The Stowaway
I could not post this until now, The captain would have had a cow, Upon the heave, surge and sway, I was a lonely stowaway . . .
The Year I Ruined Christmas
I can’t go home. I am down the street at Ragin Cajun watching a couple of football games – Rams-Bills and Bucs-Panthers – and I can’t go home. Because I have ruined Christmas. I have failed in a way more inexplicable, more devastating, than...
Aunt Martha & the Cat 5 Hurricane
Some of you gentle readers may remember last September’s minor saga of Martha, beloved aunt of my wife, Lisa, and the dear soul’s less than urgent efforts to get out of Tallahassee, Fla., ahead of a Category 4 hurricane. Here is a little...
Women in Bathrooms International, Inc.
I don’t know what goes on in “powder rooms” that requires so much time, but my theory holds, and I am convinced, that ladies have secret Global Command Centers in there and the survival of the planet . . .
A Joyful Noise Unto the Lower Garden District
I was eating lunch in my car today in front of St. Theresa of Avila Church at Coliseum Street and Erato in New Orleans when the sound of Christmas carols radiated from the bell tower. This Catholic place of worship is close to my office. I have...
You Never Know Who Knows What
Today, I’m back at Coliseum Square Park in New Orleans, where I often spend lunch hours strolling the grounds, borrowing shade from live oaks, coveting surrounding mansions and trying not to look like a creep on a park bench. Across the...
The Greatest Truck in the Whole World
I just learned that a hero of my childhood died in 2015. I need to pay tribute to him, for he gave my early years a few of their most exhilarating moments. This piece is about old-school stock car races and dragstrips, and the adventures . . .
I Paid for Doubting the Bean
This morning, my wife, Lisa, did not forget I promised to go with her to see The Bean while we were in downtown Chicago. The large, mirror-surface, popular work of public art watches the entrance of Millennium Park, a few blocks from our hotel. I...
Sweet Talk and Hustle on the Easy Streets
My New Orleans street smarts are keeping me out of trouble while playing tourist in downtown Chicago. Yesterday morning, I was discovered nosing around the entrance of a restricted area under East Lower Wacker by an employee of the city auto...
Go with the flow in Downtown Chicago
I am exploring downtown Chicago – the prettiest, wealthiest, most touristy part of the city. The part where visitors snap photos and report to folks back home that the city is wonderful. And why not? Vacations are for fantasy – for living, for a...
A Trip Back to the Heart of Louisiana
A swath of longleaf pine, live oak and cape myrtle endures the ages in low-rolling hills across Southeast Louisiana just north of Interstate 10. This rural place of small farms, sleepy villages and two-lane roads feels nearly . . .
HURRICANE: The Great Home Depot Saga
5:30 p.m. Monday. Can’t get generator to run. Been working on it for two days. Hurricane coming tomorrow night. 6 p.m. Monday. We make last minute run to Home Depot. Will they still be open? Will they have any generators . . .