Category Archives: Just Thinking

Some blogging friends recently completed their 1500th blog post. Well, they’ve actually posted more than that, but some posts from their very early days of bloggery did not survive the transition from one platform to another. Unlike my friends, I post whether I … Continue reading →

Scotch Bonnet peppers are good examples of the allure of harmful things. They are metaphors for swimming with sharks, sky-diving, illicit love affairs, auto racing, experimenting with heroin, and deep-sea diving without a tank. Or maybe I have that backwards. … Continue reading →

I had a conversation with a writer friend recently. We talked about memories from childhood. Hers are as clear as crystal, and encyclopedic in their scope, beginning as early as when she was eighteen months old. Mine are, mostly, rare … Continue reading →

It happens more frequently now than it did ten years ago. Ten years ago, it would occur every three or four months and last for, maybe, two or three days. Then, I could return to “normal” for another few months. I don’t know whether … Continue reading →

My sister-in-law bought a kayak the other day. She has a new friend—who lives on a lake nearby—who kayaks. The friend invited my sister-in-law to go kayaking with her recently. Next thing I know, my sister-in-law is crazy for kayaking. … Continue reading →

“Pay it forward” has become a popular feel-good endeavor of late. Not a day goes by that I don’t read or hear a news story or view a Facebook post about someone buying coffee for the next person in line … Continue reading →

It’s a concept as simple as any concept can be. It’s been staring us in the face since the beginning of time. But we tend to forget it. We tend to forget its fundamental truth as we go squawking around, … Continue reading →

When my wife and I are in our wanderlust modes, we tend to follow back roads just to see where they take us. One such exploration, a few months ago, led us down a gritty, pothole-marked road to an even … Continue reading →

An old woman, her hands holding onto a walker, stands on the curb waiting for the light to change so she can cross Amsterdam Avenue. When the light changes, she slowly inches her way out into the street as dozens … Continue reading →

In lieu of writing another post this morning, I am driving to Memphis with my wife. There, we will go to Costco and engage in other forms of entertainment. If I’m so possessed later in the day, after we return … Continue reading →

Last night, I watched a program on PBS that made me rethink some of my progressive ideologies. Not change, mind you , but rethink.  Change may be in the offing, but not yet; not until I assess what I saw … Continue reading →

This morning, finally, I will see a primary care physician for a physical.  My last physical was in December 2013, if memory serves me correctly. I intend, always, to get annual physicals, but intentions cannot buy rainbows. Or something along those … Continue reading →

You’ve heard of epicanthic folds?  Well of course you have. They are skin of the upper eyelid that covers the inner corner of the eye. Epicanthic folds are largely responsible for the distinctive “Asian” facial appearance that is so often … Continue reading →

Many years ago, after my mother had retired from teaching school, two friends who  taught at Del Mar College engaged her help with a text book they were writing.  She offered them advice on the structure and content of the … Continue reading →

With apologies to René Magritte.

At once hopeful and despairing, this life—this life of chaos and serenity in the void of space—is a strange place to live. We watch centuries go by with advancements that would astonish the god we so fervently wish for, yet … Continue reading →