Author Archives: kihm
The Mailboat Letter
This was written before we had any clue that we might move to Skaneateles. September 5, 1996 I had the day off last Friday, and it struck us that it would be a perfect day to ride the Mail Boat on Skaneateles Lake. One of my jobs at work is to write nice things about […]
Lying
“These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, an heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among breathren.” — Proverbs […]
Lucy the Goose
October 2000 Laurie was in Europe with her mother and sister, and Abbie was getting ready for bed. It was 10:30 at night, and I felt like I needed a walk. After reassuring Abbie that I was not losing my mind, I set out. On a week night, Skaneateles is one of the quietest places […]
Litter
August 15, 2005 I am certain that somewhere in Skaneateles lives a future U.S. Secretary of the Interior. It is presently a post that calls for a “the world is my wastebasket” mentality, and I see it all around me when walking my dog in Austin Park. Besides collecting his little art works, I also […]
Keeping Time
September 2000 My mother gave me my first watch when I went to Kenmore Junior High. Between classes, as I clung to the walls like a lab mouse, I continually scratched and scuffed the plastic crystal on the hall lockers. By the eighth grade, I couldn’t see the hands anymore. But every classroom had a […]
Jury Duty
May 2001 The last time I was summoned to the Onondaga County Courthouse for jury duty, I got as far as the “voir dire.” The defendant’s lawyer asked, “What newspaper do you read?” I said, “The New York Ti…” “Excused,” he said. Last month, I didn’t even get that far, and it’s probably just as […]
Jesus and Levi
March 5, 1998 What a month it has been. Jesus Christ appeared on the bus one morning, getting on at the hospital, speaking to us even before the bus doors opened and continually once he was on board. He is holding up remarkably well, appearing in this incarnation as a 60-ish male with short gray/white […]
The Bard of Beer Visits
October 1996 Being out with Michael Jackson is like being out with Santa Claus — everywhere, people are glad to see you. It is impossible to overstate Jackson’s influence on the worlds of beer and whiskey. He wrote the book, several of them in fact, and is the single best known beer writer on the […]
Iridium from the Jetty
October 1999 John Milner and I met in high school, in English class, in 1962. I was, in John’s words, “a disarranged teenager,” and John was the teacher, and more. He was someone who listened, encouraged us to read and write, gave us credit for our imagination but gently imposed some discipline. I kept in […]
The Icing on the Lake
February 28, 2003 The last two evenings, while walking home from work, I have been taking a left turn just past the jetty and walking out onto the ice over the lake. We have had a very cold winter in Skaneateles, and the ice is solid out into the deep water, out past the Country […]
Faithful Readers 