Thanksgiving means potato salad you won’t touch, cousins that seem superior, and easy school until Christmas. Thanksgiving means a new family you don’t really know, reading a couple of books, and naivety of what it means to be thankful. Thanksgiving means sitting at the kid’s table. But also: Thanksgiving means a new girlfriend, a trai...

I have recently seen some content drifting around claiming that the best way to read, is to read fiction. The claim is that fiction will keep your interest, and thus you will be more likely to retain what you read. This is a small over-simplification. The real trick is to read stories. The oldest stories, told around campfires, were hu...

The drive up-canyon, with a big goofy grin on you face. The amazement that you remember how to tie a knot, or even how to cast at all. The resignation when an errant cast reminds you that you didn't fish all winter. The quiet gurgling sounds of a spring creek, the wind coming down canyon, and the splash of a fish rising. The perfect ca...

My step-mother has an ancient dog named Griffin. He was old when they rescued him, no one is sure how old, and he simply keeps going. He has cataracts and is blind, can’t hear very well, and can’t really move very well any more. As I write this is sleeping beside my chair. For the past few years when we would visit he mostly sleeps in ...

It was hot, but it had been a long winter and we were more grateful than annoyed. “ “Dad, this is like an obstacle course!”” It is possible the boy has seen too many ninja warrior videos, likening our winding path through the cottonwoods to an athletic competition. It was a long winter; trapped inside, forgetting what it is like to fin...