All articles filed in Reflection

I bought this hand-made knife set 18 months ago. Hand-forged Damascus steel carbon-blade knives from a Pakistan bladesmith. Aren’t they sweet-looking? Too bad I don’t own them any more. Well, not too bad. There’s a reason why I don’t own them any more. After I acquired the knives – and had them professionally sharpened –…

I ran some errands Sunday morning, and on my way home, I saw a sign for an estate sale in Watervliet. My Grandma Betty, who never passed an estate sale without at least looking inside, would never have let me pass this one up. And heck, it was only three blocks off my trip, so…

Honestly, I could do what every other person does. I can go to the grocery store and by those “fun size” bagfuls of candies, sit by my door, and wait for the costumed little trick-or-treaters to arrive and shout ‘TRICK OR TREAT” and then I hand off the candies. Lather, rinse, repeat. Not this year.…

Remind me again of that partly cloudy morning. Remind me again of the men and women who went to work that day. Remind me again of the husbands and wives, the sons and the daughters, who boarded the planes. Remind me again of the office workers in that five-sided building. Remind me again of the…

I was once a freelance writer for the music magazine Goldmine, and in 1997 I was blessed to have my first-ever cover story published with that magazine. It took a lot of arranging and management on my part, for sure. But I made it happen. The Goldmine cover story … was a profile of the…

It’s a beautiful Sunday morning, let’s check the emails, see if there’s anything of interest … advertisement … advertisement … solicitation … someone contacting me through the blog … hey wait a second… I received a “Contact Chuck Miller” from someone from way in my past. And this person referenced things in her letter to…

My Aunt Elaine has operated an antiques barn in New Hampshire for nearly five decades. It was tucked into the winding roads of Wolfeboro, in a rustic barn that doesn’t even show up properly on a GPS. Basically, you follow Route 109A until the urge to buy something unique hits you – then look to…

This Memorial Day, in addition to the usual tradition of outdoor cookouts and gatherings, as well as parades and celebrations, please take a moment to remember the following who won’t be home to celebrate Memorial Day with their families. Aaron Salter, 55. Celestine Chaney, 65. Roberta A. Drury, 32. Andre Mackniel, 53. Katherine Massey, 72.…

I’m looking up at the sky.  How many stars can I see in the night?  Dozens?  Hundreds?  A thousand upon a thousand? And if every star in the sky were the dim tears of an angel’s cries… the thought that another young soul would lose their only chance to live a full and complete life,…