record for the longest annual migration recorded by any animal as it moves between Greenland and Antarctica in a zig-zag route that covers 44,000 miles a year.
In another part of the globe, around 1.3 million wildebeest travel nearly 1,900 miles each year as they follow the rains around the Serengeti.
And in Boston, Kevin and Mom make their annual pilgrimage to that Holy Grail of marathons sponsored by the Boston Athletic Association, the oldest continually run race of that distance in the world: the Boston Marathon.
Sometimes it’s just the two of us. Sometimes other family members and friends have come. But in the ten years since Kevin first ran Boston – It was the year after the bombing – it’s become a special event.
We visit the same pizza joint, the same bookstore, the same Irish pub every time. We predetermine where I’ll stand along the route and cheer when he runs by. We relearn the “T,” Boston’s excellent public transportation system. And we immerse ourselves in the lore of winners, past and to come on Monday, April 15.
So if I’m negligent about blogging for the next week, please chalk it up to following our natural instincts. Just like the monarch butterfly and the barn swallow too.
See more 10 Minutes in category Special Events
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Posted on April 10, 2024
I’ve been in the gardens, and there’s a ton of work to be done. But there’s nothing like the warm sun on your back, little wind in the air, and soil that is ready to give up its weeds to get motivated. Especially the ease of pulling weeds.
Have spent time the past two days, after removing rose cones, addressing the weeds. I didn’t mulch last season, which means weeds felt free to spread their roots and leaves.
Some people mulch over the weeds, but I’m a purist. I start each garden season pulling weeds before laying mulch. I also prune my bushes before laying mulch so that it remains as clean as possible for as long as possible.
All of this means that while my neighbors in the condo community are mulched, I am not. It’s by request. In one way, it means more work later in terms of laying the mulch; but the bushes will be trimmed, the annuals planted, and the weeds banished.
I am a happy gardener.
See more 10 Minutes in category Flora/Fauna
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Posted on April 8, 2024
It’s Total Eclipse Day for much of the United States. Where I live in southwest Michigan it was just a 95 total percent eclipse opportunity. Still, we were invested.
The day was seventy-degree warm, cloudless (which is good for eclipse watching), and calm. I gardened in the morning and got ready to watch the grand event around 1:45. The eclipse itself started at 1:53.
Our friend S joined us. We had snacks and beverages and chairs on the patio. But no trees, which made for optimum viewing. We also had the prescribed glasses, the ones with the tiny instructions on the back side. Both S and I love grammar, and we did find the instructions to be confusing. But then there won’t be another eclipse for a while, so we decided against querying the manufacturers.
Instead, we reveled in the spectacle along with Earl. We watched the entire process and found it food for thought about science, God, and the importance of the sun. When the moon was at 95 percent we were aware of a drop in temperature and an eerie cast to the land.
When it was over, S went home; Earl and I puzzled as we always do to start the evening; and life returned to normal, although I suspect there will be a gazillion photos online and in the news for the next 24 hours.
See more 10 Minutes in category Changing Scene, Special Events
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Posted on April 7, 2024
Yesterday I attended a special memorial honoring the life of American sculptor Richard Hunt, who passed away last December. I didn’t know much about Hunt, other than having walked past his local installations uncountable times.
My favorite is a work titled “And You, Seas.” Standing nearly 50 feet tall, it was installed in 2002 where the St. Joseph River empties into Lake Michigan at St. Joseph and Benton Harbor. Going out to the lake or returning to the river, it’s a welcoming sight.
Yesterday’s memorial featured his close friends sharing their personal memories. Little of it focused on the fact that he was the foremost African American sculptor from 1958 to the present. There were no lists of his accomplishments, his honorary degrees, or his installations. No mention that his life’s work was affected by attending murdered Emmit Till’s open-casket funeral at the age of 19.
There was, however, a theme from speaker to speaker on how kind and gentle this man was; how encouraging of others; how he could work a room but found the greatest solace in his Benton Harbor studio. How he believed in Benton Harbor as a community of opportunities.
I came home inspired and went to his website to learn more. It seems inspiration is what Richard Hunt did best after all.
See more 10 Minutes in category Changing Scene, Special Events
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Posted on April 6, 2024
I believe newspapers are an important source of information on many levels. Nationally recognized publications like The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal built followings for their excellent writing and on-the-scene coverage, regardless of whether one agrees with their political leanings. They cover the national scene from global politics to emerging art to dynamic sport events to current culture.
But as costs for printing a paper increase and the push to put everything online intensifies, newspapers struggle to survive in the age of technology. I’m saddened by this, not so much for the big city papers, but for the local community ones, our own Herald Palladium a case in point.
When we moved here over twenty years ago, the HP, as it’s called, had four or five sections, tons of advertisements, and a full time staff. Now there are only two sections, except for the Saturday edition. But that isn’t the only change.
The paper used to be delivered by a delivery person; now it comes with the USPS mail. It’s a morning publication, but our postal person delivers in the mid-afternoon. If there is no mail on a given day, there is no HP. Which means the Sunday edition has bitten the dust. Additionally, the paper never prints on Mondays. So there are at least 104 fewer papers per year.
I would give up paying the $377 a year it costs to read neighbors’ obituaries, syndicated columns, and sport news from local high schools. At the same time, I don’t want to contribute to the demise of something I believe is important. Any suggestions?
See more 10 Minutes in category Changing Scene, Small Town Life
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Posted on April 5, 2024
Dear Allison, Jared, Michael, Lisa, Tony, and Janet,
Thanks for your unsolicited telephone calls offering financial help. I appreciate your concern about our debt, although I don’t understand how you know what our debt is. Or if we actually have any. Which makes me think this is a scam or spam or whatever you want to call it.
Your offers of “preapproved” thousands of dollars to help us, if we call back by the end of the day, sound too good to be true. The wording of your voicemail suggests the money is just waiting to be claimed by the return phone call.
You are all so persistent that I did some research on debt relief companies, and the bottom line is to avoid them. I’m sure there are legitimate companies out there who work with people who have accumulated more debt than they can manage.
But current information on the internet suggests that today’s debt relief programs that use voicemail to offer an easy way out aren’t really an easy way. In fact, the debtor can end up owing more because none of these programs is free.
I have never called back by the end of the day, regardless of how pleasant your voice is. And I never shall. So save your breath and take me off your calling list. Thank you.
See more 10 Minutes in category Annoyances
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Posted on April 4, 2024
One thing Earl and I have in common is our love of baseball. The 2024 season started last week; and we’re signed up for the MLB network which means we have access to every game every day through the World Series.
But our favorite team – at least Earl’s favorite team (I’m lukewarm.) — is the Chicago Cubs, those hapless losers who won the World Series by a hair in 2016.
There is a tradition in Cubland, meaning Wrigley Field, that when the team wins a white flag with a blue W for ‘Win’ flies about the stadium. This started in 1937 when the Cubs management added bleachers to the stadium and then decided to fly a flag after each game letting transit commuters know what happened while they were coming home from work.
Today, it’s become standard fare for fans to stay after the game, unfurl their “W” flags, and sing “Go, Cubs, Go.”
Earl and I don’t attend games at Wrigley anymore, so we ordered a “W” flag to fly outside our patio this season when our team wins. It had to pass our condo complex’s rules and regs, but we think it does. You can fly the U.S. flag anytime AND a professional or college teams flag on the day that team plays.
I suspect nobody thought that baseball season is 162 games long. Which mean we have that many opportunities to fly the W when the Cubs win.
What other team, professional or college, has that?
See more 10 Minutes in category Small Town Life
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Posted on April 3, 2024
Twenty-eight years ago today my mother died. She was diagnosed with colon cancer that metastasized to other organs. It was discovered the previous November; five months later she was gone.
She never believed she would die so quickly. There were things to accomplish, projects to finish, plans to travel. In fact, two months after her diagnosis she joined a health club with the idea that all she had to do was try harder.
That was her motto: “Try harder.” She was never the brightest bulb in the box or the prettiest woman in a bathing suit lineup, but she could outwork practically anyone. Her sheer determination accounted for much of her success.
Except she had blind spots. One of those was her disdain for physicians, which kept her from getting regular check-ups. Which, in turn, kept her diagnosis of colon cancer undiscovered until it was too late.
I remember her passing and the following months dismembering her life in Conway, AR, as if it were yesterday. She and I were never close, but in the months following her death I came to appreciate what a wonderful person she really was. Mother was difficult within the family circle, but her friends adored her. And during those months, they shared that with me.
So I’ll think of her today and smile.
See more 10 Minutes in category Me/Family
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Posted on April 2, 2024
I don’t know if it’s a national trend or a local one, but brioche seems to be taking over where I live.
Pronounced ‘bree-osh,’ this bread is sweeter than its regular counterpart, and I’m fine with using it in various recipes like French toast or a tartine. But things have gone too far.
On a recent visit to The Mason Jar, I ordered my usual lox and bagel. The Mason Jar is about the only place around here that does that menu item justice with its lox styled like a rose and the capers, onion, tomato, dill, and hard boiled egg artistically arranged. The server informed me that the restaurant no longer serves bagels. Instead, you can get your lox with brioche. No thank you.
Yesterday, I went to Schu’s with a friend for lunch and ordered my usual salmon BLT. The menu said it was served on brioche instead of a regular bun. I ended up with sourdough as the alternative.
Ryebelle’s is another local eatery that serves great burgers. We haven’t been there for a while, but on a whim I checked the online menu. Sure enough, their burger is now served on brioche.
Next thing you know the Dairy Queen will offer brioche Chicago dogs, Silver Beach Pizza will make brioche calzones, and Clementine’s will float brioche in its French onion soup.
See more 10 Minutes in category Annoyances, Dining/Food
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