While the precipitation decides whether to express itself as a solid or a liquid, our thoughts turn to the weeks ahead. Once sub-freezing temperatures head north for the summer, we can fire up the RV, dewinterize the boat, pack the … Continue reading
I find myself drawn to hidden corners. Here, a large cabinet blocks direct access to the piano. From the side, though, I see the row of ivory keys, a century old, highlighted by a window at the end of the … Continue reading
Atop the filing cabinets, an old flight log sat. The last entries are from the late 1970s, and other than this single book, there were no other evident indicators that this was a flying household.
I often wonder about the food left behind in foreclosed homes. Why is this jar of home-style, sweet pickled beets standing cleanly amid all of the rubbish and dust that has settled around it? Were these beets left behind at … Continue reading
In the basement, I had to climb over the musty remnants of decades of discarded household acquisitions: lamps, old winter coats, boxes of books, broken chairs. Upstairs wasn’t much better. The kitchen was ransacked, and the bedrooms looked like a … Continue reading
Minnesota’s transition from winter to spring is always tricky. Temperatures fluctuate wildly. There might be a string of several days that only require a light jacket. And then the mercury plunges into the single digits. Still, there’s no reason for … Continue reading
Soon the weather in the Midwest will allow us to open our windows to let the fresh spring breezes sweep out the musty remnants of winter. Many of us take advantage of the warmer weather to go through our homes … Continue reading
When I drive through the Midwestern countryside during the summer, everything seems possible. I’m filled with visions of ballgames, of combines pulling nourishment from the earth, of the pastoral American dream. More often than not, Norman Rockwell’s vision of the … Continue reading
An easy trashout means two things: not much debris (and certainly nothing heavy, like a pool table or a chest freezer), and a relatively clean house. This was an easy trashout: a few couches and chairs, a couple of boxes … Continue reading
There was a box in the basement full of old financial records. The picture wasn’t pretty. From the mid-2000s to early 2012, credit card statements grew in balance, one after another, until there seemed to be no way out. I … Continue reading
