Pardon Power

Wednesday morning while walking the dog, Lori saw that a male deer had caught its antlers in the netting that hangs at the back of the driving range at the Denison Golf Club, and it was struggling mightily to free itself. I jogged across the street to see for myself, and realized that the animal was in serious jeopardy. So I went back to the house, grabbed the sharpest paring knife I could find, and jogged back through the parking lot of St. Edward the Confessor Catholic Church, as it was the straightest path to the trapped beast. As I approached, its struggles increased, hindquarters swinging around quickly when it reached the end of the snarled netting’s length.

I did not see any way that seemed remotely safe to single-handedly free the buck. Then a man from the church came up, and soon thereafter a Hittle Electric truck pulled up and two more men climbed out (one carrying an electric Sawzall-type device. These three men were able to grab the netting and pull the buck toward them - while keeping one of the support poles between themselves and the deer as it drew closer. The man with the Sawzall was able to cut a fair amount of the netting away, but the noise of the device agitated the deer. With the animal almost free the man who had been primarily restraining the buck was running out of strength. As the deer started to get lively again, the man asked me to step in and try to cut the last of the netting before he had to give up his effort. Thankfully, I was able to cut the last few strands and free the deer. It was pretty exhausted, and may have been too stressed to survive in the days ahead. But at least we gave it a chance at life. If we hadn’t freed it, the Granville Police were preparing to put it out of its misery by dispatching it with a gun.

Being “on the hook” to write an essay each week means that sometimes I struggle to find an interesting topic or theme to explore. As often as not these days, my struggle is to resist the urge to comment on the news of the day. I’ve done a good job of curating the quality and limiting the quantity of news that I take in, but one would have to be living under a rock to be unaware of the multiple killings of Minneapolis residents in the past couple of weeks by ICE agents. These killings sicken me.

I believe that ICE agents are regularly breaking laws with their actions - not just in their use of lethal force, but in their invasion of homes, their damage of property, and their assault and detainment of U.S. citizens. And I would suggest that these ICE agents are acting with impunity for one simple reason - they believe that Donald Trump will pardon them if they are ever convicted of federal crimes. In short, their actions can’t be illegal if they are being taken in service to the President, right?

It’s possible they have received verbal assurances to this effect. Such assurances really aren’t necessary, though. Donald Trump has already issued blanket clemency to nearly 1,600 people convicted of crimes related to the January 6th, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol building. It wouldn’t surprise me if some of the ICE agents in Minneapolis are among those that were exonerated.

All of this is to say that we have given the office of the U.S. Presidency power that we never believed would be used in the way it is being used today. So I would like to see some limits placed on the Presidential pardon power.

The people in the sub-zero streets of Minneapolis exercising their 1st Amendment rights to free speech are like those three men and me on Wednesday. They’ve gone outside to see if they can help correct something that should absolutely not be happening. And some of them have paid with their lives.

It’s hard to hold a criminal accountable if you cannot identify them. ICE agents wear masks, and the Department of Justice is doing everything it can to protect the anonymity of the agents involved in killing those U.S. citizens in Minneapolis.

Masks + Dept. of Justice abetting the crime + a President willing to pardon anyone who does his bidding = a recipe for abuse of federal power. It is the biggest threat to democracy I have ever witnessed.

I have plenty more thoughts regarding the motives behind this ICE activity and the most likely chain reaction of more horrible events that may occur, but this is enough for today.

I believe that our democracy will hold, because most of us are inclined to stop what we are doing and work together to help a struggling deer.

Sunday Supper

This One-Pot Cabbage Roll Soup caught my eye this week. Slow Cooker Butter Chicken sounds nice. This Winter Salad looks sturdy, and satisfying. And if you can get out of your driveway to buy the ingredients, this Pistachio White Hot Chocolate would be nice to sip while you read a book this Sunday.

Sunday Music

Here’s Guitarricadelafuente at the NPR Tiny Desk. Chance The Rapper, at a recent appearance on The Late Show, with Stephen Colbert. Madison Cunningham, performing “Wake” live in Boise recently. We lost Bob Weir recently. Here is his performance at the NPR Tiny Desk about five years ago. Enjoy!

If you know anyone who might like this essay, please share it with them. 



Have a great week ahead!  You can do anything you set your mind to. Let me know how I can help.


Peace & Love,

Recipes & Dishes

I have found a new podcast that I like, and am happy to share it with you now: Dialectic, which features long-form interviews led by Jackson Dahl with original people, across technology, media, business, and creativity. Earlier this week, in this conversation with philosopher C. Thi Nguyen, a metaphor arose that is my focus this essay. It is this: the distinction between Recipes and Dishes.

Food writer John Thorne is attributed with identifying this distinction. He says a recipe is a dead thing, a writing down of how something was made by someone once. And a dish is a live thing, an idea of balance in a creative cook’s head that gets remade anew each time. Creative cooks who are making dishes are typically better cooks.

It would be easy to interpret this observation as a judgment of recipes as being inferior. I do not embrace this interpretation, though I do agree with the distinction between recipes and dishes. I think that recipes play an important role in developing cooks. Countless are the times that I have sought out the perfect recipe, with the intention of creating the platonic ideal of a meal for friends and family. Cooking enough good recipes gives cooks the opportunity to learn the foundational principles underpinning them. It is the application of these principles that allows a cook to produce a Dish. Some of the best food I have ever made was done as improvisation, taking what was on hand and making it delicious by applying the principles I had gleaned from cooking good recipes over the years.

We often are eager to simply cut to the chase. Give me the outcome! Instead of reading the book, we choose to read the synopsis. Instead of building wealth by creating value for others, we play the lottery, or run a scam. Instead of using our immense power and influence to create lasting peace in the world, we accept someone else’s peace prize and hang it on our wall.

We lose sight of the value of the journey to the outcome. We must cook a lot of recipes before our dishes are consistently delicious. We must read a lot of books before we can write something compelling. We must serve others to build our net worth and our reputation.

The process of skill refinement, even if we never end up more than average, is valuable in and of itself. Pick a journey that looks interesting, and take the first step. Get in the weeds, dig into the nitty-gritty, and occasionally climb a tree to gain a higher-level perspective. Make sure the journey continues to be the right one for you. And just keep acquiring a deep understanding of foundational principles. It will serve you well.

Tangent: We were served extremely well by the staff at Agni Friday night. It was our first visit, to celebrate Frederick’s recent graduation from Case Western University. The tasting menu is pricey, but worth it. Consider it for your next milestone celebration. (Insider tip - if you can get a seat at the bar, the bar menu is fantastic and easier on your wallet.)

Sunday Supper

This Salmon w/ Braised Lentils will keep me on-track with my post-holiday dietary intentions. So too will these Chicken Pesto Meatballs. Teriyaki Tofu Bowls w/ Kimchi Mayo sound great. And these Breakfast Burritos look like a good way to start my day.

Sunday Music

Dolly Parton leads us forward with some of her friends in this rendition of Light Of A Clear Blue Morning. Here are the Jazzbois at the Village Underground London from this past November. Check out these kids who showed up at the NPR Tiny Desk. Lastly, here is Ana Vidovic performing classical guitar. Enjoy!

If you know anyone who might like this essay, please share it with them. 



Have a great week ahead!  You can do anything you set your mind to. Let me know how I can help.


Peace & Love,

Just In Case

Just in case

I don’t make it to the end of this year,

Here are a few things I want you to know.

I have loved every minute of this.

I love you.

Life is short. It can be repetitive and mundane to feed, clean and care for ourselves - but there’s never been a better time to learn, explore, experience life than right now.

Every single doubt I ever had about myself was a lie. Try to not lie to yourself (this is harder than it sounds).

Whatever happened to me doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is the present moment. Be fully here, now. Smile.

Your purpose in life is to help other people. Figure out who you’d like to help, and get to work.

You have everything you will ever need to have an amazing experience while you are here. Trust me on this.

Whenever you feel overwhelmed, see what you can simplify, delegate, defer, or systemize. Or, just take a nap.

You have no obligation to spend time with anyone. But I hope that you find a few that you never walk away from. Seeing life through the perspective of others adds richness to this journey.

I believe in the value of farting around.

The best way to honor me is to never dwell on any mistake. The past is the past. Move forward, with positive intention.

Your best will always be enough.

We’re not supposed to get everything that we want.

Take care of your body. It is a water-based starship that you are piloting through the universe. It will eventually fail you, and that may be the end of the ride.

I love you.

I have loved every minute of this.

—

I wrote this earlier this week, as a thought exercise - answering the question: “What would I want to convey to loved ones if I passed away unexpectedly?” Given the fact that a good friend of mine passed away New Year’s Day at the age of 61, and that Renee Good lost her life this week, it feels like a “just in case” letter is not a bad thing to draft if you are (like me) a person of a certain age.

Sunday Supper

This Baked Tofu w/ Peanut Sauce & and Coconut Lime Rice looks nice. And it’s never a bad time to make some Spaghetti & Meatballs. A Chopped Thai-Inspired Chicken Salad will keep me on the straight and narrow after holiday indulging.

Sunday Music

I think I shared this performance of I’m A Song by Stephen Wilson, Jr. earlier this year. It grabbed me again recently, so I share it again. His full set from Live At The Print Shop is here. What a distinctive performer. And here is an hour+ of Morning Coffee Grooves to start your Sunday right. Enjoy!

If you know anyone who might like this essay, please share it with them. 



Have a great week ahead!  You can do anything you set your mind to. Let me know how I can help.


Peace & Love,

Doubling Down

Happy New Year!

Our annual pork and sauerkraut feast came off without a hitch. January 1st is the only day each year when you can be certain of what we are eating. Lori and I did the math - we have executed the same New Year’s Day menu twenty-nine times so far. In line with Appalachian tradition, my mom always insisted that we include a dish featuring black-eyed peas for good luck. All these years, the black-eyed pea dish is the only item that has changed (it’s been hard to find one that people really liked). But we may have found a permanent answer to this issue: This Greek Black-Eyed Pea Salad was good enough that we just may stick with it in the years ahead. Sourcing the beans from Rancho Gordo didn’t hurt either.

In the quiet since the holiday, I’ve been spending a fair amount of time nailing down my vision for the year ahead. Last year I did a pretty good job of both identifying and driving the leading activities to create the outcomes for which I am striving. Sustainable growth only comes from focus on the proper leading activities.

No duh, right? But it can be harder than it sounds. I have been more guilty than I would like to admit to losing focus on this simple truth in two different ways: First, I am sometimes seduced by novelty. There is always a new way to do just about everything, and I am often drawn to these new ways - when the old way is simpler, and just as effective. Second, I get too focused on outcomes, losing sight of the fact that it is the leading activities that create those outcomes (in short, I become impatient.)

As I look into this New Year, I am realizing that I simply need to maintain (or even increase) my focus on the leading activities whose effectiveness is well-established. To the untrained, this may sound like “rinse, and repeat,” which could be boring. But I’ve been at this long enough to know that this is where the fun starts. This is the time to double down and get the growth flywheel turning faster.

No doubt I can refine what I’m doing, but my work does not require wholesale revision. I expect to learn and grow a lot - all while performing the same basic actions that made last year so good. Evolution, not revolution.

However you are approaching the game of life in the year ahead, I wish you much success!

Sunday Supper

Although I feel like I managed to be relatively moderate with my holiday indulgences, I did in fact indulge and so it is now time to rein in my approach to food. This Sticky Miso Salmon bowl looks good. We enjoyed these Red Curry Lentils this past weekend. This Steamed Halibut w/ Ginger looks nice. I would pair it with this Shaved Brussels Sprout Salad w/ Chickpeas.

Sunday Music

Here are the Milk Carton Kids, at the Ryman Theater in Nashville, Tennessee. Jeff Tweedy at World Cafe. And Prince, Live at the Los Angeles Forum in 2011. Enjoy!

If you know anyone who might like this essay, please share it with them. 



Have a great week ahead!  You can do anything you set your mind to. Let me know how I can help.


Peace & Love,

From Both Ends

This has been a wonderful, unplugged holiday week. It all unfolded at a comfortable pace - from grocery shopping, to food prep, to numerous phone calls and brief get-togethers with friends leading up to Christmas. Christmas morning was super fun and carefree, untethered to the clock. After the gifts were opened, I mostly cooked and cleaned in the kitchen, but it felt unhurried. It felt luxurious to have the time to really focus on executing the meal. I cooked far too much food for just the four of us, but we’ve been enjoying the leftovers ever since.

The day after Christmas was consumed by an efficient but demanding trip to Cleveland to reclaim our youngest’s furniture and finalize his exit from the Cleveland Heights apartment that served him well these past two years. I pulled out in the U-Haul truck from Newark at 7:20am and returned it prior to 6pm. Our ability to repatriate our boy without his possessions filling the house with clutter was a testament to our earlier work done this Fall to clean the basement and garage. It felt nice to tuck him so easily back into the “mothership.” However easy it looked, it still required a large amount of energy. We crashed hard Friday night. Thankfully, Saturday was a leisurely gathering with my sister and sister-in-law, where we exchanged Christmas gifts and continued to eat through the reheated Christmas menu. (The Swedish meatballs have only gotten better with time.)

With the exception of New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, my time between now and January 5th will be focused on reflection and goal setting for the year ahead. I feel really good about how this year played out, and want to continue the momentum in 2026. Lots of factors (including luck) played into how things went, but this year confirms that I have become better at planning, setting smart goals, and maintaining focus on their execution.

The traditional approach (the one I use to coach my clients as they implement EOS tools and disciplines into their businesses) is to look out into the future (10+ years, typically), and clarify what exactly we are trying to make happen, and then reverse engineer ourselves back into a 3-year picture, a 1-year plan, and quarterly priorities called “Rocks.” Visualizing our desired future, and then getting very specific about what needs to happen at these different intervals along the way allows us to create a very clear picture of the future we are building. And directly ties today’s actions to making that vision a reality. This approach is highly effective - I’ve seen it work for my clients, and heard many anecdotes from my fellow EOS Implementers supporting it.

But during the quiet of these next few days, it will also be helpful to take the opposite approach - to consider my present habits, routines and rituals and extrapolate out into the future, to honestly assess whether they can support the types of outcomes I am trying to generate. To a large degree, I feel like I’ve done a solid job of “controlling the controllables,” especially in terms of getting good sleep, exercising, eating well, and reading. Accomplishing large goals only happens through the accumulation of thousands of smaller actions.

All we can do is to act with focus, regularly reflect to evaluate our progress, adjust our plans and keep going. Whether or not I achieve exactly what I am picturing in my mind’s eye is less important to me than it is to be highly intentional with how I use my precious time and energy. This is what is meant by “enjoying the journey,” I think. I have truly enjoyed the process of pursuing my vision, and I want to be able to say it again this time next year.

Sunday Supper

These Red Curry Chicken & Rice Bowls look like a nice change of pace. This Cabbage Salad would be good, especially if paired with some roasted chicken thighs. Here’s a bunch of ideas for New Year’s Eve nibbles, if you re looking for inspiration.

Sunday Music

Here is a full concert featuring Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, a Baltimore funk jam band. Rick Beato is a person whose views I value in the word of music - here are his Top Ten Songs of 2025. Here is Chet Baker, Live at Ronnie Scott’s. Lastly, this recent winter solstice performance by Ólafur Arnalds and friends in Reykjavik might be a nice way to ring in the New Year. Enjoy!

If you know anyone who might like this essay, please share it with them. 



Have a great week ahead!  You can do anything you set your mind to. Let me know how I can help.


Peace & Love,

Free To Let Go

How I’m feeling right now reminds me of the “Season of No.” I forget exactly when this happened, but I remember when our firstborn started taking charge of his life. Up until that point, whenever I asked him “Hey it’s time to sign up for soccer/Scouts/piano/etc - should I sign you up?”, he had always been an easy “yes” in response. Some time in the Middle School age range was when he first delivered a “no.” It must have been exhilarating for him, because a string of “no”s followed the rest of that year.

By that point in parenthood, I had matured enough to recognize a developmental flexion point when I saw it. So I didn’t try to pressure him back into “Yesville.” I let him exercise his agency, and eventually he started choosing his own activities, without suggestions from me. This holiday season I’ve been exercising my own agency a bit, and it has resulted in m enjoying these weeks since Thankgiving more than I otherwise might have.

In the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, I could feel that familiar sense of dread about the impending mad dash sprint to the year’s end. That sense of busting my ass and still falling short of whatever Rockwellian ideal of Christmas I had in mind. The stress of overcommitment, the missing of dead loved ones - I wanted nothing to do with this. All of it ending with me feeling exhausted and ready to return to “normal” life.

Not this year. I got out ahead of this, and told myself “Whatever you choose to do will be enough.” And it has been. One common source of overcommitment: cooking. As someone who loves to cook, of course I would love to make something special to share with friends, clients and loved ones. I started to tiptoe down this path, intending to make a few batches of Chex Mix. When the weekend after Thanksgiving came and went with no Chex Mix produced, the stress started to mount. So I pivoted. To use a phrase coined by Dan Sullivan, I shifted my thinking to “Who, Not How” - I have friends who own catering businesses. I thought that maybe one of them could produce some Chex Mix for me in one of their big, commercial convection ovens. It turns out one of them was glad to do this. I’ve already added a date to my 2026 calendar to start the Chex Mix planning process sooner next year, perhaps making a couple of different recipes. Ahhh…the easing of this self-imposed pressure. Sublime.

It turns out that just because you have done certain things in certain ways for some period of time does not mandate that you always do them that way - or at all, for that matter. I was living in a prison of my own design and production. I had the key to the door the entire time.

It might be true that in some ways I am taking this Christmas “off.” Perhaps next year, or some Christmas in the future I will return to doing some of the things that I have done in the past around the holidays. If so, it will be because I want to, not because I have to. As I type this, I know how basic and obvious this all looks here on my compute screen. Somehow these patterns, and these mental maps develop a momentum all of their own. Unless we consciously press “pause” and re-examine our assumptions can we prevent this momentum from carrying us into the territory of unwanted obligation.

I hope you are enjoying these holidays. Celebrate them however you wish.

Sunday Supper

We have decided to go with a Nordic theme for our Christmas menu this year, a throwback to the fantastic family trip we enjoyed back in July. Some of the recipes are coming from a cookbook we have on hand, but these web-available versions are approximately what we will be whipping up. Swedish Meatballs. Finnish Salmon Soup (Lohikeitto). Roasted Carrots w/ Whipped Tahini. Baked Mushrooms w/ White Beans. Pickled Beets. Egg Salad w/ Dill. Red Cabbage Slaw w/ Carrots & Beets. Chocolate Pots de Creme. To spare the kitchen, on Christmas Eve we will be ordering takeout from Ammar India restaurant in Zanesville. This restaurant is run by the same people who ran the Shan E Punjab Dhaba food truck down in Hebron for the past few years (sadly, the truck is no longer operating there).

Sunday Music

Who doesn’t love A Charlie Brown Christmas? Cynthia Erivo’s performance of Nothing Compares 2 U at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Los Hacheros at the NPR Tiny Desk. Enjoy!

If you know anyone who might like this essay, please share it with them. 



Have a great week ahead!  You can do anything you set your mind to. Let me know how I can help.


Peace & Love,

Annual Conversation

A few weeks back, Lori and I decided to schedule an overnight visit to the Inn at Honey Run, just outside of Millersburg in Amish country. The primary intent was to exit the hustle and bustle of the holidays, relax, and have the time and space to do some planning for the New Year. As the date snuck up on us, life was truly hustling and bustling - holiday party invitations, plus lots of pressing work to do on the professional front all converged to make us feel slightly crazy for sticking with the plan and driving up Route 62 yesterday. But I’m so glad that we did.

First off, I am glad to unplug and reflect. Life has been full, to the point of testing the limits of my energy. It’s all stuff that I love doing, and am so grateful, but sometimes it hits all at once. One thing on my mind during the drive up was simply: What bumpers or scheduling rules could I put in place next year to eliminate (or reduce) the chance of placing myself in the middle of an overly demanding gauntlet of commitments? How can I spread things out a little more, allowing for time to recharge between the big days?

Then there was the matter of ensuring that we made time for adventure with each other. Some exciting things are afoot for next year. Finalizing these plans, blocking the days out now so that we can protect them, was important to ensuring that they happen - and exciting to think about. (Half the fun of adventure is the anticipation of it, I think. I love having fun things to look forward to.) I also intend to honor more No Work days. Giving myself permission to not work is essential to maintaining a high level of energy, and also allows for clearer thinking.

We talked about our finances, and how to make our financial life run smoother in the year ahead. We basically asked and answered the question “A year from now, what needs to have happened for us to feel great about 2026?” It feels good to be on the same page with the answers to this question.

It’s impossible not to reflect on our good fortune. This year has been great. The odds of next year being great went up significantly, thanks to our thinking ahead about it. We are making the most of our good fortune, living a rich life.

There is plenty of work to be done to put 2025 to bed, and ensure that I hit the ground running on January 2nd, but I am looking forward to the world slowing down and allowing me to do these things and enjoy my family in the days ahead.

I hope the same for you, too! This kind of annual conversation needn’t require an overnight stay in Amish country. It could be done in a coffee shop, or one of those co-working spaces if you want some privacy and more room to spread out. However you do it, a few hours of thinking and conversation can set yourself up for a great New Year.

A food note: We’ve visited the Inn At Honey Run a few times over the years, and each time the food in their restaurant, Tarragon, has been excellent. Maintaining this excellence in a relatively remote area in Ohio is no small feat. It is well worth a visit, for the food alone!

Sunday Supper

This winter weather means we need some warm, comforting food. Try this Ginger-Garlic Shrimp With Coconut Milk, or this Cajun Gumbo. Tuck into this Slow Cooker Sunday Sauce after shoveling the driveway. A Molten Chocolate Mug Cake will make you feel all cozy as well.

Sunday Music

The great Joshua Redman performed a full set at Emmet’s Place! Tom Waits performs Innocent When You Dream, with Eddie Vedder at a benefit concert in 1998. Billy Strings brought his bluegrass artistry to the NPR Tiny Desk recently. And, lastly, comedian Anthony Jeselnik shares his ten favorite books of 2025. Enjoy!

If you know anyone who might like this essay, please share it with them. 



Have a great week ahead!  You can do anything you set your mind to. Let me know how I can help.


Peace & Love,

Power Position

Welcome to the holidays!  Just a few weeks left in this year.  Annual reflections are still to come, but not this week.   Granville’s Candlelight Walking Tour happened last night, and it was everything one could want in terms of getting in the holiday spirit.  On top of the tour, one of our local football programs played for the Big Ten Championship last night, which made being in downtown Granville even more lively.

I’ve been listening to the audio version of Brené Brown’s latest book, Strong Ground.  The audio version is read by the author, and I highly recommend it.  Today I want to share a framework from that book that relates to power and how it is used.  There is much more to it than this brief skeleton of the idea that I share here, so seek it out to go deeper if it resonates.  Ok, here it is:

Power Over:  This is traditional, hierarchical power - using authority, control, or dominance to influence others. It's about having power that others don't have and using it to direct their actions. While sometimes necessary in certain contexts, Brown notes this approach often breeds resentment, resistance, and disengagement when overused.

Power With: This represents collaborative, shared power - working alongside others as equals to achieve common goals. It emphasizes partnership, mutual respect, and collective decision-making. This approach builds trust and sustainable relationships because everyone has a voice and stake in outcomes.

Power To: This is about empowering others - using your influence to help people recognize and develop their own capabilities. Leaders with "power to" focus on building others' confidence, skills, and autonomy rather than maintaining control. It's essentially about giving power away to strengthen the whole.

Power Within: This refers to personal power - your own sense of self-worth, confidence, and ability to act according to your values. It's about knowing who you are, what you stand for, and having the courage to show up authentically. Brown emphasizes this as foundational because you can't effectively share power with others if you don't have a strong sense of your own.

Brown stresses the importance of understanding when each type is appropriate, and suggests that we should strive to minimize "power over" approaches in favor of the more collaborative and empowering forms, for a range of valid reasons that I won’t go into here.

It has made me more mindful of how I use my power, and it helps understand other leaders based on how they use theirs.

Sunday Supper

Today looks to be a quiet day at home, so I am inclined to roast a large hunk of meat.  This Korean Style Pot Roast is right up my alley.  This Philly Roast Pork Sandwich looks amazing.  This Salsa Verde Chicken Tortilla Bowl would also be wonderful.

Sunday Music

Jason Isbell recently rejoined the Drive-By Truckers on the Late Show for this performance of Hell No, I Ain’t Happy.  Brandi Carlile returned to the NPR Tiny Desk this week.  Here is an 11-hour playlist of Christmas Jazz Instrumental Music.  And, lastly, this is not music, but it beautiful and thoughtful - here is writer Robert Arnold reading his essay The Big Box of Crayons.  Enjoy!

If you know anyone who might like this essay, please share it with them. 

Have a great week ahead!  You can do anything you set your mind to.  Let me know how I can help.

Peace & Love,

Chill, Dude

I started to relax around 9:30am Thanksgiving morning. I made a double batch of that Apple Cider - Bourbon punch, and stepped out into the driveway to watch the Turkey Trotters cruise by. Up until that point, I was locked into Planning Mode, intent on serving the holiday meal at 3pm. Every hour for the rest of the day had a specific mission. Prep the Corn Bake. Light the grill. Make the herb mayo. A chain reaction that culminates in the culinary equivalent of splitting the atom - a perfectly-executed holiday meal, with friends and family.

But the bourbon started to flow, the conversations with all of my friends as they trotted by…the schedule became less important. I was still diligent, I kept at the tasks of preparing the meal. But I was less focused on the clock. Which worked out, because an additional two or three dishes arrived that required precious oven time. Oven time that was already allocated. Thank God I decided to cook the turkey on the grill! I moved the finishing of the sweet potato pavé to the stovetop (where it quickly delaminated, separating into a delicious mush).

Things happened when they happened. We all had a great time. Everything was delicious. The food was just one dimension of the day. We crashed hard, going to bed early Thursday night. Friday morning, I attacked the rest of the dirty dishes and pans, fully reclaiming the kitchen. At 1pm, we piled into the car and drove into Columbus. We picked up our friend in Italian Village, then headed south to German Village. We went to The Book Loft, where we met every single book reader from the Columbus metropolitan area. I could have smooched thirty dozen people as we scooched past each other in the narrow hallways and staircases of this famous store.

Some coffee at the adjacent cafe, followed by a casual stroll to Schiller Park had me thinking of Granny Bell, who grew up in this part of town. I wondered where her childhood home was. The homes around the park are wonderful - I had to consult Zillow to settle a difference of opinion regarding their market value. We arrived at Cobra Bar exactly at opening time, 4pm. They served us perfect cocktails, and perfect food. Truly - the burger was world-class, the French fries crunchy and fluffy and potatoey. Popcorn chicken, Asian dumplings - it was all great. Then we scooted home.

Saturday was The Game. I rucked five miles in the morning, then shuffled over to Three Tigers (my go-to joint to watch all the big games). Three pints of pilsner, one Rueben burger and one Buckeye victory later, and I shuffled home.

These three days of go-with-the-flowiness were not completely planned, but embraced as they unfolded. Well, mostly embraced. There will always be a part of me that looks forward to holidays as opportunities to get more work done while the rest of the world takes a break. Even though that was my “Plan A,” I’m glad that I went with Plan B instead this holiday weekend.

Sunday Supper

There is nothing more simple and satisfying than a good pot of pinto beans and ham with some cornbread. Throw some chicken on this Italian Brussels Sprout Salad and atone for some of your Thanksgiving overindulgence. This Slow Cooker Hoisin Garlic Chicken will do nicely as well.

Sunday Music

Bill Evans, 1966. Jon Cleary & The Absolute Monster Gentlemen, from just this past Friday. And here’s Alison Krauss & Union Station from earlier this Fall. Enjoy!

If you know anyone who might like this essay, please share it with them. 



Have a great week ahead!  You can do anything you set your mind to. Let me know how I can help.


Peace & Love,

Thanksgiving 2025

What a lovely week it has been. My schedule allowed me to be home for the most part, which allowed for good, focused work, near daily visits to the gym, and consistent time spent with Rosie - who is growing up so fast and is a very good girl. The cherry on top was a solid week of sound 7+ hour sleep each night. If you want improve your mind state, getting good sleep is probably the surest way to do this.

I’m really looking forward to Thanksgiving. The boys will be home soon. I made a double batch of these pumpkin cookies, putting them in the freezer to enjoy on Thursday. So the wonderful aromas have already begun to waft from our kitchen. Today the tantalizing smell will be from the cinnamon simple syrup I am prepping in support of this Apple Cider Bourbon Punch recipe.

Turkey Trotters who are in-the-know can consider our driveway a cocktail aid station of sorts. Given the chilly temperatures predicted, I may pivot and serve these beverages hot rather than on ice. It’s so fun to see the entire village glide past our house. It conjures the notion of a weird melding of Fred Rogers and Mussolini - all of my neighbors, filing by in a long parade, and we exchange pleasantries as they go by. “Hi, neighbor! Look at you, running so fast. I’m proud of you. Here - have a hot toddy.”

A day to reflect on the many blessings in our lives. A day when everyone is welcome at our table. A day when we have the time to dice, chop, stir, and taste - to produce delicious food, with intention. I am so lucky that I grew up in a household where this type of cooking was done most days of the year. I am so lucky to be able to continue this approach to eating.

Reheating leftovers, recombining them into new and interesting forms. Hanging out, catching up, napping, farting around. Thanksgiving had to be Kurt Vonnegut’s favorite holiday, too - right? “We are here on Earth to fart around, and don’t let anybody tell you different.”

Cheers to a week focused on our true purpose.

Sunday Supper

Here are fourteen low-impact rice bowl recipes that won’t wreck the kitchen as you prepare for the big feast. These easy casseroles are a good way to feed a crowd. And here are twenty five ideas for repurposing your Thanksgiving leftovers.

Sunday Music

This performance by Marcus King at the Blue Note Los Angeles grooves hard. Here is more than three hours of live performances at The Fallout Shelter. And here is more than an hour of electro, chill, hypnotic sounds if that is more your vibe. Enjoy!

If you know anyone who might like this essay, please share it with them. 



Have a great week ahead!  You can do anything you set your mind to. Let me know how I can help.


Peace & Love,

Surgical Food Strike

The Silver Maples have given up their leaves for the year. I was able to do a final gathering of them this weekend, placing them out at the road for municipal collection. I also put away the last few items that lingered in the garage, so now Lori can park her car in there as well. When the boys pull in the driveway for Thanksgiving, they will naturally assume that no one is home. The cars couldn’t be in the garage, could they?

I returned home late Friday night from Detroit, having attended another quarterly gathering of EOS Implementers. As sometimes happens, I went into this meeting feeling a bit scattered and unsure how much takeaway value I would realize from the meeting. Of course, I left with more focus and energy for the future. As always, a good recurring lesson - honoring one day each quarter, to re-set ourselves, get re-grounded in our long-term vision and identify obvious next actions is a fundamentally good thing to do. Of course the only reason those next actions seem “obvious” is because we take the time to get out of the day-to-day, surround ourselves with intelligent peers and think clearly, without distraction for a few hours.

Waking a bit groggy Saturday morning after a fast, full week, our first order of business was to plan our grocery list, so that we could cook some food for three different friends who are having (or have already had) surgery. It’s such a simple gesture, to help a friend to eat well while they convalesce. I am always happy to do this. The fact that we were doing it for three people at once was a bonus, because I love the efficiency gained from cooking a big batch of something. We ended up making lasagna. I hope that our friends recover quickly, so we can break bread around the same table again soon.

Ray Ray’s announced this week that they were closing three locations. Such announcements by anyone whose business is to feed people always breaks my heart. But Ray Ray’s is still in the game - regrouping, not tapping out. I look forward to the Smoked Turkey Breast I have ordered from them for Thanksgiving Day. They will cook that bird far better than I can, freeing up my oven for more delicious side items. Cheers to James for taking the decisive (if painful) action to scale back.

This time next weekend I will be deep into Thanksgiving meal planning. Between now and then it will be almost pure ideation. But come next Saturday, the menu will be set, and a schedule for shopping, prepping and cooking everything will be drafted. Come Thanksgiving Day, I want everything to glide like a magic carpet, popping a few things in the oven at their appointed times, setting the table, playing some nice music and hanging out with friends and family all day. Throw in a long hike, and it will be perfect.

Sunday Supper

This is the Lasagna that we made for our friends this weekend. These Chicken Enchiladas were considered as well (we decided they wouldn’t freeze as well). This Spicy Chipotle Honey Salmon Rice Salad looks both healthy and flavorful. These Rosemary & Dried Cherry Pork Chops feel very Fall-like (plus, Bon Appetite dropped their paywall!).

Sunday Music

Ben Folds is playing tonight at the Midland Theater. Here is a performance of his from Australia (I don’t think he’s bringing a full orchestra with him this evening). Here is the great Diana Krall doing her thing in Paris a few years back. Lastly this week here is STELLA, performing on a New York City rooftop. Enjoy!

If you know anyone who might like this essay, please share it with them. 



Have a great week ahead!  You can do anything you set your mind to. Let me know how I can help.


Peace & Love,

Cleaning Out The Garage

“Schedule dumpster for 9/26.” A project that I had assigned myself back in August, the dumpster didn’t actually get dropped in my driveway until November 4th. My cousin Myra’s passing, EO Columbus’ big Momentum event was coming up…a number of things in my life forced me to continue delaying this project. But it got done this week.

The dumpster was scheduled to be dropped on Friday, but it somehow appeared on Tuesday, mid-day when Lori and I returned home from visiting Rosie for one of our “train the owner” sessions at Joel Slavin’s Dog Lodge. I left soon thereafter for the EO event, which consumed the rest of my Tuesday.

I was working on my laptop in the back room on Wednesday morning, and thought I heard a cat meowing. Unsure whether it was actually an odd bird calling out, I ignored it for a while. But eventually a sufficiently clear “meow” reached my ears, and it dawned on me: “Oh, there must be a cat in the dumpster.” So I slid on some shoes and went outside to investigate. There in the bottom of an empty dumpster sat two little kittens. SO cute. It was chilly, and they were small and certainly hungry. So Lori and I relocated Rosie’s crate into our basement and then I climbed into the dumpster to capture them. By some miracle of Facebook finding the right people at the right time, these two little scalawags were adopted before sundown. Because they were willing and able to take the kittens, I made a $100 donation to Whiskers Animal Rescue out of gratitude even though we found a home for the kittens ourselves. What a service it is, to take in abandoned pets. Lori and I were not really in a position to care for these kittens for the long-term. It was a relief knowing that if our own efforts to find them a home fell through that Whiskers would be the caretaker of last resort. Lori and I spent the last couple of daylight hours on Wednesday starting the process of pitching things into the dumpster.

Thursday and Friday kind of came and went for me, though Lori was able to clean and organize portions of our basement (thus making room to accommodate some stuff from the garage). Saturday was Go Time. Lori was off on a half-day hike and Rosie had returned home from her obedience training on Thursday. So I attached Rosie to a lead in our front yard and got to work. By 3pm or so, the garage was devoid of everything. The cobwebs had been knocked down, the floor swept and finally the entire space received a gusty refresh courtesy of my backpack leaf blower. Tabula Rasa.

It was not convenient. It was not fun. In the end, it was satisfying. Cathartic, also. The stuff in the garage had been levying a tax on me for a long time. It’s probably been nine years since I parked a car in that garage. Too cheap to rent a storage unit, too scared to say goodbye to some of the items in there, the garage was charging interest on my inability to process these belongings, and the memories tied to some of them. The table that my parents had refinished. The Maamos Kitchen illuminated sign. My mom’s little PVC-framed greenhouse.

As the rain drops hit my roof here this Sunday morning, I’m so glad that I leaned into this work yesterday. I would have been miserable doing it today. We own things, but these things own us, too. We have to maintain them, use them, or they just gather dust and eventually become useless to anyone. Somehow we improvised around all of the curveballs that arose this week and got it done. When the snow flies in a few weeks, I will be so glad that our cars are sheltered in the garage.

Sunday Supper

This Ginger Chicken & Rice w/ Zucchini soup will warm you up on this wet, cool day. I’m starting to think about the Thanksgiving meal. Once again I think I’m going to lean on Ray Ray’s for the protein - their smoked turkey breast and smoked pit ham are so good that I just can’t bring myself to consume precious oven time and space to take this on myself. Instead, I’m focusing on making a lot of great side items. Christina Tosi’s Corn Bake looks great, as does this Red Cabbage with Walnuts & Feta. Rather than creamed spinach, how about Creamed Kale? This French Onion Soup Tarte Tartin looks very interesting. Instead of mashed potatoes I’m (gasp) flirting with the idea of prepping a Potato Pavé ahead of time, then browning it off on Thanksgiving. Hopefully this sparks some holiday meal ideas for you.

Sunday Music

When the Doobie Brothers visit NPR’s Tiny Desk, we listen. Emily King brings an entirely different (and beautiful) performance to the same space. To wrap things up this week, I share with you Jazzbois playing a recent set in Montreal. Enjoy!

If you know anyone who might like this essay, please share it with them. 



Have a great week ahead!  You can do anything you set your mind to. Let me know how I can help.


Peace & Love,

Common Knowledge

Yesterday the cool, windless Fall weather made it easy to collect the leaves and stage them out by the road last night. The White Chicken Chili that Lori made was the perfect evening meal. This has actually been a big chili weekend. Friday night’s social gathering involved a chili potluck. I saw fit to enjoy Skyline Chili for lunch, while the Buckeyes handled their business against Penn State. And then Lori’s chili last night…I’m here for it. As with every season, we need to distance ourselves from certain dishes in order to enjoy them anew.

I have come to understand that this fatigue/renewal cycle extends beyond just the sense memory of taste. Sometimes we forget knowledge, facts, important things, and we need to re-learn them. This happens both individually and collectively at the level of community/society.

When a community “forgets,” some members of the community actually still remember - but not enough remember for it to remain as “common knowledge” at the community level. I’m not sure what the percentage is, but once we lose it, the common knowledge for that subject becomes debatable, rather than broadly accepted as true.

Here are some things that are no longer common knowledge, at least at the level that they once were:

• We have forgotten what our civic duties are.

• We have forgotten that we can only spend beyond our income for so long before going insolvent.

• We have forgotten that we can only experience community-wide benefits from vaccines when most of us take them.

• We no longer recall just how horrible World War II and fascism were.

• We have forgotten how wrong the ideas underpinning white supremacy are.

• We have forgotten what it feels like to be hungry.

• We have forgotten that might doesn’t automatically make right.

• We have forgotten that lying is bad, and counterproductive.

• We have forgotten how inconvenient and uncomfortable it is to live under autocratic control.

• We have forgotten what it means to be a good ally.

• We have forgotten that tariffs function as taxes on consumers.

• We have forgotten that we need experts, because we can’t know everything ourselves.

We have collectively forgotten many things. In this collective forgetting, there are still those who retain the knowledge - and they are trying to remind us of what we once knew.

Truth isn’t going anywhere, though. Truth is undefeated.

This phenomenon of collectively forgetting important lessons is best explained perhaps by the author G. Michael Hopf in this quote “Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.” We’ve had quite a run of good times, but difficulties are returning.

As the leaves and air temperatures drop, I am preparing for an especially cold winter. I have some sadness around the fact that we are retracing some of these fundamental steps. Humans are inefficient, yet we do make undeniable progress.

We are known for helping each other, for working together. This is how we transcended all the other species on this planet. As we transition to harder times, let’s work together.

Sunday Supper

This Texas-Style Chili was my contribution to Friday’s potluck. This Baked Kale Rice w/ Halloumi looks very satisfying. This Chicken au Poivre sounds delightful, and pairs well with this White Bean Salad w/ Fennel & Celery.

Sunday Music

Here Mumford & Sons cover Nine Inch Nails’ song, Hurt. Here is Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers performing Learning To Fly at Bonnaroo 12 years ago. Lastly, here is GoGo Penguin, Live in Manchester. Enjoy!

If you know anyone who might like this essay, please share it with them. 



Have a great week ahead!  You can do anything you set your mind to. Let me know how I can help.


Peace & Love,

This Old House

We’ve lived in this house for 21 years. One reason that we chose it is because it was move-in ready. With both Lori and I working hard building our careers, we had neither the time nor the money to buy this house and then immediately renovate it. We’ve updated mechanicals, roofing materials, and even refinished the kitchen floor once over the years. We’ve painted some walls and replaced most of the appliances along the way.

It’s time for something more substantial. With the boys mostly off of “the payroll” and the last tuition payment sent out, we now are in a position to start saving for a major renovation to this place. Whatever we do, we want to pay for it with cash rather than financing it. Our mortgage rate is low, and we don’t want to rent money at a higher rate - either in the form of an entirely new mortgage, or a home equity line of credit. So, we’re setting cash aside, and dreaming when we have a few moments to spare.

Zillow says that the house was built in 1835. At some point, the foundation was jacked up and two courses of block laid on top of the original stone foundation, turning the cellar into a basement suited for short people. The house has had multiple additions over the years. There are hand-hewn beams supporting the first floor in the oldest part of the house.

When Freddie went off to college, the thought experiment of “what are the criteria for the ideal living situation” began. We have no idea where our children will end up living, and we’re not inclined to try and follow them around. Instead, let’s make sure we have ready access to a decent airport. The ability to move around without a car is appealing. Plenty of good restaurants, cultural events, outdoor activities…all of these would be pluses. When we run down the list, the status quo looks pretty good.

But the house needs attention, and the whole notion feels like a slippery slope. This project is definitely going to be more than a simple refresh. The windows need to be replaced. And if we’re going to live here another 20+ years, an enhanced 1st floor master, including a laundry is warranted.

Exactly what our plan looks like depends primarily on how big of a war chest we can amass. This depends on how patient we can be, and also on how urgently certain things need to be done around here.

It seems certain that we will have to vacate the premises while the work takes place. Moving out (and putting our belongings into storage) will be a great forcing function for purging the non-essential. When we move back in, we will be lean and mean, in terms of having no unnecessary possessions. The notion of slimming down in this way resonates, given all of the eldercare experiences we have had.

Picking the right partner(s) seems critically important. I can think of no more stressful scenario than being part-way through a project like this and having a contractor flake out, or having some major disagreement arise. If anyone reading this has direct experience with a project like this, I’d love to pick your brain sometime for how you navigated the complexity of it all.

So, it’s exciting to think about how good the end result will be. And scary to think about the twists, turns and challenges that may lie between here and there. This feels like it could be our last big project. I want to get it right - not just because the stakes feel high, but because I’m acutely aware that the future owner of this house will have to live with our decisions.

Sunday Supper

I made these Coq Au Vin Meatballs last night, and they are delicious. This Autumn Lasagna seems warm and cozy, like a Fall sweater. I may have shared this before, but since I’m making this tomorrow I will share this Slow Cooker Mongolian Beef recipe. It will percolate all day, which will smell wonderful.

Sunday Music

Here is Australia’s answer to a boy band - the talented Parcels, at the NPR Tiny Desk. Billy Preston & Eric Clapton performing Billy’s Will It Go Round In Circles? I am a huge fan of Margaret Glaspy - here she is covering John Fogarty’s Have You Ever Seen The Rain? And here is Margaret’s uber-talented husband, Julian Lage in a full, hour+ performance in Bristol, England for your Sunday listening pleasure. Enjoy!

If you know anyone who might like this essay, please share it with them. 



Have a great week ahead!  You can do anything you set your mind to. Let me know how I can help.


Peace & Love,

One Day

The lawnmower was humming. I had just enough time to finish cutting the grass and take a quick shower before heading into Columbus to see dear friends for food and fellowship. The collection bag was full, so I cut off the engine and removed the bag, shaking its contents into the other leaves that I had gathered and set out at the road for municipal collection.

An older man in a red pickup truck had pulled in to my neighbor’s driveway, clearly wanting to speak with me. I walked up to his truck, and he asked me for directions. The location he was seeking was on the west side of Columbus, some 45 minutes away. When I told him this, he was surprised, flustered, and looked to be disappointed at the news that he was so far from his destination. As we talked, it became clear to me that he was confused.

He didn’t have a phone, or a map. And I didn’t have any faith that he would remember my verbal directions to get him home. So I invited him to park his car, come in and meet Lori and we would figure out a way to help him navigate home. As he was parking his truck, I popped into the house, giving Lori a heads-up that we may have a person with dementia who needs our help.

I quickly finished mowing the grass and returned to the house. Lori and I agreed that the best approach to getting him home safely was for me to accompany him in his truck, while we followed her as she drove our car. That way if we got separated, I would still be on hand to navigate to our destination. When I explained this plan to the man, he balked. He didn’t think it was warranted for me to accompany him. He felt fully capable of staying on our tail and following us home.

Concerned that his self-assessment may be far from reality, Lori and I decided that speaking with the police about our concerns was the best next step. We didn’t want him or anyone to be injured if he returned to roadways, following us. I spoke with the dispatcher, and she sent an officer over right away. He was a very professional young man. Patient, a good listener. He asked the man some questions, and it became clear that the officer shared my concerns about the man’s competency.

This led to lengthy conversation, additional police and EMT personnel, and a fair amount of stress and nervousness for the poor man. Everyone worked together really well, asked great questions, conferred with their more senior personnel, and collectively landed on the outcome: the gentlemen needed to go to the hospital for further examination. This was the surest way to keep him safe. I suspect that if I had stuck with our initial plan and somehow got him home, he might have functioned just fine in that familiar environment. Outside of this safe bubble, all bets would be off for him, I believe.

When he woke up Saturday morning, he considered himself to be a fully functional adult human being. By sundown, he was sleeping in a hospital, because more than a half dozen people determined otherwise.

If we live long enough, some version of this day is coming. The last day you fly on an airplane. The last time you drive a car. The last time you see a friend or loved one. The last day you can be trusted to move about the world independently.

Twenty years ago, I might have written out some directions for him and gone on to meet my friends. I’m glad I was there to help, but I’m not that far from being elderly myself. If I can stay fit and avoid the Big C, I figure I have 10-15 years of robust adventure. It’s time to start elevating my adventure time, because my day is coming, too.

Sunday Supper

With rain and cooler temperatures moving in, it is finally time for some comforting soups and stews. This Butternut Squash Congee w/ Chili Oil looks great. So does this Tortellini Soup. And how about this Quick Chicken & Dumplings?

Sunday Music

I simply love Madison Cunningham’s music. Here she performs My Full Name live. This song is on her latest album, which just dropped last week or so. Here Brad Mehldau performs Elliott Smith’s “Better Be Quiet Now.” Let this nearly 30-minute set featuring Nate Smith, Lalah Hathaway, James Francies and Derrick Hodge from the Montreal Jazz Fest make your Sunday morning. Enjoy!

If you know anyone who might like this essay, please share it with them. 



Have a great week ahead!  You can do anything you set your mind to. Let me know how I can help.


Peace & Love,

LIttle Totems

An effective estate planning tip: Line up the people who are going to serve as your financial and health care powers of attorney well in advance - so far in advance that their service is merely theoretical. So far into the future that they have no idea what they’re signing up for.

Myra was smart this way, roping me onto her team more than twenty years ago. Honoring that promise began in earnest almost a year ago. Last year she hit the cancer trifecta - coming down with a bad case of breast cancer, followed by melanoma, followed by a weird blood cancer that nearly ruined her kidneys.

She was remarkably upbeat and positive in the months that followed, very accepting that her time was coming to a close - but happy to manage these conditions and enjoy as much time as she could. Two Sundays ago she was re-admitted to The James for her final visit. The call came just before 2am Tuesday morning informing me that she had passed.

I had a meeting in Columbus on Wednesday, and swung by Westminster-Thurber to take a few pictures of her belongings, to begin the process of inviting friends and family to claim objects for remembrance, or utility. Her possessions are mercifully few. The big scale-down happened when we moved her from her independent living apartment into the skilled nursing unit. That is when we inherited her cat, Jasmine. Jasmine is a lovely 13-year old girl. I will think of Myra often as I interact with her cat in the days ahead.

She was my father’s first cousin - her father and my dad’s mom were siblings. But I always called her Aunt Myra. A lover of the arts, she took my sister and I to see the Nutcracker at Christmas time, and to many other musical and theater performances. I remember a trip to the Neil Armstrong Air & Space Museum in Wapakoneta. I also remember her taking me and the Secrest twins to see Eddie Murphy perform standup comedy at the old Veterans Memorial. As it turns out, Dwight Secrest is the funeral director overseeing her cremation.

She held a Master’s of Religious Education degree from Oberlin, and was a lover of travel and all global cultures. She would frequently bring foreign guests to family gatherings, which was always so lovely. Myra is easily one of the most positive people I’ve ever known. And she lived life to the fullest - always on the go and engaged with many different organizations. She made many positive impacts on people, and will be greatly missed.

So there I was on Wednesday afternoon, looking through her belongings. Feeling sad, feeling her absence from that space. Feeling a sense of urgency to get her stuff moved out so that someone else could move in to the room. This is the time when many people might cling to the “stuff,” hoping to stay connected to the loved one who has left it all behind. Having some experience with this urge, I was able to resist it. I took just one small item, made in Puerto Rico. It will hang from our Christmas tree as an ornament. With the exception of last year when she was hospitalized, I believe that Myra spent every single Christmas with my family. So this little totem will carry that forward.

Sunday Supper

Myra once made this Greek Lemon Chicken Soup for me and my sister. This Palestinian Sheet Pan Chicken Dinner would be right up her alley too. Why not these Crunchy Queso Wraps, while we’re at it?

Sunday Music

Any time Tom Waits releases a new performance, we all need to take a few minutes to check it out. The British band, Wet Leg, recently performed at the KEXP studio. This performance by the trio of Bela Fleck, Edmar Castaneda, and Antonio Sanchez is well worth a listen, too. Enjoy!

If you know anyone who might like this essay, please share it with them. 



Have a great week ahead!  You can do anything you set your mind to. Let me know how I can help.


Peace & Love,

A Long Conversation

This Fall weather has been surreal. Sunny, blue skies with highs in the low 80s/high 70s, rinse and repeat. Leaf collection occupies a higher percentage of my mental attention than it deserves - the real work of Fall leaf collection hasn’t quite begun. It will escalate exponentially for the next 4-5 weeks, before tapering off around Thanksgiving. We have yet to see anything remotely resembling sweater weather this Fall.

I found my mind returning to Maamos Kitchen this week. Some of the warmest memories that I have of that era comes from when customers would buy gift cards from us, giving them to friends who were going through some challenge. Grief, a new baby, medical convalescence, Meal Train-type stuff. Our food was sufficiently high in quality and variety that we really were the perfect solution in those situations. Nourishing people through whatever struggle they may be going through is one of the highest honors someone could have. A dear friend had knee replacement surgery this past week, and requested a batch of the Asian Beef Basil from meal kit version of the Maamos Kitchen adventure. Remember meal kits? Yeah, we don’t hear much out of Blue Apron or Hello Fresh these days, do we? They’re still out there, plugging along.

Something came through my social media feed this week that has stuck with me - a quote from the German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche: "Marriage as a long conversation. When entering a marriage, one should ask the question: do you think you will be able to have good conversations with this woman right into old age? Everything else in marriage is transitory, but most of the time in interaction is spent in conversation.” I think this really hits the nail on the head. Elvis may beg to differ, but buddy, if you don’t enjoy long talks with your spouse, it ain’t gonna last.

Whether it be a significant other, or just a close friend, our enduring relationships have great conversation as the connective tissue. How does it feel to talk with this person? Do they expand your thinking, make you laugh, elevate your self-esteem? Do they energize you, or leave you feeling flat? Do they help you make sense of the world? The ability to listen, and thoughtfully respond, back-and-forth is an essential human skill.

In new relationships, you need a little patience. We don’t always get to the good stuff right away. The real stuff, the raw stuff - not everyone can go there immediately. And sometimes it takes some shared experiences, like late-night strolls through Las Vegas casinos, coastal golf in a 4-club wind, or a stroll across the Oval before a big football game before you can build the library of call-backs that will enliven your conversations until you are both a ripe old age.

So, don’t sleep on the importance of conversation - look for those who light you up, and cultivate the skill to do the same for others.

Sunday Supper

This is not the same as the Maamos Kitchen recipe, but this Thai Beef Basil comes close enough. I’m making this Coconut & Lime Rice Pudding as a dessert, substituting pineapple for the mango. This Skillet Chicken w/ Mushrooms & Caramelized Onions looks amazing.

Sunday Music

In honor of Jeff Tweedy’s recent released triple album, Twilight Override, here is his visit to the NPR Tiny Desk. Tweedy has risen to Leonard Cohen-level status as a lyricist in my eyes. Madison Cunningham has a new album titled Ace coming out Friday - here is a live performance of Wake, from that upcoming album. Lastly, I offer this live performance by Nina Simone in Antibes back in 1965. What a talented artist.

If you know anyone who might like this essay, please share it with them. 



Have a great week ahead!  You can do anything you set your mind to. Let me know how I can help.


Peace & Love,

What We Permit

I found myself reflecting on the concept “What you permit, you promote” this week. A nagging issue in my professional life feels like it is coming to a head. Maybe it will, maybe it won’t…I’m mulling it over. But there are lots of common examples in life where this concept plays out.

When there are employees who habitually arrive late to work without consequence, other employees take the same liberty. Then you have a real problem. College roommate issues, like who does the dishes, personal hygiene, having guests in a shared space, etc. all can stack up to create some real tension between people.

Moral and ethical things - like someone who reneges on a bet, or tells a racist joke. Every once in a while, maybe you let such things slide. But if it repeats and you continue to allow it…now you’re complicit with the conduct.

Experience teaches us this hard lesson of permit/promote, and informs our future behavior. While I have always had dogs, and loved them, they have never been as well-behaved as I would have liked. To hopefully promote different standards with our new dog Rosie, we have enrolled her in a three-week training program that includes three days of training for Lori and I. Rosie will be our best-behaved pet ever, and I will be a better dog owner.

Our federal government, designed by it’s founders to have three co-equal branches of government, have recently failed to play their historical role as a check and balance on each other. I wonder how this might affect voting trends in next year’s mid-term elections.

It’s hard to think that every decision we make is setting a precedent that we must honor forever. Sometimes it feels this way. At my age, I rarely have a problem telling someone when I am making a one-time exception, and sticking to my guns if they try to repeat the occurrence. That’s basically all we can do when someone takes liberties that bother us.

Experience is the best teacher. Make accommodations sometimes, and see how they play out. You will regret some of them! That’s part of the journey. That’s how you figure out your non-negotiables.

Sunday Supper

This Cola-Braised Beef w/ Chili-Lime Onions is good. So is this Spicy Honey Chicken w/ Broccoli. Oh, so is this Skillet Salmon w/ Quinoa, Feta and Arugula. Get cooking.

Sunday Music

This Sunday morning, enjoy this set from Maxwell at the NPR Tiny Desk. Sierra Hull recently performed there as well. And here is a full 2-hour performance by Tedeschi Trucks Band w/ Warren Haynes from earlier this month. Enjoy!

If you know anyone who might like this essay, please share it with them. 

Have a great week ahead!  You can do anything you set your mind to. Let me know how I can help.


Peace & Love,

Great Meals

This weekend I shifted from bagging the leaves in the yard, to raking them onto a tarp and dragging them out to the road. We are now at the “tapping the leaves” stage of Fall, but the tree canopy still has plenty of leaves to give back to the earth. The 86-degree heat partially made the decision for me.

The air was considerably cooler at the Culinary Vegetable Institute, up near Lake Erie in Milan, Ohio yesterday. Members of EO Columbus traveled there to enjoy to enjoy an evening together. The CVI is essentially the R&D lab of the Chef’s Garden, a niche wholesale vegetable distributor led by the Farmer Lee Jones. At some point (in the mid-1980s, I think), the Jones family farm was on the brink of bankruptcy and foreclosure. They decided to try a different approach that was something of a “Hail Mary” attempt at turning the enterprise around. Instead of producing commodity crops for low margins, they decided to explore a wide range of niche crops, selling them at high margins to Michelin-starred fine dining establishments around the world.

Elite chefs from around the world travel to Huron county to play in the CVI kitchen and sample new varieties of interesting fruits and vegetables. Farmer Lee spoke to our group last night, and one thing stood out more than anything else: flavorful vegetables tend to be more nutritious. When your customer base is made up of the world’s best restaurants, flavor is everything. It turns out that replenishing the soil with a wide range of cover crops and other regenerative farming techniques ensures there will be more micronutrients in the vegetables, and more flavor.

Chef Jamie Simpson delivered an outstanding meal to our group. I have no professional culinary training, and I’m not a food critic. But it is hard to imagine a higher standard of cooking technique applied to a meal. And the ingredients were off-the-charts outstanding (including the beef for the Beef Wellington - yes, they serve proteins, even though their focus is on the vegetables). The highlight for me was the dessert - a Black Sesame Cake, paired with Grilled Eggplant Ice Cream, Basil, Potato and Red Pepper. When I saw this item on the printed menu, I immediately thought “This is an homage to Baba Ganoush,” one of my favorite summer dishes. Tiny sprigs of basil were placed on the eggplant ice cream (eggplant puree was combined with a creme anglaise ice cream base, so it had some sweetness). The potato was an ultra-thin waffle-cut potato chip, with dark chocolate brushed on one side of the chip. Lastly, the red bell pepper was somehow (no idea the technique) incorporated into a caramel sauce that complemented the cake and ice cream.

This meal will certainly stand as one of my favorite dining experiences. I’ve been fortunate to have enough of these special nights that I recognized it as it was happening. The most special meals are not solely about the food. They are very much about the people with whom you are experiencing it, the atmosphere, and even the circumstances of the days leading up to that moment. In this case I was at the end of a very packed 4-week stretch on my calendar, where each day felt like every hour was committed to a specific task. Last night was the first time in quite a while where I felt I could relax - and I was able to do so with people I have known and admired for a long time. The air was cool, the night sounds magnificent.

Like comedy, for a meal to be extra special, there often needs to be an element of surprise. In this case, I drove to Milan with minimal expectations. I knew that I liked Farmer Lee Jones, but had never heard of the CVI or Jamie Simpson. Cruising up the nondescript gravel driveway, I was not expecting the beautiful building, or any of the food that would be served.

The CVI is just two hours from Granville. Put together a group and book a seating. You will not be disappointed.

Sunday Supper

This week I continue to celebrate eggplant. The Spiced Roasted Eggplant is simple, and wonderful. This White Chicken Chili is something to explore as the air gets cooler in the week ahead. These Black Sesame Rice Krispie Treats are a perfect homage to last night’s dessert.

Sunday Music

This week’s music recommendations are inspired by the playlist I enjoyed on the drive home from Milan last night. Here’s a vintage video of Martin Sexton performing Glory Bound. Here’s The Police doing their thing just 43 short years ago in England. And here are the Talking Heads back in their heyday. Enjoy!

If you know anyone who might like this essay, please share it with them. 



Have a great week ahead!  You can do anything you set your mind to. Let me know how I can help.


Peace & Love,

Different Outcomes

The killing of Charlie Kirk this week has dominated much of peoples’ focus. Those among us who share Kirk’s worldview had to confront the brutal reality of gun violence in a way that is seldom required. Such events rarely hit so close to home, but this week they did.

As an American, I am grounded in the belief that all people have a fundamental right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. Someone robbed Charlie of his ability to enjoy these things, and did so with relative ease. If the suspect now in custody is convicted of this crime, our system of criminal justice will impose a severe penalty. But that won’t bring Charlie back.

It is no mystery that gun violence kills more people in the United States than anywhere else - both in the aggregate and adjusted on a per-capita basis. The gun homicide rate in the U.S. is 25x that of other high-income countries. This has been true for many years, with no meaningful change in the rules for how we are allowed to own and operate these deadly devices.

This reality is a collective choice. If changing our relationship with guns ever becomes a sufficiently high priority, we will elect people that will propose legislation to change the way that we access and use guns in our society. It is our responsibility to do this, if we truly want such change to happen. Our system is far from perfect, but I still believe that if We The People are serious about changing our society, we can do this through the ballot box.

I understand the dynamic tension between our different rights. I think we should explore striking a different balance between the right to bear arms, and the right to breathe. That other societies enjoy a much safer day-to-day reality is undeniable - what can we learn from them?

If we wish to lose weight, we must change our diet and exercise. If we want to earn better grades at school, we must change our study habits. If we want to increase our collective safety from gun violence, something needs to change.

Since we have not yet insisted on this change, we must accept the harsh fact that this is the world we have chosen.

Sunday Supper

I made this Chicken Salad this week (substituting dill pickle relish for the capers). I also made this Minty Fruit Salad. Let’s use the last bit of summer sweet corn to make this salad with Sweet Corn, Tomatoes, Feta and Mint.

Sunday Music

Here is a recent performance by John Mayer. Here is Norah Jones performing the Cannonball Adderly classic Why Am I Treated So Bad with Questlove and Christian McBride. And John Batiste performing What A Wonderful World. Lastly, here is a song that Jesse Welles wrote in response to this week’s tragedy.

If you know anyone who might like this essay, please share it with them. 



Have a great week ahead!  You can do anything you set your mind to. Let me know how I can help.


Peace & Love,