Reflections on the Moon Landing.

Today marks fifty years since men first visited the moon. It is a moment for all people, and surely all Continue reading →

New England Graves: Phipps Street Burying Ground.

Phipps Street Burying Ground, in Charlestown, Massachusetts, was established in 1630, a mere decade following the arrival of the first Continue reading →

The Dog and the Fire.

I keep taking the same picture!  Dog and fire, fire and dog, each winter a repeating and repeating still life. Continue reading →

Christmas 1916.

Hanging among my bookshelves, I have an unusual letter.  It was written one hundred years ago, Christmas Day 1916.  The author Continue reading →

My Old Friend.

Tonight marks three years that my dog Hank died.  Though it’s strange to admit, there hasn’t been one day that I Continue reading →

A Terrifying Tale of Halloween & History.

Halloween must qualify as our strangest holiday: children don outrageous costumes, plead for candy, and threaten mischief if denied.  On Continue reading →

The Splitting Maul & The Black Locust.

We name tools for their function: the hammer hammers, the saw saws, and the drill drills.  By custom, then, the Continue reading →

Flight to Jupiter.

Near midnight tonight, the spacecraft Juno arrives in orbit around Jupiter.  Juno left Earth in August 2011, flew a two-year Continue reading →