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2. Celestial Wonders Missed

‘Did you see the northern lights last night?’ My elder daughter asked in her text message from Toronto on the morning of May 11th. ‘I’ve seen tons of photos from my friends who just literally stepped into their backyards or onto their balconies and saw them clearly.’ It wasn’t that I hadn’t heard the prediction.…
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1. Old Bones

The results of a recent bone scan confirmed what was suspected–– that the septuagenarian skeleton is losing density. The rheumatologist who proscribed the scan advised me to be careful in strenuous activities. He informed that within seven years of diagnosis of osteopenia–– bone density loss–– 10% of the elderly suffer broken hips. Most of those…
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Q. Notes on Exodus and Exile (con’d)

I recall once hearing the theme from ‘Exodus’ in a dream from which I awoke in sobs. The version I had heard could have been either of the two that were popular in 1961. Most stirring was the instrumental–– with the dual pianos of Ferrante &Teicher. It was stunning in stereo. The other was a…
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Q. Notes on Exodus and Exile (intro.)
Introduction: In April 2022, on the final day of a guided tour of Jordan, my wife and I looked down over the Jordan Valley from Mount Nebo. In the bible, the area was referred to as the land of Moab. The 800-metre hill, just a few kilometers east of the present Israeli border, was believed…
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X. A Few Tributes (con’d)

In subsequent letters, I tried not to be judgmental about the misadventures Satsuki reported. I offered sympathy and advice without specific promises of help. Usually, I wrote her on the same nights I penned a batch of other letters to friends and acquaintances. On some of those nights, I was admittedly maudlin from a few…
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X. A Few Tributes (intro.)
Introduction: It would be a better world in which final farewells could be bitter-sweetly ceremonial as in the Scots-Irish ballad, ‘The Parting Glass’: But since it fell into my lotThat I should rise and you should notI’ll gently rise and softly callGood night and joy be to you all But they very seldom are. As one…