Memorial Day in Snug Harbor.

Smoky aromas drift across backyards mingling barbecued chicken and citronella in a fragrance that is uniquely American. Families gather to remember. Some groups are solemn, quiet, and tearful. Others are loud, raucous affairs with music and storytelling that brings a special cauterizing laughter that stings.

This holiday weekend, normally reserved to honor our military dead, feels more solemn for us since we lost Ransom, our Golden Retriever nephew, last month.

Hug your dog, throw the tennis ball, run, laugh, make the time count. And let him have a hot dog. That’s like the Fourth of July and Christmas all thrown together for a dog.

Remembering Ransom – Gallery of a great Golden

Category: Stuff   Tags: rainbow bridge, remembering ransom

A mean ghost is like a bad- tempered water balloon. And just as dangerous.

I recently stumbled across a cache of October photos that I had completely forgotten about. Lucky I didn’t break my neck.

Category: Halloween   Tags: mean ghost

A dark, gray, rainy day produces colors that don’t come out when it’s sunny. On a front porch in a cheerless corner, a worn leather coat hangs sadly over the back of an old chair; dirty white paint peels down the legs to reveal vermilion streaks like dried blood, glimpses of an earlier, less subdued era.

The world outside is cool, wet, shiny. Open a window and the damp rushes over your hands, across your face, smelling at once like rose petals and the black wormy soil beneath an overturned brick. A rich, green light reflects from the canopy above; heavy leaves weep. Water patters an irregular drumbeat at the bottom of a downspout and empties onto an ancient stone path, green and slippery with moss.

Category: Stuff   Tags: duck, rain

Is worth about a thousand mosquitoes an hour, which is the upper speed limit in some western states.

Category: Stuff   Tags: bats