Tribal Customs

Tribal Customs

Routines are nice as long as they don’t become ruts. Routines are not the same as schedules. A schedule seems rather inflexible and fixed, but a routine is a pattern that gives meaning to a day. Routines are more like tribal customs. In the dim, dark ages that many people have never experienced, those days before […]

An Iffy Kind of Day

An Iffy Kind of Day

Sitting here with my hot cup of Folgers, looking out at a, to be honest, rather drab world, I see Annie and Midge walking up the hill. Annie takes long strides, going at a good clip, and Midge’s little legs work double time to keep up. I really have no idea whether the woman’s name is […]

A Hedgehog or a Turtle Day?

A Hedgehog or a Turtle Day?

Among the gifts my children gave me at Christmas was this happy little hedgehog. He sits atop my computer and looks on with interest as I type the current suspenseful scene in By the Fright of the Silvery Moon. This hedgehog is more than he seems at first glance. He reverses, and becomes a turtle. […]

Peeling Back the Layers of Time

Peeling Back the Layers of Time

Those of us fascinated by history like to peel back the layers of time. Year by year, century by century, people live, die, buildings are built and then fall victim to a disaster or, by chance, survive. Going forward, we add to the layers of history but going backward, ah! There is the fascination. I haven’t […]

Beautiful, Cold, Deep Freeze Sort of Day

Beautiful, Cold, Deep Freeze Sort of Day

We are in a deep freeze in NW Arkansas. The snow arrived last night; not much of it in this part of the state, but more elsewhere. When I looked, the temperature was eleven degrees, but it may have dropped lower by now. Streets are slick and hazardous and schools are closed. This is the […]

Light and Dark, Good and Evil, and Mysteries

Light and Dark, Good and Evil, and Mysteries

I woke up this morning thinking, Lord, in something as important as Life with its potential for making lots of mistakes, I need a do-over.  Does anybody else ever feel that way? It is dark this morning. My quiet neighbor goes to his car, lunch box in hand, ready to head off into the day. […]