Sweet music to my ears

Those sweet little ahs, ehs, ohs, and nahs that little Jeremy Aaron used to make have taken on more mellifluous, syllabic cooing expression.
Now, it is really sounding like music to my ears when I hear Jeremy Aaron putting together two and three sounds in a row to come up with some [...]

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Rainy day in Paksong

What do you do on a chilly, rainy day in Paksong?
Stay inside and try to keep warm by cuddling up in a blanket.
It’s been raining steadily since early this morning. Not a heavy rain, more like a steady drizzle but it is quite chilly–quite chilly for Laos, but seems more like autumn in the Midwest. [...]

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Keep the home fires burning

After nearly a 45-minute delay leaving Bangkok (there was a problem with the fuel gauge on the Boeing 737) I arrive in Vientiane around 2:00, breeze through immigration formalities (I was the only person on the plane who had bothered to fill out the Visa on Arrival form) and after I exchange some Baht for [...]

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Twelve hours in Bangkok

Daejeon to Incheon; Incheon to Taipei and then onto Bangkok. In the morning, Bangkok to Vientiane and then on to Paksong.
The journey has started again. Miles and miles to go before I sleep; miles and miles to go before I am with my loved ones.
I’ve been up since yesterday morning and now in Bangkok, it [...]

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Ghosts of Christmas Past — A snowy night in the Illinois Valley

On a quiet, snowy Tuesday night in December 1980, I am sliding and fishtailing down Water Street on my way to Murphy’s Saloon where The Jerks are playing that evening.
It’s a good thing there are no other cars on the street-that runs through an industrial section of Peru, Illinois that in turn is located on [...]

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Happy Three-month Birthday, Jeremy Aaron

Three months ago today my world was forever changed when Jeremy Aaron entered it and ever since then every day has been a blessing.
And now I am just a few days away from holding my son in my arms again.
This morning I got to talk to him a lot. Of course, “talking to Jeremy Aaron” [...]

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The best Christmas toys…ever!

Next to Christmas, birthdays, summer vacation, Halloween and Thanksgiving, another day that kids looked forward to was either the day the Sears’ or J.C. Penny’s Christmas or “wish” catalog came out or the day you got to meet Santa Claus to tell him what you wanted that year.

In my case it was both—as soon [...]

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“Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree….”

I don’t remember the exact year that we went “artificial” with our Christmas tree, but it was most likely a year or two after mom had it out once and for all with a tree that refused to stand up straight.
Mom never had much luck when it came to choosing the best tree. I mean, [...]

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Boston Legal: I am going to miss it

For a little over a year now I have been a fan of the TV drama Boston Legal. From the first time I downloaded a show to watch I was hooked. Part of it was the ensemble cast of William Shatner as Denny Crane, James Spader as Alan Shore, Candice Bergen as Shirley Schmidt, John [...]

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Christmas in Korea

Originally written in 2007

In the seventeen plus years that I have lived and worked in Korea I have been witness to many changes both culturally and historically but none perhaps more noticeable—especially at this time of the year—than how the celebration of Christmas has evolved.

Just the other week I was running some errands downtown [...]

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