“It was a wild, tempestuous night, toward the close of November.”—The Adventure of the Golden Pinz-Nez by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Such opening lines whet the imagination, stir the soul. This is the time of year when I take down my copy of The Complete Sherlock Holmes and turn directly to my favorite of the […]
It’s Sherlock Holmes Weather! Read More »
History’s Most Famous Woman Remembered At Christmas time We are all, believers and unbelievers alike, familiar with the stories, particularly at this time of year. The players are familiar to us: angels, the woodworker Joseph, a group of sheepherders, astrologers and astronomers from the Land Between the Rivers, the megalomaniacal King Herod, and, most of
Blest Art Thou Among Women Read More »
The wit and wisdom of the “old man” “The Old Man knows pretty near close to everything”—Robert C. Ruark, “The Old Man and the Boy” “A man can spend his life with his eyes open and never see a dingdong thing. Most people just stumble through this foolish business called life, bright-eyed and busy-tailed, but
A MOST MEMORABLE TEACHER: Read More »
Some Reflections Upon Man’s Relationship With His Fellow Creatures “One of the most cowardly things ordinary people do is shut their eyes to facts.”C.S. Lewis For nearly all of his working life, my grandfather devotedly farmed his 72 acres in rural Ohio. My Uncle Edgar labored away on his 82-acre spread approximately two miles away
A Most Painful Ambiguity Read More »
“Oh, Br’er Fox. I don’t care what you do with me, so long as you just don’t throw me in that briar patch over there. Go on and barbecue me up, Br’er Fox, but please don’t throw me in that briar patch.” —Br’er Rabbit Watership Down is a real place, a low hill with sandy
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A huge black grackle is perched atop a tall evergreen tree alongside our deck this morning. The grackles here have been up to something of late. Grackles are always up to something. As I sip on my morning cup of coffee, black of course, I ponder the schemes of grackles and of all critters, including
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“In all these places the confused night remains bright with confounding light, the day remains dim, harder to remember than a chalk board one particular day in first grade, harder to remember than the first taste of water.” —James Tipton “In Towns Made of Steel” On rare summer nights when I was a boy, the
The Creeping Deadly Miasma Of Light Pollution Read More »
One’s Outer Journey Must Mirror One’s Inner Quest “It is desirable that a man be clad so simply that he can lay his hands on himself in the dark, and that he live so compactly and preparedly that, if an enemy take the town, he can, like the old philosopher, walk out the gate empty-handed
Everything I Need Is In My Backpack Read More »
“In spring more mortal singers than belong To anyone place cover us with song. Thrush, bluebird, blackbird, sparrow, and robin throng;” —Robert Frost, “Our Singing Strength” Whoosh! Whap! As I strode up the steps toward the upper plaza at Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial out on South Bass Island in Lake Erie, I felt
The Wonderful World Of Red-Winged Blackbirds:Tiny Heralds Of Spring Read More »
“For every abominable thing which the Lord hates they have done for their gods; for they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.” Deuteronomy 12:31 King Minos of the once powerful Minoan civilization was a very unhappy man. He had been given a beautiful white bull to serve as seed
The Gruesome Business Of Human Sacrifice Continues With Different Gods Read More »
