Month: January 2021

It’s a mild winter in Kansas, the encampment along the sandbar on the big river just keeps growing. Summer is not even a promise yet, but dreaming of summer is easier than heading south. It’s the perfect spot – out of sight below the bank from the bike path, and, even in winter the trees…

With a scarlet headband around the braids of her ancestors, and ancient, story-telling hands weaving her people, our people, into a simple, silver strand of golden sunlight. Words can do that. Words matter. We are a nation built upon some words that were written on four pages of parchment over two hundred years ago. We…

Each day, I put in my shift. Most of my peers are retired by now, but I took my retirement out in installments over the years, kind of a reverse mortgage retirement. I spent my twenties and early thirties unencumbered by steady work, just working the minimum to get by, knocking around the country, Denver,…

On this day sixty one years ago, my sister Susan passed away. Yesterday, my brother Mark was attacked by a crazy person in a New York subway. It’s possible these two events are connected. A passing angel escorted Mark to a hospital where he received 15 stitches in his head. Angels, he discovered, are not…

For a warm, deep turquoise to grace the sunset, the sun must bring his light just right – carefully, slowly, like fruit from a lovers lips – the brightest red, the sweetest skin, the greenest eyes. The waiting cloud must be ready to enfold him in her arms and take him, colors and all, against…

Mel and I arrived in Kansas just ahead of a thunderstorm that had been on the old Dodge’s tail since we left Colorado. Bones and Michael were scurrying around collecting things that were about to blow away, but Tiny the Wolf Hound was right there at our feet – protector, friend and greeting committee all…

I once boarded a train on a night like this – the wind a lion, the air a knife, the new moon a whisper. The train whistle was the song of my wanderlust, the hard push of steel on steel was the sound of a dream of a life that hadn’t happened yet. Up and…

There’s nothing as fierce as January, once she puts her mind to it. Blizzard force winds and the sky clear as ice, the air rich with coconut and tundra, salt spray and glaciers, sea foam and month-old ice pack. The wolf sleeps in the open, needs only the shelter given by the shape of the…

After my spiritual encounter with small flock of Snow Geese last week, I called the Nature Center to ask about how they fit into the general waterfowl population of our area. A couple of days later the state biologist gave me a call. Turns out he’s a former neighbor and Earhart parent whom I haven’t…

You must gather up what falls but leave what falls behind. Fruit and time are old friends, they tag-team the sun for our delight. Savor me now, fruit says, and in return I will nourish your grandchildren. Time, being gender fluid, is a bit more cautious; they understand that you might have some life-changing event…