Donna and I closed out the summer of 2026 with a Labor Day hike on the Appalachian Trail. We drove to Washington Monument State Park near Boonsboro, Maryland to start our trek at the stone tower atop South Mountain, which abuts the AT. We had visited the tower, linked to abolitionist John Brown’s ill-fated attack of the armory in nearby Harper’s Ferry, on a previous trip ( here’s a link to my blog about it ). Hiking on any part of the AT is magical. There’s a community of through-hikers who have trekked the entire 2,200-mile Appalachian Trail, either all at once or in segments. (A college buddy and I briefly considered taking it on after graduation, but nothing ever came of it.) While Donna and I are certainly not members of the AT through-hiker community, there’s a thrill even at hiking on the same path where those heartier souls have trod. Dale “Grey Beard” Sanders, at age 91, last month became the oldest hiker to traverse the entire length of the Maine-to-Georgia trail. (Yo...
No, we haven’t visited the capital of Denmark, charming as the coastal city is described, and famous for its Tivoli Gardens and Rosenborg Castle. A melody recently popped into my ancient brain from the dim, distant past, triggered by who knows what. I couldn’t place the song but I recalled the tune, which conjured a vague sense of happiness, quite well. I hummed it to Donna, whose encyclopedic knowledge of music is unsurpassed. She responded, “maybe if you sang it better I might recognize it.” Ouch. She suggested I try using Google. “Dum, dum dum dum, dum dum DUM, dum dum dum,” I crooned. Google, perplexed and possibly annoyed, guessed Dun Dun , a 2020 song by South Korean girl group Everglow. Yeah no. Not even close. I tried Donna again. Despite my pitch-impaired humming (I have pitch like Congress has cajones), Donna was able to puzzle together the melody. She employed Google and, being able to perfectly carry a tune (while I can carry a tune like I can hold a greased eel), t...