Earlier this summer we took Dad back to Salemburg. We took his ashes to lay down next to his brothers, which is what he asked for. He also wanted to be "where people knew him", but he hadn't lived there for about seven decades. We reckon the only people who knew him were there with him in the cemetery, but maybe that's what he meant.
For the last twenty four years I've maintained a "natural" lawn. It's a practice that some would encourage, even many of the highly skilled Master Gardener Volunteers I had the privilege of working with over the years. There are various justifications for such an approach, from laziness to valuing plant diversity to concerns about intensive turf management practices.
Are you prepared for a data disaster? I thought I was, but I discovered some gaps in my preparations. Consider the impact on your life if a phone, desktop computer or laptop...
Many of the objects that fill my life could generously be described as "good enough". This is true today, and has been for decades.
It would be reasonable to assume I'm in a state of constant discontent and envy as I observe others driving cars built in this decade, sporting phones with advanced features, working and surfing on sleek new laptops.
But on the contrary, I find my choices deeply satisfying.
I grew up near the dawn of the era of human space flight. As a child I read about Yuri Gagarin and Alan Shepard and John Glenn. I joined the model rocket club and we launched our creations from the field behind the school. I watched Star Trek reruns with my friend Harold and saw Star Wars and Star Trek in the theater with my dad when they were first released. I still have a set of prints with photos from the Apollo 15 mission that Dad ordered for me directly from NASA.
