remember pick-up-sticks? where you have to lift the colored sticks off the pile without moving any of the other jumbled sticks, and each color represents a different number of points? and then if you lifted the black stick, it was worth 50 points AND you could use that stick to gently lift the other sticks from the pile, instead of using your thick, clumsy thumb and index finger? it was such a corny game. but sometimes i look at my son entranced by the images flashing across the iPad in front of him, and i think of the stupidity of pick-up-sticks with pure fondness and nostalgia.

red pine needles

saint paul, minnesota