“So, you got summer plans?” John asked me as he cut my hair. “Actually, we do,” I said. “We just made a motel reservation in Florida for the last Shuttle launch.” He was silent for a moment. “What do you mean, last?” he asked. “The last Shuttle launch. We’re going to try to see it.” […]
Yearly Archives: 2011
Too Much for the Man
Sun, 3 Apr 2011, 01:15 AM (-06:00)
It was Friday. It was evening. The week was done. We were sitting outside on the patio at Austin Java sipping iced teas. The dog was alternately drinking from a bowl of water, sitting on the wall behind us watching the traffic on Barton Springs Boulevard, and contentedly lying in my lap. A group of […]
Fukushima
Tue, 29 Mar 2011, 08:49 PM (-06:00)
At lunch we talked about the earthquake and the tsunami. And we talked about the power plants and the explosions and the evacuation zones. “Imagine if,” he said. “Imagine if it was thousands of years ago and they cut a tree down in the forest—a log to cross a gorge.” “And imagine if the log […]
A Telecommuter’s Background Noise
Tue, 22 Mar 2011, 05:05 PM (-06:00)
Years ago I worked on a team with a guy who lived somewhere in North Texas. The company was a big supporter of telecommuting, and he worked from home. Periodically he would come down to see us face-to-face, but most of the time he dialed in remotely. In the spring you could hear the Mockingbirds in his […]
Rummaging About in the Dark
Mon, 21 Mar 2011, 08:26 PM (-06:00)
He sat in the dark gazing out the front door, his brown eyes lit up by the lamp in the corner, his mind on something distant. Who knows what a dog thinks when he sits quietly, his eyes barely blinking, his body still. And who knows why. I sat in the room beneath the light of […]
Full Moon and Someday Rain
Sat, 19 Mar 2011, 11:26 PM (-06:00)
The full moon rides across a cloudless sky, closer and bigger and brighter than it has been for 20 years, casting shadows of budding branches on the ground. The wind blows thru the branches, shaking the shadows, making the wind chimes chime. Maybe someday it will rain.
200 Miles Away
Sat, 5 Mar 2011, 11:27 PM (-06:00)
He drove home in the afternoon; leaving behind chilly, rainy skies; looking forward to warmer blue. He drove home after a week, drove home anxious be home, to sleep again in his own bed with his own pillow under his own blanket. But she had come down the day before to see her mother, and […]
AIrport Goodbye
Tue, 1 Mar 2011, 08:55 PM (-06:00)
It was a sunny day. The winds of yesterday were gone. The sky was blue. The air was warm. The Irises were beginning to bloom, and the leaves of some trees and woody shrubs were beginning to push out, if you noticed closely enough. She left on a sunny day for the cold white north. […]
That Old Time Music
Mon, 28 Feb 2011, 05:00 PM (-06:00)
They sat at the table eating their Thundercloud egg salad sandwiches. He guzzled an iced tea. She was drinking water. The Cars were playing over the speakers. “It’s really quite amazing,” he said. “What?” she said. “This song,” he said. “That this song is playing here and that it totally makes sense.” “This is The […]
Cold and Warm
Fri, 25 Feb 2011, 08:55 AM (-06:00)
She told a tale of winter, of snow dragons rearing their heads and gnashing their teeth. She said how warm the one-degree-below-freezing temperatures seemed and of the no-big-deal report of the weathermen during their snow forecast. She told of 100 inches accumulated so far this winter. And my mind turned to the shade I ran […]