Crossing the bridge

These recent tales by Uncle Ken are pretty good and I'm glad they are seeing the light of day.  Years ago, when I first read about the Catfish, I think I mentioned to Uncle Ken that he should get a literary agent and shop it around   The advice still stands; wouldn't it be swell to see his stories in The New Yorker?

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Ah, the Mighty Mac!  A fuzzy childhood memory of mine is crossing the strait via ferry as the bridge was under construction, maybe the summer of '57.  I've crossed the bridge a few times since and it can be spooky, especially on a motorcycle.  One lane is a steel grating and it's a very long way down to the water, as you can plainly see if you look down.  Those steel surfaces grab your front wheel and make it wander a bit, adding to the drama.  Will a gust of wind blow you into the next lane, knocking you over as you hit the deck like a piece of cheese on a box grater?

While it's true that the bridge doesn't directly connect the US to Canada, you still have to cross that bridge if you want to cross the border many miles further north.  It's worth the trip, though, and you can marvel at the Soo Locks as you cross the border for some fresh vittles at Tim Horton's.  But maybe you don't want to go to Canada, that's fine.  The Upper Peninsula is a special place in it's own right and is highly recommended for those that want to get away from it all.  A lot of history and mining towns up there, to say nothing of the savory pasties.

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Wait, did I type vittles?  I meant victuals.  That's a funny word, victuals, because it's pronounced vittles.  I fell down that rabbit hole years ago when I thought they were two words meaning two different things.  Silly me, I should be used to the screwball nature of the English language by now.  I wonder how well those smarty-pants kids at the Spelling Bee will do when they are asked to spell "vittles."

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Just when we were getting used to the threat of the Delta variant of Covid-19, here comes another one.  Let's all give a warm welcome to the Lambda variant, arriving soon from South America!  I hope the vaccines we have can keep up with all these new versions; maybe we'll get lucky.