Archives in Category: Small Town Life

Ten minutes to write. Less time to read.

Noodling

Posted on August 14, 2007

I’ve always tried to avoid the aquacisers, that group of older people who do their aerobic and strength training in the swimming pool five days a week at the health club. In fact, I usually time my own workout to

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Vignette

Posted on August 11, 2007

I pulled into the South Shore Health and Racquet Club this morning, intent on getting my daily dose of exercise out of the way as quickly as possible. As I climbed from my car, a cheery voice said, “Hi.”

I

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The View

Posted on July 8, 2007

My office is the only room in our house that doesn’t have a view of the St. Joe River. When we moved in I had intended that this room would be Earl’s office, while I would have one where I

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A Decade of Sunsets

Posted on June 14, 2007

Ten years ago I moved into an industrial loft in Chicago’s Fulton Market District. My unit faced north, and I spent many evenings on my balcony admiring the sunset to my west. That area was an industrial corridor unobstructed by

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Zeke’s

Posted on June 3, 2007

Last year Earl and wandered into Zeke’s, a tavern/restaurant in Dowagiac, a town about twenty or so miles further down the road. We had been exploring backroads and wanted something to drink. Zeke’s, which has two hundred beers on tap

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Feeling Grey in Fargo

Posted on March 30, 2007

I’m sitting in my son Kevin’s living room in Fargo, North Dakota, waiting for the sun to come out, even though it’s hopeless. The sun doesn’t come out in Fargo very often this time of year. Rather, the days stretch

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The Ultimate

Posted on March 17, 2007

What better way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day than to attend the sixty-second annual ULTIMATE Sport and RV Show? Well, there probably are better ways; but this is how Earl and I spent the day.

It was clear and crisp

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The Battle of the Hardware Stores

Posted on March 5, 2007

I’m not sure of all the details. What I do know is that the ACE Hardware store down the road about three miles from our house closed shop last year and built a new facility much farther away. The former

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Beer Here

Posted on March 4, 2007

This past week Earl and I, along with his daughter and son-in-law, went to the Saugatuck Brewing Company — about an hour from our house — to redeem Earl’s birthday gift certificate. Now maybe you’re thinking we went to drink

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An Old-Fashioned Winter

Posted on January 30, 2007

It started two days ago as snow began falling in the early morning hours. Radio reports said to expect a foot or more. Weather forecasters are usually less than one hundred percent accurate, but they were deadly precise in this

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