I was checking up on a few things before heading for bed when I saw that Kenny Rankin, a singer-songwriter and awesome guitarist whom I have followed over the years, died earlier in the week from lung cancer. Here then, in the closing minutes of the day, I offer my gratitude for the music he…

When he first heard the words,he was the first to hear them:“You must be born again.”He was old and the metaphormuddled his mind: go backinto my mother’s womb–at this age? Jesus, however, was not aboutto forsake his role as midwife.There in the darkness, he calledthe old man to think of somethingother than dying, to let…

There are days I go out looking for words and, then, there are days that words come out looking for me, or at least stand hitchhiking by the road I’m on such that I can’t help but stop and pick them up. Today was a hitchhiking day. On my usual wandering through The Writer’s Almanac,…

Last year I published a book through Lulu.com called Seven Summers at the Beach that included poetry and recipes from this blog as a way of saying goodbye and thank you for our years in Massachusetts. Lulu was hard to find and the shipping charges were outlandish. This week, however, Lulu informed me that my…

we mark our seasons with changesnew menus for lunch and dinnerit’s the way we say goodbyeto strawberries and helloto the tomatoes, whoshow up only for summer the blueberries are coming inand both sweet corn andsweet onions; this is theseason of vegetables,and – oh, yes – peachesbut only for a short while I can say with…

Steve Earle has a new record of Townes Van Zandt covers, one of the more complicated artists and people on the current scene paying tribute to his even more complicated mentor. Between what I have been reading and listening to this evening there is much to unpack, and I’m running out of night in which…

On this Pentecost morning, I woke up thinking about this commercial. Yes, that’s right: this commercial. May the day be full of discovery and disquietude. Peace,Milton P.S. — There’s a new recipe.

I’m about a week and a half into the resurrection of the ritual of writing my Morning Pages and I’m already feeling a shift. I’m getting used to getting up and, other than making the coffee, letting those three handwritten pages be the first thing I do. Those scribbles are starting to shake up my…

It’s not somuch what I saybut what you hear – I can pick throughmy words like fruit,choosing what’sripe and ready – I can order themmeticulously, likemosaic tiles turningtiny chips of meaninginto a shining image – I can pack themlike pipe bombs, fullof all I know the worldneeds to explodewhat is wrong and leavepeace in the…

Walk into any professional kitchen and you will most likely find two things at a premium: knives and cutting boards. In fact, in many restaurants, it is customary for the chefs to provide their own knives. Practically, it means when you get a hold of a cutting board, you make the most of it –…