On January 24 of this year, I jumped into a swimming pool and swam laps for the first time in many, many years. It felt great—for about one and a half laps. Then the pain started, and once it started it didn’t go away. I managed to complete 1,000 yards that day, but I...
Woodstock Square
A few shots of the square in Woodstock, Ill., the town where my wife, Jean, grew up. You may recognize some of the locations; the town—particularly the square—was where the movie Groundhog Day was filmed. Woodstock has latched onto the fame it earned from the movie, but trust me, it was a cool place before...
Pictures Of 2015
One blog post a week. That was my goal for the year as 2016 started. Ahem. It’s now Groundhog Day, and this is my first post of the year. “Getting back in the habit” is harder than you might think. Anyway, before it recedes too far in the rearview, here’s a look back at...
Mississippi River Cleanup
Yesterday I helped clean up a portion of the Mississippi River bank. I was part of a group of 200–300 volunteers who boarded boats from the cobblestones under the St. Louis Gateway Arch and rode downstream a few miles to an area on the Illinois shore, where we disembarked and, trash bags in hand,...
Reading List: July 2015
Whoa. Hey, it’s been a while, sorry. Let’s get this blog (re)started with a reading update. Haven’t done one of these in a couple of years, but for those of you who followed this thread in the past (here and here and here and here and here), there’s some good news at No. 1. Here,...
14 In ’14
I did these 14 things in 2014. “But wait!” you say. “There are 15 things on this list!” That’s because I’ve added one more “thing” that I didn’t actually do … but I’m not telling you which one, so I can preserve my deniability for the other 14. Got it? OK, here we go....
Sunrise On The Beach, Continued
Woke up, peeked through the blinds, and all I could see in the sky was red. Checked my phone: 4:58 a.m. Plenty of time to get down to the beach for some pictures before we had to finish packing and clean up. Threw on some clothes, grabbed my camera, and hustled down as fast...
Sunrise On The Beach
I had hoped that a vacation—six days at a beach house on Lake Michigan—might rekindle my interest in photography. Away from home and my deeply ingrained habits, and in a place with abundant natural beauty if you’re willing to look for it, I should be able to relearn the joy of capturing interesting scenery with...
Home For Christmas
On a chilly winter morning in the 1980s, many members of my family gathered at the St. Louis Airport, awaiting the arrival of a flight from the West Coast. The flight, or at least the passengers we were there for, originated in Seoul, South Korea. The airport was hustling and bustling, on a busy...
A Not-So-Fictional Character
In 1984, Jean and I flew to New York for my friend Geoff’s wedding. Our U.S. Air flight back to Chicago had a stopover in Pittsburgh. As we arrived at our gate at La Guardia, there was an unusual buzz in the terminal; the gate people were all smiling, and there were lots of...