I remember the first time I saw an eagle flying overhead at our retreat not far from the shores of Green Bay, a few years ago now. It was heart-stoppingly beautiful, that majestic bird fighting back against extinction and soaring along. Friday afternoon I sat down on the bench in Willow’s Field and looked upContinue reading “Eagles fly like, well, eagles”
Category Archives: Just sayin’
The first of April
April Fool’s Day apparently traces its origins to a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. The gist of a shallow dive into the search engines reveals no one knows where the idea of playing (usually) harmless practical jokes on April 1 came from. Sometimes I see a headline and come to theContinue reading “The first of April”
What Ever
Whatever. What a word that is, in the proper context: a dismissive losing of connection. “This is not addressing the real problem, I’m not engaged, my interest is not even present, you are irrelevant, you swung and missed, you can’t help and yet here you are still trying to help.” You could say all that,Continue reading “What Ever”
The lesson of the splattered tater
I killed the potato. Killed it good. That potato was obliterated. In preparing for a concealed-carry class, we figured we should have a physical sense of how to handle a handgun, not just head knowledge, and a friend agreed to teach Red and me the basics before we took the class. As part of thatContinue reading “The lesson of the splattered tater”
The sideways wisdom
I reach through the fog in search of something to say, some profundity to help my fellow human make progress along the way and fend off disaster, or if not disaster at least fend off inconvenience or a wrong turn. But when you declare, “I shall write pith today, I shall crack the code, IContinue reading “The sideways wisdom”
After the lockdowns
Spare me the “one year later” stories. Just spare me. It is always one or five or 10 or 20 years since something awful happened. Oh Lordy, wait until this coming Sept. 11. What dastardly plots could politicians hatch while the supposed watchdogs are busy collecting bad memories from 20 years ago? I am muchContinue reading “After the lockdowns”
Intentions and reality
Every pile of debris in this messy room began with, “I’ll just set this aside here so I remember to come back and take care of this.”
What’s out there
I am smitten by, and have quoted before, author Christopher Morley’s last message to his friends when he died in 1957. “Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is badContinue reading “What’s out there”
Prognostico the Great predicts the future, circa 1969
In the year 2021 people will be able to go into a phone booth and make a telecall where you can see the other person on video. No — even better — phones will be so portable that you can make a video call from wherever you are — anyone can, not just Dick Tracy.Continue reading “Prognostico the Great predicts the future, circa 1969”
Like Harvesting
We check back to see if anybody “Liked” our words and/or pictures – we peek at the sales figures – seeking signs of validation and approval, some little marker that we made a connection. That’s OK. That’s one reason to write – to reach minds, sometimes to change other minds, and sometimes to say thingsContinue reading “Like Harvesting”