Meeting My Muse   I was so excited, I forgot about my mask.   This is Vijay. Ever since I wrote about him in one of my stories, I’ve hoped to cross paths with him so that I could say hello. Today, as I was finishing up my ride and not far from home, I … Read more

  My grandson knows that, recently, he couldn’t go outside for ten days or so because of the toxic air quality from the horrendous wildfires. He looked up into the sky so high and said it was “Sooooo smoky.”   The sky is better now, thank God.   He doesn’t know what else is in … Read more

  I’m not liking people very much lately.   It’s not all people, but a healthy chunk. And those in that chunk who had already bugged me before “lately”? They really bug me a lot right now. I blame it mostly on the train wreck that has been 2020. There are just so many topics … Read more

  This morning, I gave my mom a test drive with this scalp massager (pictured). My dad was two feet away sans hearing aid, watching the news with the volume cranked, which rendered him oblivious to the happy groans from mom. So, from behind and without warning, I applied this magic wand to his scalp. … Read more

I woke up this morning to the sound of my own laughter. That hasn’t happened in a while. My dreams lately have been reflections of our troubled world and they don’t awaken me with a smile, it’s more often with a fright. Today was different. It took maybe two minutes to go downstairs and get … Read more

Today in the Costco parking lot, I experienced parking space road rage. If you saw the 1991 film, “Fried Green Tomatoes,” you might remember the Kathy Bates kerfuffle in the parking lot. I still have no idea why the woman went off on me today. None of it made any sense. In the moment, I … Read more

“When you’re feeling kicked to the curb, look for the grace.” That’s what my head said when I passed over these golden petals in the gutter. When we’re at our lowest, this is exactly what grace can look like. A few moments after passing over the flowers, from the Audible book on my iPhone, I … Read more

As I rode my bike this morning and listened to the soundtrack of Eckhart Tolle’s wise Martian-like voice narrating his audiobook, I heard him say, “…humanity is now faced with a stark choice: Evolve or die.” And then a moment later, “If the structures of the human mind remain unchanged, we will always end up … Read more

(Just Tellin’ it Like it Might Be) There’s a ton of debate these days on Covid19 (mask-wearing, social distancing, fake news, hoaxes, conspiracy theories, “opening up”), and racial equality (policing, which lives matter, equal rights, monuments, fake news, real data). I hear/see a lot of people professing to be malleable, yielding, teachable, curious, etc.—AKA fake … Read more

When was the last time you challenged yourself? My religion is Jesus. And I often find wisdom in other places. That doesn’t mean any wisdom or teachings found elsewhere supersedes my Christian faith. I test ideas out. So, that said: There is a Zen saying, “Don’t seek the truth. Just cease to cherish opinions.” At … Read more