Author Archives: John Swinburn

The most difficult and time-consuming aspect of painting walls takes place before the first roller is dipped in paint. Applying tape to protect trim and other materials on which paint is NOT to be applied is both exacting and mind-numbingly … Continue reading →

Ranchman’s, the only restaurant in the tiny town of Ponder, Texas, opened in 1948. When I lived in Dallas, my late wife and I made the hour-long drive to Ponder many times. An hour drive was a scant price to … Continue reading →

Finally, after several grey days of clouds, rain, fog, and humidity high enough to drown aquatic animals, today’s expectation is for mostly sunny weather. The day is starting—at 27°F—with a decidedly frosty feel, but the forecast calls for the temperature … Continue reading →

August 24 is Knife Day. It is not too early to begin preparing to celebrate. For me, the celebration must involve paying homage to knives of all stripes, from the 8-inch chef’s knife if the kitchen to the pocket knife … Continue reading →

I sit at my desk, hands on the keyboard. Once I begin to type, I cautiously expect words to flow from my fingers like water from an artesian well. Sometimes, my expectations are met. Too often, though, words struggle to … Continue reading →

I see my father in my face in the mirror. I never saw him there until a year or two ago. Maybe that’s because I was never this age before. When he was this age, I was nearing my twenties; … Continue reading →

Imagine, if you will, you and me sitting together on a worn wooden bench in a secluded area of a park-like setting. Miles from the nearest town, we are alone. This oasis is ours, alone. Only the glimpse of a … Continue reading →

Tenderness is rare compassionate warmth; a gentleness reserved for those for whom one feels deep affection. Or admiration. Or pity. Tenderness cannot occupy the same mind—at the same time—as the mind that harbors red-hot hatred or blind rage. Because tenderness … Continue reading →

Malignant populism found its moment with the election of Donald Trump in 2016. Whether that moment becomes a lifetime remains to be seen, but indications increasingly suggest it will last at least that long. Trump’s brand of populism continues to … Continue reading →

One can find wisdom about almost any topic just by seeking what others have said about it. Someone, somewhere, has expressed a profound pearl of wisdom on the subject simply by uttering a few words. The following quotations comprise three … Continue reading →

The year 2014 was a period of intense self-reflection for me. I do not know with certainty what prompted such deep introspection, but I suspect it might have been the knowledge that my life was in the midst of dramatic … Continue reading →

As I am wont to do of late, this morning I peered back to review what I’d written on this day last year. The first paragraph of my post, First Words, included these comments: …I bid good riddance to a … Continue reading →

Sadness gives depth. Happiness gives height. Sadness gives roots. Happiness gives branches. Happiness is like a tree going into the sky, and sadness is like the roots going down into the womb of the earth. Both are needed, and the … Continue reading →

Reading letters or emails or text messages a person sends can give clues about the sender. Spending hours reading her personal diary can provide a modicum of wisdom about her. Looking at the images he posts online can offer hints … Continue reading →

The constant “thrump, thrump, thrump” in my ears is just the internal sound of my heartbeat, sending blood coursing through my body. That racket is especially loud and irritating early in the morning when I sit down to write. The … Continue reading →

I have long been enamored of many of the quotes attributed to Kahlil Gibran. It’s a bit of an embarrassment that I personally have read little of his writings; only quotes attributed to him. That oversight or laziness or inadequacy … Continue reading →

I got back home around 7:00 a.m., having left a few vials of blood and a teaspoon or so of pee for the lab people to test and assess. The blood-letting specialist, a woman who has extracted my blood on … Continue reading →

Another night of insomnia, though not as sleepless as the two previous nights. I was early to bed, but late to sleep. And I woke often. At 4:30, I rose for the day, which involves lab work and an annual … Continue reading →

Since before midnight, I’ve been more or less awake. The first time I looked at the clock, the digits read 11:58. Every 35 to 45 minutes or so since then, I peered at the clock again, not sure what I … Continue reading →

I am ambivalent about this Christmas Day. While I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas, I know cheer and joy are in short supply for many people. One of my brothers remains in the hospital, awaiting decisions as to whether … Continue reading →

I envy Jason Bateman. Not for having been named Harvard University’s Hasty Pudding Theatricals’ Man of the Year for 2022, but for possessing the handsomeness I’ve always wished for but lacked. And for his youth. He’s only 52 years old; … Continue reading →

My brother—of my siblings, the one closest in age to me at five years my senior—is going into hospice care. Despite doctors’ expectations—that a surgical procedure within the last few days would prepare him for another procedure that would dramatically … Continue reading →

Guns are not intrinsically evil devices. It is what untrained or inept or fundamentally bad people do with them that unleashes guns’ awful potential that makes the need for regulating the use of guns so urgently important. The same is … Continue reading →

What follows is a very rough first draft of a poem, rife with disconnects and broken parts–or is it hearts?–that cry out for repair. I haven’t written real poetry for a very long time. This effort, conceived and written this … Continue reading →

3:42. Once again this morning, my tendency toward rising early went into overdrive. Before the digits on my electronic devices’ clocks read 4:00, I had emptied the dishwasher, put the dishes away, made my first cup of coffee, and situated … Continue reading →