Author Archives: John Swinburn

Just over a month has passed since my 72nd birthday. I still find it difficult to believe I have lived that long. And, for the immediately foreseeable future, I will continue to live. Unless, of course, I don’t. That’s the … Continue reading →

“Too much” suggests there is a lesser measure; “enough.” And still another; a measure of inadequacy: “Not enough.” The same can be said for “too many.” But the other end of the spectrum for “too many” has another variable suggesting … Continue reading →

For a short while, we expected we would go to Bentonville to hear Barrack Obama speak on December 1 at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Tickets for members (which we are) were to be available, free, to members as … Continue reading →

My body was built for a temperate climate; a place where daytime temperatures would range between 73°F and 83°F and nighttime lows would drop into the low to mid 60s, giving me reason to wear light sweaters or jackets. My … Continue reading →

Several years ago, I ordered what I expected would be a VHS tape of a television show I had enjoyed a few years earlier. When I got the tape, I discovered that it was formatted for what I learned was … Continue reading →

American crows live 7 to 8 years, on average. I wonder how many of the crows around our house have lived that long? How does one tell the age of a crow? According to Google’s AI, a crow’s age is … Continue reading →

I had a rare burst of energy yesterday afternoon, enough to send me outside with my battery-powered leaf blower, where I cleared the driveway and the street in front of the house, as well as the circle at the end … Continue reading →

  Overnight, the kaleidoscope of early Fall colors in the forest surrounding the house seemed to change. Trees that had been full of yellow and red and bright orange leaves changed into a nearly-uniform palate of brown and muted orange. … Continue reading →

Data encoded onto reel-to-reel magnetic tape and expressed in the form of sound were expected to replace black vinyl discs that performed the same function. Similarly, machinery dependent on more modern magnetic tape recorded video images, then displayed on electronic … Continue reading →

I drank my espresso this morning from a small, colorfully glazed ceramic cup made in a Central American country, a gift from a friend who recently returned from there.  Though I am not—unfortunately—one of them, I admire people who make … Continue reading →

When I lived in the Dallas/Fort Worth area (the “Metroplex”), I often wanted—or, perhaps needed—to escape the density and frenzy of urban life.  More than occasionally, I got relief by retreating into the rolling hills and plains of north central … Continue reading →

Next Monday—roughly 60 years, I think, after the inciting incident—I will visit a specialist who, I hope, will repair the damage done when my bare left foot slipped off a bike pedal and slammed perpendicularly onto an asphalt surface. The … Continue reading →

Sometimes, seeing or hearing or otherwise observing someone else’s mental anguish—even if that someone is a stranger or a person with whom one’s connection is faint or weak—sparks a powerful response. Their pain becomes personal, as if their suffering has … Continue reading →

Buried deep among my scattering of inaccessible childhood memories are images of peach pits, carved in the shape of miniature baskets. I am not sure how I know they are peach pits—perhaps that knowledge is buried even deeper than the … Continue reading →

The concepts of bending time and space seem far-fetched but fascinating; intriguing, but beyond the ability of my mind to comprehend. The origin and the end of time are beyond my grasp, too, but my feeble intellect continues pushing me … Continue reading →

“Consent of the governed” is the concept that the legitimacy to impose state political power over the members of a society is subject to the consent of the people. In theory, the idea is sound and seems reasonable. In practice, … Continue reading →

The original entrance to Hot Springs Village is about fifteen miles west of the newer entry on the east end. The road between the two is lined on both sides by forests, intermittently interrupted by signs of civilization like golf … Continue reading →

In an environment once thick with wind or water and rock, sand is evidence of the confluence of time and energy. Evidence is not proof, though; only a defensible suggestion.  A suggestion of what what constituted “here and now” when … Continue reading →

My blog posts were, are, will be, aren’t, or never were. They cannot be should, because judgments are shaped differently than simple facts. Simple facts opt not to expose themselves to being shoe-horned into a mold that looks more like … Continue reading →

It’s not beyond the realm of possibility that I may have created a new written language while consciously dreaming. I was disappointed that the English language was so damn complex; so hard to learn. But it wasn’t hard to pronounce; … Continue reading →

Both the “cost of living” and “the cost of staying alive” tend to increase over time. While the rising “cost  of living” initially places negative pressure on meeting “needs” (which often are used interchangeably by people who are financially secure … Continue reading →

Mystery. Unknown. Secret. Hidden. +++ The SS Edmund Fitzgerald, which sank in Lake Superior during a monstrous storm on November 10, 1975, was among the largest of an unknown number of ships lost to the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes Shipwreck … Continue reading →

A small bird (something like a sparrow I think) discovered that some of the seeds in the bird feeder outside my window are still edible. Shortly thereafter, a cedar waxwing of roughly the same size as the sparrow(?) bullied its … Continue reading →

The seasons of deception are descending on us. Halloween is almost here, a moment when we encourage people to hide their identities by assuming the physical appearance of other…people, animals, monsters, things, places, ideas, etc. Then we have Thanksgiving, when … Continue reading →

This rain on this cool, overcast, dark afternoon is not especially heavy, but it is relentless. Today’s weather could have been imported from the countryside outside a village in England’s Lake District, where people are unafraid of getting wet. At … Continue reading →