Mondoweiss

Why My Place Stinks

My friend Tony Schmitz is a doghater, but has owned two or three over the years because of his daughters, and his dogloving wife. He would say to me, "All they like to do is look around for a pile of sh-t and roll around in it." I always felt this was a lazy caricature, and bigoted. Now I own dogs, and love them, but now and then they've forced me to admit the wisdom of my friend's words.

Be Like Van Gogh: Eat Strawberries in the Spring

Several times in the 1880s, Vincent Van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo about his efforts to eat "strawberries in the spring." He was talking about learning to enjoy things in the moment, also of not trying to rush something that comes maybe once a year. The same can be said for eating blueberries in summer; I saw these in the Pennsylvania mountains...

Why July 4 Is Problematic

My dog looks happy here, but he's actually trembling, and extremely anxious. The first firecrackers have just gone off in the neighbor's yard. He freaks out, scurries up to me, crawls into the hole I'm digging for a viburnum. A few times in years past, he's run away in fright, I've had to wait for phone calls, from rescuers miles away. It's the same thing with thunder.

Someone Else Dumped Their SUV in a Public Park

Bronco, Hudson Highlands State Park

Somebody Left Their SUV In a Public Park

Wrecked Ford, Hudson Highlands state park

Not About Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi

Salamander

A Dog Would Just as Well Not Pose With a Snake, Even a Dead One

Someone had run over this black snake on a woods road. Some people like doing that kind of thing. My dog wasn't wild about having his picture taken with it. This is as close as he would sit. He didn't want to look in my direction.

I Think I Saw Jimmy Hoffa Outside Brooks Brothers

Unfortunately I had to dig my camera out of my knapsack so this is not face-on, but I am 90, 95 percent that the guy in the middle of this picture with the hat is our guy—

Another Day, Another Picture of a Dog in a Sink

Dog Out of Focus and In Sink