(This ran five or so years into my Sunday morning newspaper columnist days. If you're a tea drinker you'll think I misspelled Grey, but this is about a cat that was gray in color. Karen and I had four cats at the time and they popped up in my columns occasionally. We outlived them all.)The … Continue reading Earl Gray
Bella Luna
(This newspaper column was published many moons ago) If the publishers of my desk calendar are correct, there will be a full moon tonight. Right there in today’s cubical they’ve printed the words “Full Moon” and a little illustration to make sure I don’t miss it. So if it’s not raining or cloudy I’ll make … Continue reading Bella Luna
Mother Nature, Riled
(This column was published on September 25th 2011, in my regular corner of the Brazosport Facts, where I pontificated for three hundred and seventy-eight consecutive Sunday mornings.) Okay, let’s make a list. The upper eastern seaboard was hit by an earthquake and a hurricane in the same week (a downright unusual couple of events by … Continue reading Mother Nature, Riled
Walking
Now shall I walk or shall I ride?'Ride,' Pleasure said;'Walk,' Joy replied. ― W.H. Davies In one of his many essays Henry David Thoreau wrote that he believed an early morning walk is a blessing for the whole day. Robert Frost, another New Englander from a later era, agreed. In ‘The Pasture’, the short poem he … Continue reading Walking
Magic Landscapes
I’m running out of places. The narrow red brick schoolhouse where I once progressed down a single long hallway from first grade through twelfth burned down long ago. It was an assembly line or sorts that took a dozen years (no kindergarten in our school back then in Oakwood) to traverse if you stayed the … Continue reading Magic Landscapes
Of time, telephones, eternity, and Mrs. Appleton
Nearly everybody I see driving a car nowadays is talking on a cell phone. This certainly isn’t news to you. And don't go thinking this is going to be another diatribe about the inherent danger of driving and using the phone at the same time. I’ll leave that battle to someone who can come … Continue reading Of time, telephones, eternity, and Mrs. Appleton
Missiles, maypoles and mayhem
Happy May Day. And if you’re wondering what we’re supposed to be celebrating on this first day of the fifth month the line forms here, right behind me. Back when I was a gangling, crew-cut lad full of questions up in Oakwood I’m sure I asked, probably more than once, what the day meant … Continue reading Missiles, maypoles and mayhem
When society’s habits went up in smoke
A professor once told told me successful authors are fueled by a constant intake of cigarette smoke. Which must explain why none of my stuff has ever wandered anywhere close to a bestsellers list. But if there is anything to the theory about secondhand smoke being hazardous to health it's amazing I'm still here at … Continue reading When society’s habits went up in smoke
When did the center of the home shift?
At a library event up in Sealy ten or so years ago I had a pleasant conversation with a lady about books. That, not surprisingly, often happens in libraries. We agreed that we’d both enjoyed David McCullough’s “John Adams”, the biography of the second president. I asked if she’d seen the HBO miniseries … Continue reading When did the center of the home shift?
A winter’s tale
I often tell folks in my wordsmithing classes and workshops that some of the most useful tools they can employ are the five senses. I also tell them that the sense of smell is almost always the quickest one to trigger a memory of the past. But the feeling generated by a really cold day, … Continue reading A winter’s tale