Crates and ballast are being shifted about. We’ve been round a calendar of taunting breezes, headwinds, and what old, crusty sailers would call the doldrums. Waiting around in windless waters has driven men mad. You stay busy. You coil and re-coil the rope. You roll and re-roll the canvas. You bail and bail again… and…

I sleep much lighter than before we had a full house. It’s been so long, I forget that sometimes. There have been nights that the sleep didn’t really even feel like sleep. When a child is sick, for example, sleep is a veneer. Last night I slept soundly. At the end, at that sort of…

My grandfather is one of those characters people like to tell stories about. Still. I never met him. Colon cancer took him before I was born. There’s a framed article hanging on my office wall entitled, Bert Mattson, We’re Rooting for You. It’s an odd experience, learning about your grandfather through something like that. It’s…

Dad has always been a little unconventional. Weird, by some estimations. And despite all my efforts, I fit in his footprints. He tended to lecture me on life and, I’ve found, was most often off the mark. But his accidental wisdom was legendary. Once when a high school acquaintance and I rolled in late, and…

Liesl and I went to see The Star. This is essentially an updated, animated story of Joseph and Mary. It’s presented from the perspective of the manger’s animals. Chief among them the ass. The second scene was set on Mary and Joseph’s wedding celebration. It involved The Magdalene puzzling over how to inform her new…

Like anyone, I enjoy success. As I watch my son venture into ever more competitive spheres, I see it’s an early universal -children anticipate success. I observe his eyes and posture as his car trickles in an unimpressive initial run. Confusion. No panic though. As he nibbles a cuticle he’s probably contemplating all the planning…

The trap was laid thusly… (7 year old)Boy: Why do fish die out of water? Father: They can’t breath. Boy: Why? Father: Their bodies aren’t made to take oxygen from air. Boy: But they can from water? Why? Father: They evolved that way. Boy: Oh… (father holds breath boy won’t ask him to explain evolution…

My son just asked for Skittles in three words. “What?” I ask in monotone, marveling at the mere four dollars I’ve just spent on two tickets. Two. I’ve payed up to twelve a piece in recent weeks. “I want skittles please…” He says taking his cue. A dollar. A dollar for a normal sized package,…

There’s a table in my laundry room that is probably haunted. I took it from the basement of the Diner (yes, Mickey’s has a basement, most are amazed to discover) when it became obvious it didn’t fit (for the basement is, as one might expect, puny, awkward, and un-plumb). It was most likely put there…

It all started with pride. I take pride in cooking things for folks that they otherwise might not enjoy. I’ve had enough success to know it’s not my cooking per se, rather the abundance of bad cooking out there. Anyway, enter clams. I can’t remember if they’re something she didn’t like until I made them,…

  Any wise guys coiling to make clever comments, like how I’ve been using too much of my own supply, can go ahead and stow it for a second. Please take a moment and look past my puffy appearance to appreciate the lovely people and plates as captured by Katie Thering (of Kage Imagery) at…