Category Archives: Under 750

Suburbialis Clangum: A Melodic Guide to Your Neighborhood Wilderness

Nature May Abhor a Vacuum but Suburbia Sure Loves a Leaf Blower.

In the verdant suburban sprawl, the uninitiated masses vainly search for the quaint silence once celebrated in pastoral myths — charming, perhaps, to those with less refined tastes. The modern sophisticate, however, appreciates the richness offered by the incessant, blaring symphonies of human achievement. Why pine for the whisper of wind when one can revel in the roar of an arsenal of machinery running day or night (or both!)? Here, in these cultivated fields of progress, the glorious din of civilization justly overrules the silence sought by the hoi polloi. This sonic landscape is not for those unfortunates who crave a rough-hewn quietude, but rather for the discerning citizen who understands that true progress resonates through the hum of industry. The air simply must crackle with the sounds of civilization’s upkeep, the resounding overture of spring.

Continue reading Suburbialis Clangum: A Melodic Guide to Your Neighborhood Wilderness

The Sprucing

(Don’t disturb the sediment)

I was going to title this “Clearing the Underbrush” but I am fairly confident that would attract some new, curious readers who would walk away rather disappointed. I also wanted to title it “Robert the Spruce” but that’s too weird, even for me.

Anyway.

A brief housekeeping note to share that in the spirit of continuous improvement (and not because we’re losing the plot), I’m restructuring the blog a bit.

Continue reading The Sprucing

So You Get To Chaperone Your Child’s Field Trip

Get to. Have to. Same advice applies.

A cartoon school bus against a backdrop of trees and mountains. Text reads" So you get to chaperone your child's field trip"

As the school year whips by us like homework excuses in a tornado, we find ourselves on the cusp of that most cherished of all educational adventuring: the field trip, where learning and relentless searches for bathrooms are disguised as off-site fun. 

You, dear parents, have been chosen (read: volunteered, or at least volun-told) to chaperone. 

This isn’t a drill. Nor is it a walk in the park—even if your field trip is actually to a park. This is a tactical obstacle course where you and they will run, cry, fall, climb, carry, and “Why did I volunteer for this?” your way through the day.

Here’s a briefing, because sharing is part of the healing:

Continue reading So You Get To Chaperone Your Child’s Field Trip