News Year’s eve. Everyone reflects. Some do it a little, I do it a lot. Cold enough to snow, just enough to whiten the ground: Nature’s proof that winter is present. How could I doubt? A few days of temperate weather in mid December is enough rhetoric in my mind, raising suspicion that climate…
The year draws down. Yesterday was warm. I decided to take a walk alongside the Fox River, to visit the FABYAN ESTATE which is close to my neighborhood. The day was gray, damp, unpropitious for photography. Determined anyway, I took my camera. The Fabyans, George and Nellie lived here from 1908 until 1939. George…
Years ago I was privileged to spend some time at the Pilchuck School of Glass, an internationally renowned community of artists in hot glass outside of Seattle Washington. Glass blowing is not an artform for the fainthearted. One must stand for hours, drawing molten glass out of a furnace as hot as a volcano. …
Saturday morning after Christmas day. State Street in Geneva is eerily quiet. Traffic is scarce. I’ve never before witnessed this scene of absence. No roaring eighteen-wheelers, vanity pickups and car traffic on this main artery to the bridge over the Fox River. Old buildings stand as a double row of street side tombstones…
You run ahead — Are you doing it as a shepherd? A third case would be the fugitive. Do you want to walk along? Or walk ahead? Or walk by yourself? One must know what one wants and that one wants. — excerpt Twilight Of The Idols or How to Philosophize With A Hammer…
The day arrives, on the face of it, like every other day. Everything up to this day has been preparation, doing the work requisite to celebration. Not that the “to do” list of decorating, seeking out and purchasing the “right gift” for those whom you have a natural obligation etc. is without satisfaction. Work…
It is Christmas Eve. Yesterday the project of the day was gift wrapping. The upstairs filled with the aroma of pumpkin bread, banana bread loaves, baking in the oven. I could hardly leave the gift-prep job to others on the team, since they were doing such a fine job in the kitchen. I wrapped…
December 21st, I was inclined to make a fire in our fire pit. Then I learned that we were to attend a holiday party with old friends in another town. The enjoyment of open fire, heat emanating from burning wood, the glow of embers, pungent rising smoke into the inky sky, was delayed. Maybe…
As a general rule, I can take “only so much” of Christmas carols. Many I have heard since childhood. I am no longer mystified by the Baby In The Manager story in the same way. I can’t help but think critically about the elements of the story. The problem is not with the story…
A strong faith. I cannot think of a definition, and for the life of me cannot come up with anyone who serves as an example. The occasion for my puzzle was a snippet of television where Robin Roberts announced her intention to visit Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas to interview Joel Osteen this weekend. …
