Today is the day after Labor Day. We visited the town of Ottawa yesterday. The town is about an hour drive south, near the terminus of the Fox River. Ottawa is the seat of Lasalle County and was the site of the first debate between Stephen A. Douglass and Abraham Lincoln in 1858. The…
Monday, the end of summer. The street is eerily quiet at State and 3rd in Geneva. At the hour of 7AM, there’s not the usual bustle. While driving to Starbucks I listened to a NPR piece covering the aftermath of hurricane Ida’s destruction on the coast of Louisiana. Several individuals were interviewed that formerly…
Yesterday we were privileged to have a guided tour of the Fabyan Estate home in Geneva, on the bank of the Fox River. George Fabyan, descendant of a wealthy Boston dry goods manufacturing family and his wife Nelle, purchased 300 acres in the early 1900s. The old farmhouse on the property was remodeled by…
Yesterday I took a late August bike ride. I followed the bike path along the Fox River from Batavia to Aurora. The asphalt path eased my fifteen mile journey, following the river under the trees, shaded from late summer sunlight. The journey concluded with a rest, reading for a while under a massive old…
Hungry, but not hungry enough to order a hotdog and fries. I ordered the hotdog. The man behind the counter about to swipe my card, inquired, “No fries?” That’s right I replied. I hate to throw out the fries, and that’s what will happen. “Ok” he said. I watched him compose the hotdog. A…
What do I owe future generations? That was the question of the evening for the Socrates Cafe group. We met again at Barnes & Noble. Everyone around the table wore a mask. It is yet unclear how truly effective the vaccine will be to protect us from the more contagious Delta virus. Surely this…
Yesterday was our last full day in Eagle River. We visited Lucy’s Diner for breakfast. Yes, Lucy’s is a bona fide diner, a diminutive dining room of perhaps eight tables, and a counter with a row of stools. We sat at the counter affording a view of the kitchen. My interest was captured by…
Another day East of Eden. There are times, when for a moment I think this is paradise, or better that it could be. Those are the times when my body and mind registers beauty or meaning. Almost always I am taken by surprise. If I am lucky, I have a pad and pen at…
This statue entitled Self-Made Man by sculptor Bobbie Carlyle is installed in front of Bar Evolution here in Batavia. I have occasion to walk by the statue often. The work prompts the sardonic thought that there is nothing that is self-made in this world. Homo Sapiens, humans are among the most complex and fragile…
I finished the essay by Maxwell Hyett of Western University. The essay is entitled Amateur Mortality. It was forwarded to me by a friend. Hyett treats Franco ‘Bifo’ Berardi’s three short meditations on the meanings, the possible outcomes of the covid pandemic, the quarantine, the masking up in public places, the social isolation which…
