We are well into spring. I worked with a rake clearing up the debris fallen from the two old blue spruce trees, winters leavings. Two garbage containers were filled with twigs, and pine cones. Butter cups are on the cusp of blooming. The tulips will be close behind. I was reminded of the nature…
Another day in paradise. I say paradise ironically. We live East of Eden, outside the gates of paradise. Or to put it another way with a lyric line from Hotel California, “This could be heaven or this could be hell…” I heard about the cruise missile strike on the Syrian airbase. Shortly afterward I…
Once in a while I experience time dislocation. By that I mean a disruption in my accustomed sequence of things. Time for us is a concatenation of events, causally related, more or less–that we have adapted to. Sometimes something happens to upend those expectations. If you stop to think you can imagine events that…
This weekend I heard this tune on the radio. “Have You Seen Her” by the Chi-Lites moved me. Though I’ve not personally experienced the cause of loneliness depicted in the lyric story line, — I can relate. The point is an old one, succinctly stated by Heraclitus, “Everything changes, and nothing remains.” What time…
April 2nd, the day after my birthday. I awakened this morning thinking of my ancestors, the ones going back to the England of the first millennium. Like the common Anglo-Saxon they surely had a hoe in their hands and planted the fields at this time of year. They came to this country from somewhere…
I’m in a funk this morning. The ACA, also known as Obamacare is certain to be repealed and replaced today. The replacement will be something unaccountably cruel. The accounting will come soon enough, when the fixed sum of money allocated to the states runs out. At the same time, there is no cap on…
A reader response to yesterdays post “Bible Study” stimulated my thinking. Those with whom we disagree are in a position to help us the most. That is counter intuitive, and true. Why are many scared, so angry? And what about my state of mind and heart? What emotions are evoked by a cursory reading…
The following was received from a friend, who thinks as do I, that resistance to the agenda of the administration is required if we are to maintain self respect and not be stripped of our humanity. This is from the NY Times and the URL is appended below. I’ll add a comment or two…
I’ve always loved this Bob Seger song. Written in 1973 it is a mournful elegy to the transitivity of life. Seger reflects upon the day to day experience of being an entertainer. Beneath the glamor, the klieg lights of the big arenas, is the grind, the loneliness inscribed into “the life”. I am reminded…
How pleasant to know that Epicurus is part of our Grecco-Roman heritage. The culture of the West owes a great deal to the intellectual ideals of Greece and Rome. The Epicurean spirit is one of hospitality, of generous invitation. The host and keeper of this place, where you will find the pleasure of the…
