Rest in Peace, Skipper

Polly called this afternoon to report Skipper’s passing.  We brought Skipper into our family in 1986, for no better reason than that we’d named our daughter Polly and getting her her own parrot seemed like the right thing to do.   Skipper lived with us in Florida, Okinawa, Hawaii, Nevada, and Arizona; a few years ago […]

On the Futility of Post-Retirement Christmas Letters

I don’t mean this in any sort of down way, but I’m finally coming to realize that when you’re retired, with the kids grown and gone, settled down in the house you plan to stay in until they pry it from your cold dead fingers, there’s not a lot you can put into an annual […]

Remembering the Wall

In its last years, West Berliners covered the Wall (which came down 20 years ago today) with paint, political statements, street art, and graffiti.  Many Americans, when they picture the Berlin Wall, see it in color. That’s not what I remember.  Both times I saw the Wall, it was forbiddingly gray. In 1966, Donna and […]