The Roundup

Encounters: My wife and I were walking across a parking lot recently when an old man approached us from the opposite direction. We both slowed down as he turned to the nearest car and began to get in it. He moved so slow and wobbly that I wondered if he needed help and I moved closer in case he did. He finally made it into the car and shut the door. “You know why Smokey the Bear never had kids,” he asked us through his open car window. We smiled and shook our heads no. “Because every time Mrs. Bear got hot, Smokey would throw sand on her.”

Read: This Man Kept a Meticulous List of All 3,599 Books He’d Read Since 1962. I started a list around five years ago of movies and shows I have watched, as well as a list of books I have read. My dad did the same.

Observed: For years there was a dusty, untouched booth in a flea market mall we used to frequent that sold nothing, as best we could tell. The owner was just paying rent to store her junk.

Website: What Dan Read

Recipe: If you have some extra cucumbers from your garden you could try this recipe for homemade pickles.