Category - Moments

Planet Coke At the World of Coke, a multi-ton version of the familiar trademark floats above our heads, spinning like a steel and neon Oribitron. Beneath its flickering warmth, we participate in a advertiser's wet dream: here, the consumers not only...

This is the second part of an essay I wrote two weeks after meeting Clyde. For the first installment, see yesterday's entry. Going Underground We arrive too early at Underground Atlanta -- 9:00 in the morning. Low gray clouds scrape the top layer of...

Two weeks after I first met Clyde, he invited me to go with him for a long weekend in Atlanta. Clyde was worried we were moving too fast. I was interviewing for (and would be offered) a job running an English department in Utah. We both had a...

So the other day, I mentioned ordering a custom frame from FramesByMail.com. They produced the frame and shipped it -- FedEx! -- just 48 hours after I placed my initial order. Today, the FedEx Home Delivery van pulled up to our kitchen door. Just...

The morning of the yard sale, Clyde gets up at 4:30; like a kid on the night before vacation, he's unable to sleep. I'm up shortly after, and by six o'clock, we're opening the doors of the house on Baxter Drive. The house, so familiar for so long...

Friday, as workers are installing the new French doors, HDTV, and cable boxes, we get the call: Clyde's grandmother, the Grande Dame of the Parks family, has passed away. I loved Erin; she was always very kind to and accepting of me. In fact, not...

How to describe the Sunday morning Bastille Market? Side by side, in bright stalls: seafood, sweaters, kitchen gadgets, parakeets, pocketbooks, wallets, raw meat, pastry made to order while you watch, chocolatiers, bread-makers, mattress salesmen (...

After breakfast, we jump a train to Chartres. We've been on a quick trip to Chartres before, giving ourselves just enough time to run uphill to the amazing cathedral and back to the station again. This time, we give ourselves the entire day. Upon...

So we're in Paris. We arrive on Friday afternoon, just in time to jump the Metro to Invalides and tour Napoleon's tomb and prowl the early-evening streets. We wind up at my favorite little card and game vendor -- Rouge et Noir (Red and Black) on Rue...

Right up front: Callie's not a bad dog. Callie's owners, though, leave something to be desired. As soon as they moved into the house behind us, they began leaving Callie unattended for hours at a time. Callie compensated by barking continuously ...