Red's Wrap
Happiness. It's relative.
Category: Travel
At the End of a Long Dark Road There were Falling Leaves
Yesterday, I woke up in our camping van and pushed aside the window shade. Outside, the sun was rising and there was a gentle wind blowing. Every minute or so, a solitary red maple leaf would be let go by its tree and fall… Continue Reading “At the End of a Long Dark Road There were Falling Leaves”
Untethered in the Morning
The sun was just coming up when I leashed up the dogs to walk them down our long driveway in Grand Marais. The sunrise was soft above the far trees – yellow and orange, strands of pink. And I thought, “Morning has broken like… Continue Reading “Untethered in the Morning”
I Swam in the Big Blue
Down the beach, I see our neighbor swimmingHis gray head bobbing in the gentle wavesWhile he talks to his wife on the beachShe is collecting rocks, looking for agates, studying Then they switch, he comes on shore and she wades inI watch her in… Continue Reading “I Swam in the Big Blue”
Meeting Mary Shields
I think on this trip I am learning how to be old. Tonight I was talking with someone about Mary Oliver’s instructional book on poetry, how reading it depressed me because I’d wanted to think that poetry was so utterly an art. Every page… Continue Reading “Meeting Mary Shields”
The House in the Pole at the End of the Driveway Up North
At the end of our driveway, loosely termed because it is really just two tracks in the grass, is a very tall pole that was once one of two marking the entrance. The other pole long since fell over. There used to be a… Continue Reading “The House in the Pole at the End of the Driveway Up North”
A Bobbing Head in the Distance
When we stopped at the roadside park on U.S. 2 along Lake Michigan in the U.P., I saw a head bobbing pretty far out and I wondered whether the person was floating on a surfboard hoping to catch some tiny Great Lakes wave that… Continue Reading “A Bobbing Head in the Distance”
The Worst and Best Scenario
Everyone here is sleeping. It’s late afternoon in the summer. It’s what creatures do. I am texting with my husband who is canoeing with one of our sons on Sable Lake. He sends a picture of an eagle, a photo of our son paddling,… Continue Reading “The Worst and Best Scenario”
Canola and the Horse on the Hill
The yellow flowers carpeting sloping hills like a hand-stitched quilt spread over a four-poster bed is canola. The canola fields are a surprise every time they appear, their yellow like no other. I was stunned and happy to see each new field, if it… Continue Reading “Canola and the Horse on the Hill”
Indy Joy
The 2010 Indy 500 was hot. Not hot as in nice and sunny. Hot as in being inches from death, as in seeing the shimmer of Lawrence of Arabia on the horizon, clawing through the desert sands having already thrown off your shirt and… Continue Reading “Indy Joy”
Snow Door | wisconsinacademy.org
Listen to Jan read her essay “Billy” presented on WUWM’s Lake Effect
Jan’s essay “At the Breakfast Bar” on WUWM Lake Effect
Jan’s essay “The Parish Hall,” on WUWM Lake Effect
“Fury Cannot Touch Me,” Modern Love, NYT, 9/29/11
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