PAUL CHRISTENSEN

It's one of those diamond-bright days of early winter, with the ground ringing like iron when you walk on it. The horizon has congealed into a slagheap. I don't see many birds, though a few scruffy sparrows come down to nibble out of the bird feeder on the bay window....

I went to bed early last night, on New Year's Eve. I don't believe in celebrating a number on a calendar. I gave that up when I was still a teenager. Getting drunk was okay, but standing around with a glass of weak bourbon listening to small talk and forced laughter ma...

The impeachment hearings in the Intelligence and Judiciary committees lifted me up cautiously, and suspended my disbelief ever so briefly. I was fragile hanging there in the air above my television, I was almost in a state of consolation. I could have extended a finger...

I saw two squirrels playing this morning, chasing each other up the black trunks of trees. They didn't seem to have a care in the world. Then one jumped down into the thick snow and hopped about, and reversed his steps. You can't go too far in this bleak weather withou...