“Charles, it’s your serve, right?” I asked my tennis opponent. He looked around, confused. “Charles?” I repeated. “Who’s Charles?” he asked. I’d done it again. My writer’s brain names people as if they were characters in one of my manuscripts.…
If you think back to your childhood home and neighborhood, did it influence your personality? I spent my teen years in a house that overlooked a duck pond. The pond and surrounding farm area not only educated me about the…
If I don’t get this second tennis serve in, my partner and I will lose the game. I’ve double-faulted once before, so I need to focus. Really focus. I tighten up, clench the racket, and toss the ball. I bring…
Valentine’s Week is an ironic time to highlight a public figure of the 60s and 70s since our mystery icon, or M.I. for short, led a double life, betraying his wife and daughters while he had a secret 29-year love…
Last week I was at a gathering when a woman said the daughter of one of her clients gifted her with a trip to anywhere in the world. I sucked in a quick breath. Surrounding eyes grew wide or blinked…
Imagine waking up one morning with a high fever, severe chills, nausea, and diarrhea. You think it will pass, but you become incoherent and unresponsive. Your partner calls 911 and an ambulance rushes you to a hospital. You end up…
Swish! Memories of cross-country skiing down a mountain in the Tetons, a world silenced by sugary snow, miles of undisturbed white swells, oceans of sapphire blue sky. Pushing off, Skiing in the Porcupine Mountains, making the first tracks through pristine…
Last week’s column starred a mystery bird. This week I’m challenging you to guess a sea creature, one that played a trick on me and then gave me a cheeky smile. In the wild, Delphinapterus leucas lives in the cold…
As I stroll down a peaceful Wisconsin Dells road framed by giant pine trees, a high-pitched squeal draws my eyes upward. Can you guess which bird flies above me? It has a seven-foot wingspan and is heading toward the river…
I am cruising from Portage to Wisconsin Dells along the smooth stretch on Highway 16 when a police car that was half-hidden alongside the road pulls out and follows me. Maybe you know the feeling of having your stomach drop…