Category Archives: Uncategorized

If the day fails to set your soul on fire, return to the mattress and sleep. If the week fails to give you hope, take refuge in a memory and rest there. If the month fails to give you solace, … Continue reading →

This video was played during the collection for a charity at the Unitarian Universalist Village Church in Hot Springs Village, AR last Sunday (and a Sunday before). I love the music!

The painters came yesterday. Three of them. Father and two sons. One of the sons is the man in charge. Our front door is no longer bubble gum pink; it is belligerent red, an aggressive tone that cautions all visitors … Continue reading →

Over the years, I’ve managed to adjust. I’ve taught myself to laugh or shrug when my body and mind would be inclined to offer tears as the automatic response to a stimulus. The replacement of laughs or shrugs for tears … Continue reading →

We enjoy food. “We” means my wife and I. We’re both food aficionados. We’re fond of food. Food feeds our “freak,” as it were. Some people think it odd that I post photos of food, both on my blog and … Continue reading →

Sometimes I think I have too many stories whirling around in my head. Too many incomplete ideas seek a foothold in a brain unable or unwilling to provide a foundation. Yeah, that’s it. I’m flush with ideas, but not with … Continue reading →

Wave upon wave of moisture-laden air sweeps across the mountain-top, if that’s what this is—this peak upon which my house was built. The level of humidity in the air is most obvious when I look out to the screened porch … Continue reading →

It’s becoming increasingly hard to believe anything I see or read in the “news.” Part of the problem is that I don’t know what constitutes “news: anymore. Fox News on television certainly is not news any longer; it’s a combination … Continue reading →

Finally, after an extensive hiatus, I’ll attend a writers’ critique group in downtown Hot Springs today. I’ll take for review a revised first chapter of a would-be-novel I’ve let languish for several months. Whether I continue will depend on whether … Continue reading →

I spent considerable time this morning learning details of the country of Yemen from the CIA World Factbook. The country has a population of more than twenty-eight million people; more than thirteen million of them do not have access to … Continue reading →

This post is the final one in a half-hearted attempt to accomplish a goal that’s neither simple to articulate nor easy to abandon. Having not attained a foothold toward achieving the elusive goal, I’m discarding my efforts to chase it, … Continue reading →

When we welcome reality into our lives, we acknowledge the challenges that confront us. By welcoming reality, though, we do not accept defeat, even if defeat appears to be the most likely outcome of an endeavor; we simply acknowledge the … Continue reading →

Nothing matters so much as the  time I learned I never mattered and never will. This is bizarre. I must have been playing with WordPress a long, long time ago and set this post to print far into the future … Continue reading →

I played with software on Christmas day this year, creating two covers for two bogus magazines I’ve written about in years past. And then I smoked and reverse seared three enormous ribeye steaks. Just another day in the Arkansas outback. … Continue reading →

Merry Christmas. Happy Holidays. Whatever your preference, I wish everyone (anyone?) who reads this a joyous winter season and a better 2018 than the year soon to end. Last night, for the second year in a row, we spent the … Continue reading →

It’s officially Christmas Eve. Or should I say it’s officiously Christmas Eve. In either event, the calendar claims the date is December 24, the day before evidence of the existence of Santa Clause will be found in households across the … Continue reading →

I think I’m coming to grips with the fact that I’m an extremely emotional person. I still try to stem the tears when I can, but I’ve reached the conclusion that some people (and I’m one) are just hyper-emotional. Maybe … Continue reading →

I awoke at 3:56 a.m. No, that’s not quite right. That’s when I got out of bed. I awoke a short while before that. I got out of bed at 3:56 a.m. Subsequent to abandoning my effort to sleep until … Continue reading →

My stenosis and bone spurs reared their ugly heads again a few days ago, causing my tangled nerves to react with pain in my arms, shoulder, and right shoulder blade. I had stopped taking my "nerve pain" medications, which was … Continue reading →

Channels run deep within us, channels as delicate as gently bubbling streams and as powerful as rivers that fiercely tear into the bedrock of the earth over which they flow. Through these channels flow the aspirations that drive us to … Continue reading →

Today, I’ll smoke the turkey we bought before Thanksgiving. Even though we had no intention of cooking a turkey for Thanksgiving dinner (our nice neighbors had us over for that meal), we couldn’t resist the low prices offered for the … Continue reading →

I was thinking aloud (actually, online) last night on matters of morality and how the boundaries of morality depend in large part on one’s upbringing and one’s perspective on the human condition. Though one might recognize certain behaviors as “immoral,” … Continue reading →

I’m going to the ophthalmologist today to have my vision checked. I’m not expecting to require an eye replacement, but I might need new lenses. If neither, I may have to get used to inadequate vision. I made the appointment … Continue reading →

Deep in the tangled weeds of today’s early morning, between the time I awoke at 2:30 and the time I finally accepted that I had lost another good night’s sleep, I stumbled across a reason to be glad about my … Continue reading →

If my fingers and forearm didn’t hurt so damn much, I’d have a lot to say at 3:00 a.m. I’d have quite a lot to share with this tiny piece of the world that reads my words. But my fingers … Continue reading →