Blog

Various ventures into Mr. Scott’s mind.

Cemetery of Memories

The first time I approached the cemetery in Lipnica Wielka was November of 1996, and I headed up for my first experience with All Saints' Day in Poland. I took pictures and made mental notes for my journal: I left my apartment around 4:30 and headed up to the cemetery...

Trstená Supermarket

Just across the border from where I lived in Poland (Lipnica Wielka) and where my wife grew up (Jablonka) is a Slovak town called Trstená. We go there every time we visit family in Poland. I love Trstená because unlike much of Central Europe, it seems frozen in time....

Warszawa Centralna

Looking at some old pictures, I found a shot of Warszawa Centralna train station from about 2002. It was an exterior night shot, and there was little indication of what the station looked like inside. What it looks like now is vaguely similar, but there have been so...

Chainsaw

I hear a chainsaw somewhere in the distance in our neighborhood, and I think, “That’s a sound I usually associate with Babcia’s small village.” Then I realize it’s just my son making his car sounds...

Eric Sevareid

One asks not only for the courage of his convictions, but for the courage of his doubts, in a world of dangerously passionate certainties.

Cleaning House

New school year, new students -- clean mailbox. It's amazing how much stuff collects in your email inbox over the course of a year...

The Visit

The Visit

“J, are you here?” She somehow knocks at the door, opens the door and enters the house, and says this all at the same time. It took me a long time to grow accustomed to this style of entering a...

Afternoon Walk

Afternoon Walk

The weekend winds down. The cousins head back to the outskirts of Krakow after one quick game of intercontinental family soccer. It's a version of the game that might not be immediately recognized:...

Arrival in Poland

Arrival in Poland

After two flights, a moderate layover, a couple of car rides -- it all seems to have gone by in a flash when L showing her youngest cousin, D, the treasures she bourhg with her. Of course she kept...

Middle School Fonts

Middle School Fonts

The first thing an eighth grade student does when he sits down at a computer to type something for a class project is click on the font drop down box and begin exploring the myriad fonts Word has to...

Adagio for Strings for Chorus

Adagio for Strings for Chorus

(Note: I'm not promoting the religious content of the text, just the incredible beauty of the music.)

Coal Delivery

Coal Delivery

I occasionally look through old pictures from the years I lived in Poland and find a picture that I'd forgotten about but which moves me to mutter to myself, "Wow." Not that I'm so terribly...