After 13 years, we’ve decided to quit Florida. I don’t expect to miss it much. I’ve realized I’m not a beach guy. I’m not a Jimmy Buffett guy. I hate theme parks and I hate I-95 and I’m not fond of the year-round bugs and humidity. I’ve never gotten used to the sodden air […]
The cold, hard West
Who’s the most famous writer you’ve never read? I can think of a few offhand, but now I can cross one off the list: Annie Proulx. A good friend sent me a book of her short stories the other day: “Fine Just the Way it Is.” I’m about halfway through it. I love that […]
This could be
the last time
You always know when you’re experiencing something for the first time. But you can never be sure when it’s the last. After a certain age, most things take on an elegiac cast. Only later can you look back and recognize a final moment for what it was. And you always wish you’d paid more […]
When beggars are choosers
I walk a lot, so I encounter a fair number of beggars. I used to think Jacksonville, Fla., was bad in that respect. There, it’s a rare stroll where I don’t get accosted at least once. But Missoula takes it to a whole other level. This time of year, you can’t go a single […]
Doing a marathon the easy way
Today we went out early to watch the Missoula Marathon. Tess, who has run a couple of half-marathons herself, takes great joy in cheering on the runners. I do too, although I take special interest in people who look as if they have no business on the course: the overweight, the elderly, the very […]
The girls with their summer pom poms
This morning we were out walking past the University of Montana and came upon a large group of pretty girls practicing cheerleading moves. The amplified voice of the instructor, also a pretty girl, carried across the open lawn: “One, two, three and four; five six seven eight… don’t flex your hands.” The girls moved […]
A poseur in the Capitol of Cool
We have arrived in Missoula, Mont., after trekking 2,600 miles or so across this great nation of ours in a red Nissan Altima. The car is slightly worse for the wear; yesterday a chunk of wood detached itself from a logging truck on I-90 and knocked out the passenger-side mirror. So at least part […]
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