The 19th century French photographer known as Nadar was quite an enterprising fellow. He started out as a sketch artist and once set some sort of record for the number of tiny sketches he could get on one page: 250 in all. Magnifying glasses in Paris must have sold out. But Nadar didn’t stop there. In time he became interested in traveling by hot air balloon. First, he went up by himself and marveled at the view. He said it gave him a serene perspective on life and removed him from all the evil

H ow did you survive the once-in-a-lifetime Polar Vortex last month? O ur border collie friends posted their stories on Facebook, illustrated with dogs romping in layers of new snow with swirli ng winds wrapping them in white blankets. T hese high energy dogs relish the sub-zero temps if kept active, even without doggie sweaters or booties. The hardest challenge is to find open ground to encourage the dogs to do their daily duties. On our farm, we usually have no problem plowing through several

“I had four caesareans, breast surgery, stomach surgery, back surgery and both knees replaced…” I heard this from behind a thin curtain at physical therapy. So much for HIPPA laws; the woman was a walking suture. I was on the next table over, icing my left foot. I truly believe that sometimes you are in the right place at the right time. And this was one of those times. While icing, I was ruminating about the fact that the physical therapist said in order to improve my knee and left foot, I

Robert Frost’s neighbor told him “ Good fences make good neighbours , ” as they walked, each on his side of the wall, replacing the winter damaged stones. “Why do they make good neighbours?” Frost asks. “Isn’t it w here there are cows? But here there are no cows. Before I built a wall , I’d ask to know w hat I was walling in or walling out , a nd to whom I was like to give offence. “ Something there is that doesn’t love a wall, t hat wants it down”. Does a United States border wall make sense?

Last week Donald Trump gave his second State of the Union address. It was the longest such address in almost 20 years. In an 83-minute monologue, Trump talked about the booming economy, low employment, and the historic number of women in the House. Two former drug offenders were highlighted for their excessive prison sentences that a new prison reform bill will address. Yet there was no mention of Jason Van Dyke’s light sentence after being convicted of second-degree murder and sixteen counts

I recently read an extraordinary memoir written a few years ago by my dad’s cousin. Isaac was born in 1938 into a family in crisis. His mother’s mental health was deteriorating. His parents, immigrants from Poland, already had two difficult sons and were unhappily married. Isaac was an infant when his mother was institutionalized, and his father petitioned for Isaac to become a ward of Massachusetts. He spent his entire childhood as a foster child. He never knew his mother. This family was

When I first learned to ride, at 40, at NIU, the golden rule was that if your horse produced a "surprise," it was your responsibility to clean up. Certain students tried to skip out on this duty, and it got me to thinking: dealing with manure is a vital life skill because being an adult means joining the universal clean-up crew. If you have children or are responsible for elder care, you know that diapers and accidents are a fact of life. However, how often are we called on to clean up the

An acquaintance asked, “Why study Shakespeare? There’s no rhyme or reason in it.” A friend from the YMCA told me it was “all Greek” to her. These phrases were coined by Shakespeare. Our common speech is a display of Shakespearean words and phrases. English isn’t just an alternative set of sounds for concepts and feelings already expressed by other languages. It’s a unique expression of a shared, living identity—a generative organism whose breathing genesis, evolution, and mutations are

Winter weather has taken a heavy toll this year. J ust getting to work each morning can be a bone chilling challenge. The miserable weather coupled with the start of the new year may have you dreaming of a new job where you work from home and be your own boss. T echnology and an entrepreneurial spirit make it pretty easy to create and manage a home-based business in our jammies. I n a world where time is always in short supply, the market for service gigs has never been hotter. By 2020, about 43

Stars shimmering in a great silence. Lyrical rivers running over rock beds. Air so pure and fresh, it takes your breath away. And the beauty? Well, it is indescribable. All I can say is that it touched the heart of my soul. That is what I remember most about my trips to three National Parks: Yosemite in California, the Grand Canyon in Arizona, and Glacier in Montana. Three totally different environments, three totally unique experiences. Yet, each one gifted me with a life changing perspective: