Author Archives: John Swinburn

Days begin to run together after awhile. When I skip a day of blogging—or like yesterday write only enough to serve as a placeholder for a day that requires too much of me to enjoy writing—my recollections of what and … Continue reading →

It’s late, nearing 7:30, and I’ve been awake only a short while. The temperature here in Amarillo, Texas already is inching toward 80ºF, with triple digits in the forecast. We may opt to drive all the way home today, but … Continue reading →

I did not write a post yesterday. Instead, I was taken by ambulance to St. Anthonys Summit Hospital in Frisco, Colorado. Frisco is about a mile from Silverthorne, Colorado, where we stayed the night. Oddly, this hospitalization was probably my … Continue reading →

Yesterday’s travels did not compare with days prior. Yesterday was long and arduous, covering too many miles and involving too many hours on the road. The desert between Reno and Salt Lake City has little to recommend it, in my … Continue reading →

Yesterday marked the end of the vacation aspect of our trip. We left the coast, bound for Reno, Nevada. Our route, though, was a bit circuitous. And it took us through some spectacular scenery. Forests of towering redwoods stretching from … Continue reading →

Yesterday was devoted, primarily, to relaxation. We enjoyed naps, sitting on the deck, and a relatively brief jaunt into town (Mendocino) for lunch, some grocery shopping, and a look around a few shops. I think people sometimes feel obligated to … Continue reading →

The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled. ~ Plutarch ~ +++ Absolute privacy. Is there really such a thing? Possibly, but it is not assured, even on the private, ocean-facing deck of … Continue reading →

Not long after we arrived in Mendocino, we picked up a couple of free newsprint flyers promoting real estate in and around the area. Most of the listings were, as expected, wildly beyond our financial abilities; house list prices of … Continue reading →

When I woke early this morning, I felt an odd sensation, as if my body was vibrating. Focusing my attention more intently on the sensation, I decided it might not be a vibration but, instead, an exceptionally rapid and greatly … Continue reading →

We changed climates yesterday, exchanging an obscenely hot, dry environment for the coolness of the California coast. I felt almost too cool—but not quite—upon our arrival in Berkeley. When, after we drove a few blocks, we entered an Indian restaurant, … Continue reading →

Apparently, I have more than adjusted to being in the Pacific Daylight Time Zone. Though I woke at 5, I drifted back to sleep quickly, finally forcing myself out of bed just after 7…almost 9 back home. On one hand, … Continue reading →

Yesterday began with a superb outing at The Farm Cafe at Michael David Winery, only about seven miles from our motel. We were treated to an excellent brunch by mi novia‘s life-long friend, Debbie, and Debbie’s husband, John. Though I … Continue reading →

The drive from Bakersfield to Stockton was generally uneventful. Both sides of California Highway 99 were lush with orchards and crops and vineyards, even in the blistering June heat. Though the traffic was heavier than I would have liked, it … Continue reading →

Wednesday morning’s departure from the hotel in Gallup, NM stalled when I went down to get the car, only to be unable to locate it. I circled the hotel parking lot; I could not find it. It was not there. … Continue reading →

Roughly eleven hours and 665 miles after leaving the motel in Yukon, Oklahoma, I sat at the desk in another hotel; this one in Gallup, New Mexico. Yesterday’s drive included a stop for lunch at the Big Texan Steak Ranch … Continue reading →

The business part of the day yesterday started relatively early, an 8:15 appointment for a CT scan. This was a two-part scan; the head and the chest. The head scan was an annual precautionary check-up, intended to verify that there … Continue reading →

I learned I could only begin to know myself by reading what I had written. Only by absorbing the words I had chosen—to paint my thoughts in language—could I understand how my wisdom about myself changed from week to week … Continue reading →

Except for the immorality of it (including the economic and emotional damage it leaves behind), I might rather enjoy a life of crime. The challenges of the occupation might well provide the kind of adrenalin-induced “high” that few careers offer. … Continue reading →

Unlike most blog posts I write, this one began unfolding during the middle of a blazingly hot, humid, terribly uncomfortable Friday afternoon. I attempted to feel cool and comfortable, though—I finally set up a compact disk (CD) player in my … Continue reading →

I spent a short while this morning admiring hats worn by women during Royal Ascot Ladies’ Day at the Ascot Racecourse in Ascot, Berkshire, England. The hats, elaborately designed, deployed, and decked-out millinery, range from beautiful to grotesque, with a … Continue reading →

Yesterday was a productive, rewarding day. First off, mi novia went for some physical therapy. Then, a handyman began the process of installing shelves cabinets in my office, after first removing the trappings of gun racks from those cabinets. He … Continue reading →

Certain moments demand radical departure from normalcy. They may require paying attention to the ignored. Or dismissing the continuously connected. Clarity, perhaps, where once there was only a blur. Or inexactness where precision prevailed. Brief instances of understanding cry out … Continue reading →

When I was young, my mother bought iron-on patches to fill the holes I wore in my jeans. Those tough, adhesive-impregnated pieces of denim-like cloth probably extended the useful life of my jeans by a season or a year; I … Continue reading →

Someone else, deep in the middle of this steamy night, is pondering whether life has meaning. Beyond the trite aphorisms whose validity we seem to accept without question, another insomniac wonders whether life does, indeed, have intrinsic purpose. Does it … Continue reading →

Somewhere in the bowels of the National Gallery of Art (NGA), hidden from public view, is the Henri-Émile-Benoît Matisse painting La Coiffure. The 1901 painting depicts Matisse’s wife, Amélie, facing a mirror while arranging her hair. I do not know … Continue reading →