He has a way of talking. He goes on and on and on. We all know this. It’s just the way he is, but still it sometimes catches us off guard, and we get trapped. When we’re stuck in a room and he gets started, there’s no way to turn it off. No way to interject. […]
Yearly Archives: 2011
Red Star
Fri, 19 Aug 2011, 09:42 PM (-06:00)
As the hot air wraps around me and the dog sniffs at a bush, I stand on the sidewalk looking up at the evening sky and see a red star. It’s the first one I see. Darkness has fallen all around me, but the sky retains just enough of the passed day that there’s only […]
Waiting for Some Rain
Mon, 15 Aug 2011, 07:54 PM (-06:00)
Yesterday evening, two Mourning Doves sat on the power lines in the shade of a Chinese Tallow tree. They gazed to the east, beaks into the wind, watching a black sky advance. Waiting for some rain. “I don’t know,” Trudy said to me from the dining room table. “It could still get here.” The radar […]
Missing Characters and Mischaracterizations
Fri, 12 Aug 2011, 01:18 AM (-06:00)
1. Missing Characters The problem with thank you lists at the Academy is that you always forget someone, as my cousin discretely whispered to me out of band. And in this case, my best efforts and fears of tripping up were to no avail. I left two people out. Oh, what have I done? Jasper. […]
Who Was Who
Tue, 9 Aug 2011, 10:28 PM (-06:00)
The cast of characters… BenA. Sent his car to the mechanic so that it would be in good shape for his brother to borrow, only to have his brother drive it into a flung pebble, chipping the windshield in the process. BenE. Taught his cousins how to sail when he didn’t have his nose in […]
Do You Want To Go To Town?
Sat, 6 Aug 2011, 07:38 AM (-06:00)
“Do you want to go to town?” the fair and industrious Trudy asks. No, I tell myself. I do not want to go to town. Dappled circles of sunlight are dancing on the yellow checkered tablecloth on the picnic table. The kids are splashing and laughing in the water. Trudy is sitting in a camp chair, […]
To Begin the Day in Earnest
Sat, 6 Aug 2011, 07:27 AM (-06:00)
A tribe of four is sitting in the corner of the lawn on the hill where years ago stairs descended to the lake and Grampa Macmillan’s shaving table stood nailed to a tree. They are talking about plans and futures as the breeze blows up the hill. There are sailing lessons going on, one kid […]
We Slept Hard
Sat, 6 Aug 2011, 07:14 AM (-06:00)
It was breezy that day, the wind blowing gently out of the northwest. The sky was bluer than it had been. The sheets and sleeping bags were hanging out to dry, and the windows of the tents were open to let the air in. The storm had missed us the night before, marching to the […]
Were You Scared?
Tue, 26 Jul 2011, 05:44 PM (-06:00)
1. Were you scared? “Were you scared?” she asked. It was 5:30 in the morning. We were driving home in the dark from the hospital. “No,” I said. This kind of thing has happened enough that it’s frankly not scary, anymore. It might be serious, but it’s not scary. When death comes knocking time after […]
Even More Humanity
Mon, 25 Jul 2011, 09:44 PM (-06:00)
In response to the killings: We must never cease to stand up for our values. We have to show that our open society can pass this test, too. And that the answer to violence is even more democracy, even more humanity, but never naivete. This is what we own the victims and those they hold […]