The forsythia bush by the driveway, the hopeful one that regularly sends out a few exploratory blossoms in December just to see, may finally be convinced that winter has arrived. We suspected as much. The hum of the electric meter has developed a tone that unconsciously stimulates my hand to reach protectively for my wallet. … More No Matter How You Slice It
On the 7th of November, I was having lunch with a good friend who lives a few miles south of here. We settled into a friendly little mercado—one of those charming community-based stores that combine a small café with a market offering fresh meat, produce, and everyday essentials. They remind me of the local markets … More A Fair Witness
Another Halloween has come and gone without a single trick-or-treater. Another big bowl of peanuts and prunes to wrap up and put away until next year. We don’t know why the kids stopped coming. I’m tempted to have a Heath Bar with my coffee this morning, but I’ll stick with toast. We wouldn’t waste our … More Trick Or Treat
Last week I wrote that the storm could have been much worse for Georgia. I regret saying that. While it’s true statistically, this is the last thing someone wants to hear who is sleeping on a cot in a temporary shelter or waiting for their electricity to be restored. It’s no relief whatsoever for anyone … More What Are Your Priorities?
“How did you go bankrupt?” Bill asked. “Two ways,” Mike said. “Gradually and then suddenly.” This exchange is from Hemingway’s book, “The Sun Also Rises,” and it anticipates the more recent use of “slowly, then all at once,” which is a concise description of the way we often experience change. Things that seem to happen … More Shelter From The Storm
We all like to consider ourselves educated, if not by traditional instutitions then by life experience, and ideally by combining some elements of both. Education means acquiring information that we did not have before. Continuing education means updating old information with new and adjusting our beliefs accordingly. Therein lies wisdom, and therein lies one of … More “We Rise Together Or We Fall Apart”
“Turning and turning in a widening gyre, the falcon cannot hear the falconer. Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold…The best lack all conviction while the worst are full of passionate intensity.” – “The Second Coming” by William Butler Yeats, 1919 Yeats’ poem was written soon after the end of WWI and it speaks of … More Of Bears and Bananas
We shop the outside aisles at the grocery store. It’s healthier, and it’s cheaper if you plan for it. It’s also apparent in a number of studies that the ultra-processed foods we eat are shortening our lives while they enrich the sick-people business. There are times when time itself is the adversary of healthy eating. … More The Federation of Drive Through Restaurants
“Thought I heard a rumblin’; Callin’ to my name; Two hundred million guns are loaded; Satan cries, ‘Take aim!’” – John Fogerty “If you’re gonna fight, fight like you are the third monkey on the ramp to Noah’s ark and it’s starting to rain.” Tim Kennedy, MMA Fighter Monkey fights are brutal, and it’s not … More Another Run Through The Jungle
We’ve made another trip around the sun together since this time last year. Traditionally this is a time to reflect on the past and make resolutions for the future, but I’m reluctant to do that today. January 1st seems like an arbitrary starting point for our next trip around. There’s nothing of terrestrial or even … More Be It Resolved
Outside The Box 