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Category: Personal Reflections
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Grace and Gratitude
When we gather with family and friends, there is inevitably someone who annoys us. There is Uncle Joe, who pontificates on his political and religious views (which differ from our own), and Aunt Linda, always asking about our relationship status and employment choices. Cousin Cindy cannot let a holiday pass without commentary about our weight, hair,…
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Döstädning: Swedish Death Cleaning
Up early, I was sitting in the dark, quietly sipping coffee and pondering life when I heard a scurrying under my seat. Using my phone as a flashlight, I knelt down and peered under the couch, startling a tiny mouse in the process. Squeak! it shrieked defiantly, as if irritated to be interrupted from eating a hole…
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The limitless sky
We’ve had some unusual skies this November: a total lunar eclipse (a.k.a., “Blood Moon”), wildfire smoke, heavy fogs, out-of-nowhere snow showers, but my favorites have been the stunning sunsets. Autumn and winter bring to Clark County the most vivid sunups and downs of the year, thanks to changing weather patterns that quell the profuse scattering…
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Always Becoming
The yellow, tufted smiley face car charm that hangs from my truck’s rear view mirror danced along to my music, taking cues from the blasts of air coming from the vents. And everytime it twists, it reveals its happy face. Which, in turn, makes me smile. I reckon that’s why I bought it. You see…
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Chewing Tobacco Ain’t for Kids
Four of us -- me, my brother Jr., Charlie, and his brother Jack spent lots of time playing together in the old abandoned log house near our property. It had rafters but no roof; a few places had some flooring. I imagine someone knew who had started to build the house and given up on…
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The Gift of Time
For the past three months, I have found myself at a new stage of life: Retirement. It is beginning to feel real, but I still ask myself, “how did I get here?” I cannot say that so far I have missed working for a paycheck — even though I was fortunate to have worked to…
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Change is good
Last year in this space I was gushing about gingkoes, this year I’m mad about maples. We are surrounded by beauty in Clark County — especially in autumn. When I made this small watercolor on rough-textured paper, I thought it lacked oomph, so I pulled out my black pen and started making little dots. As…
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Safe, Legal, Accessible
This summer, following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, I signed up to volunteer as a driver for the Kentucky Center for Reproductive Justice. I am a staunch believer that the right to an abortion is an integral part of the rights of women to receive health care. I am not “pro-abortion” – but I…
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In Defense of Fun
The word fun comes from the Middle English fon, meaning to act the fool. Henry VII thought that fun was, “a Continental (French) vice that has brought no good.” So he passed laws that officially banned activities of all fon, while simultaneously increasing taxation for everyone. Henry, unsurprisingly, is remembered as a serious, miserly, and tyrannical king.
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The advantage of being a mule
Of the three families living on the mountaintop, we had the only radio: a big Philco cabinet model. It was battery because we had no electricity. Dad cut the top out of a locust tree and ran an aerial (antenna) to the radio. We got great reception from the high-watt station WSM in Nashville, Tennessee.I…