We have here Minnesota’s new law creating the office of state poet laureate.

More updates from our world of home improvement. Here we see a lovely southwestern sunset as viewed through the wrought-iron security doors that were installed following our burglary. Ernie’s Custom Iron Works in Albuquerque provided the lovely (and quite reasonably priced) “corn maiden” design, which allows us to view the world through an aesthetic creation […]

More home improvement under way. Here’s Kathy, looking rather brawny, at work on another kitchen soffit. (I had never heard the word “soffit” before commencing this project. A useful word, that is if we’re using it correctly.) As our shade of red, cheerfully described as “cranberry zing,” was darker than we feared (if brighter than […]

So who would you have over for dinner? Assuming, of course, that you could have anyone from history and that there was no language barrier. You can only have ten guests, though. That’s a rule. Here’s my list: Servilia (see “Chickpea,” below, for her biography)Benjamin FranklinFrederick the GreatCatherine the GreatVoltaireTalleyrandOscar WildeShakespeareBenvenuto CelliniAlcibiades It’s weighted toward […]