Our friends Sonny, Emily, and Sovahn Crawford visited us from Massachusetts this week. Sonny is an old friend we’ve known for over forty years, whom we met in Brimfield while buying antiques and collectibles for the Chili’s chain. Sonny’s older son, Tinian, and our daughter, Sarah, were four and three at the time, and we…
The Night I Forgot How to Speak
When I was growing up, there was a Sweetheart Banquet at the 7th and Main Baptist Church every Valentine’s Day. I never had the occasion to attend since I was an Episcopalian, but it was considered quite an event in our little town. When I was in 8th grade, I was invited to go with…
Finding Stillness
I am listening to Gregorian chanting right now, and the effect is worth noting. The minute this music comes on, I instantly feel a deep sense of relief, as though warm water were washing over me in a lovely porcelain bathtub. My breath deepens, my shoulders unknot, and my face relaxes. I sit up straighter,…
Flash Fiction: The Geometry of Grief.
Jacob Peterson stared at the tall taupe vase with its intricate pattern of circles and lines holding a bouquet of purple and white lilacs. He loved that vase. He had made it with his own two hands. The pattern reminded him that life had dozens of lines and intersections—places to connect and disconnect. The flowers,…
Back in Ojai
We are back in California after a week away in Texas, where we worked and also saw family and friends. Here is my companion this evening, who came down for our usual Play-Doh session, which was interrupted by our days away. I’m tired, but happy to be back. This little clip will help you understand…
Where Time Once Stretched
Time is an issue for me. It has been an issue for a long while. But not when I was a kid. Then time stretched out like a relaxed cat, lengthening in the sun, and I stretched with it. I played outside, high up in trees, pretending each limb was a room in my imaginary…
An Evening of Laughter at Sherman Community Players
Ray and I just returned from the “friends and family” dress rehearsal for the Sherman Community Players’ production of Lend Me a Soprano, a play by Ken Ludwig. The play is directed by our old, dear friend, Darrah Dunn, SCP’s artistic director. This is a fun, lively theatrical experience with a zany story, strong performances,…
Floyd Cramer’s “Last Date” and Watching Love Spin Across the Roller Rink Floor
Few songs on the radio trigger such a visceral reaction for me as Floyd Cramer’s “Last Date.” This instrumental piece featuring piano with string accompaniment takes me right back to my childhood and the roller rink where I spent endless hours skating on Saturday and Sunday afternoons with my friends. As soon as the first…
The Geography of Memory
Whenever I drive back to Texas, the minute I hit the border from New Mexico, a calm settles over me. Not that West Texas is my home, but still, I can see the big open sky and the flat plains, and I hear that West Texas closed-mouth drawl when I stop for gas. These are…
Poem: Echoes of Three
I have refined a poem I wrote a couple of years ago. This is a villanelle, with its own rules for construction. This is an excellent brain exercise for someone like me, a novice poet. Echoes of Three Superstition suggests death comes in threesAs homage to the Holy TrinityIf it should happen, will you fall…
20 Minutes a Day 