Stirrings from the empty nest

It's stopped snowing in Santa Fe, the sun has come out, the sky is a brilliant blue and we're going to get a heck of a visual show, ...

We understand it was 55 degrees and sunny in the Twin Cities today. In Santa Fe, a blizzard of some sort appears to have moved in. No matter...

We started the day a little late in North Platte, Nebraska after breakfast and a stop to visit the local celebrity. ... and we arrived in Sa...

We've put up for the night in North Platte, Nebraska, at an out-of-the-way motel, run by an old-timer with a drawl and a beard, and room...

Is this heaven? No, it's a rest stop in Iowa, about 130 miles north of Des Moines. My sister, Cheryl would like this rest stop as it...

Twin Cities Public Television has now posted last week's media panel on YouTube, so it's possible to embed it in blogs like, you kno...

I haven't been on TPT's Almanac in about 13 years, but tonight I was asked to sub for a regular media panel member and dispense my w...

Don Kent, the man who practically invented weather on TV, has died. Another one of those icons from my childhood. We boomers all grew up wit...

I love flying in the winter, probably more than any other season. In another month, the combination of dark and light ground in Minnesota wi...

Is there anything better than sprawling out on the carpet, soaking up the February sun?

Today I began the process of wiping out the last vestige of evidence that kids used to live here. It's time to renovate and repaint the ...

I haven't updated the blog lately because life is either work, which means you can find it on MPR's News Cut . Or life is building a...

Carolie and I had our anniversary night out tonight. I bought tickets last month for tonight's Brian Setzer (and his orchestra) concert ...

A few years ago -- 2004, if I recall -- Carolie and the boys headed East for a celebration of some sort with her folks in the Berkshires and...

Famed RV-6A builder/pilot Alex Peterson (you may have seen his aerobatic video here ) is like Batman. I -- and I guess this makes me "t...

Panorama of October in the Berkshire Hills on CleVR.com

REMARKS AT THE MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR DON THURSTON Sunday October 11, 2009 Delivered by Bob Collins I am deeply honored to be asked by ...

My father in law, Don Thurston, is dying and now that I've written it, it looks worse in print than in my head. Carolie has gone back Ea...

We went to the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum (we're members) last spring and I got some ideas for the gardens. Lots of pu...

I got some nice coverage of a tour of college campuses from the magazine of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System. It's ...