Simplifying… with a “touch”

Sitting here at the Townsend Street Market grabbing one of their fabulous “pepper steak, peppers, onion, cheese” subs. Hot, delicious and fresh…
I’m throwing a few more colories into this 59 year old frame–don’t ride as well when I’m doing the longer distances without a couple of days of extra carbs. Ahhh…
Doing shorter, more immediate posts [...]

Outside the box…

For a few weeks I’ve been bemoaning the time to sit down at the keyboard and write a post. Oh, Tim! You’re so slow to think “outside the box”!
Thanks, B.A. for the Twitter follow–got me to acting, instead of feeling sorry for time lost because of my own inflexibility… so, a “tweet” since 9:00AM [...]

Oh, the ants!

Earlier today I thought, “Carpenter… Joseph… Jesus were carpenters.  They made useful items with tools and the skill of their hands.”  What a positive connotation the word “carpenter” has.  Until you juxtapose it with an insect:  ants.  Carpenter Ants!
Over 30 years ago we carefully constructed a grape arbor on the back of our large garage.  [...]

“and trucked my freight away under birdsong…”

Scavengers… that’s really all they are.  A sesame seed here, toast crumb tumbling to the ground there–but the tweets!  Ah, if it weren’t for the chirping, tweeting descent by wings so animated and lively;  well, if not for that, perhaps I’d put my foot down.  But how could I?
These sparrows of the street, in hopping [...]

Perfection… in simplicity

Oh, how we strive for perfection!  And how we fall short …
Since February, I’ve been snatching an hour here, an hour there…  transforming my “office” into a true study – “A Country Deacon’s Study”.  My vision is one of a space with my books and reference materials close at hand.  The hand written Book of [...]

WWOOF’ing to Edgewater Farm

And so the adventure begins…
Our youngest daughter “landed” in Maine last week after a 470+ mile drive from Gospel Hill.  Her new home for the summer? Edgewater Farm, working as a “Willing Worker On Organic Farms”…  a WWOOF’er in the lingo of the nearly 40 year-old organization.
According to owners, Bill and Carol Emerson, the “Edgewater [...]

Getting up in the world!

Over the Memorial Day holiday, we leveraged some time off (ah, a true misnomer!) and planned a “Memorial Day Work Weekend”. Instead of concentrating on projects here on Gospel Hill Road, we headed south and worked on our apartment, a turn of the century cement block duplex that we work hard to keep in [...]

Finding his voice!

Just a week ago, our grandson Thaddeus was baptized at St. Bartholomew the Apostle Church. [See On the occasion of...] A joyous time!  Today, the newly baptized child found his voice in church…
A baby’s cry in church can be such a distraction… or a blessing.  Today, Thaddeus’ Mom was Lector and this was one 3-month old [...]

On the occassion of…

Mother’s Day, 10 May 2009
What a day it was!  Even now, 4 days after the Baptism of our first grandchild, Thaddeus Nolan, I’m unwrapping the mystery of the sacrament, savoring each petal of the flower of redemption of grace with which our grandson was blessed.
More to come in the days ahead…  understanding, remembering, owning this [...]

A New Reality

It was going to happen… eventually. For nearly 25 years I enjoyed seeing my Father or Father-in-Law sleeping peacefully in one of the living room recliners cradling one of our four children. Those memories of the “grandpa with child” at rest seemed to capture a spirit of repose and contentment that I could [...]