1973 · 0:41

Opening the Shop

In 1973 I put everything we had, and a good deal we did not, into a two-bay garage three blocks from where I grew up. I painted the sign myself: HALE & SON AUT…

1978 · 0:41

Raising Them

Michael came in 1974 and Sarah in 1977, and the house we could finally afford was never quiet again. Ruth taught all day and somehow had more patience left at…

1986 · 0:39

The Car We Never Finished

When Michael was twelve we dragged home a 1968 Chevelle with no engine and more rust than steel, and we swore we would bring it back to life together. We worke…

2002 · 0:40

Summers at the Lake

For twenty summers we rented the same small place on Findley Lake for one week in August. It was nothing fancy, a dock and two bedrooms and a screen door that…

2005 · 0:39

Ruth's Kitchen

Ruth's kitchen ran the family the way the shop never ran the town. Every recipe she made came from her mother, and she taught each one to the grandkids the sam…

2008 · 0:43

Sunday Dinners

Sunday dinner was not optional in our house, and I am glad now that I made it a rule when the kids would have rather been anywhere else. You cannot see it whil…

2010 · 0:30

Christmas Mornings

We had one rule about the Christmas tree, which was that it had to be too big. Every year I would cut a foot off the bottom and it would still scrape the ceili…

2014 · 0:38

The Long Drives

After I sold the shop, Ruth and I finally took the drives we had been promising ourselves for thirty years. Maine, the Smokies, all the way out to the Badlands…

2017 · 0:31

The Porch

These days most evenings end on the porch. Ruth brings the tea, I bring whatever I have been thinking about, and we sit until the streetlights come on. My daug…