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The heart hath its own memory like the mind, And in it are enshrined The precious keepsakes into which is wrought The giver’s loving thought. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Music touches every ...
Every Mother’s Day is difficult for those who’ve lost a loved one they cherished and who brought them into this world. For me there is special anguish mixed with love and gratitude. I had a moth...
Aging moderately, if not gracefully
There are scientific studies, performed by real rsearchers in white lab coats, purporting to show that people over 50 do not actually suffer much memory loss, that our ability to store and retrie...
It’s been almost a year since the biggest de-cluttering and emptying experience my life occurred, and only because we sold my mother’s house, where I had also lived for ten years while taking car...
Many driven and anxious people with highly ambitious and often unrealistic goals, constantly strive to be better and more successful than others. To me this is a classic sign of dysfunction in o...
Now’s not the time
The beach was strange that night. A rather weak cold front was pushing through, but didn’t know when or whether to sweep out to sea. So it was sunny and partly cloudy one minute, and then raining...
I recently read a beautiful and evocative essay about a walk during which the writer discovered a tiny stream and a house and garden that filled her with delight and awe. Cherry blossoms made it...
I went out to my brother’s place at the beach for our weekly ritual of Sunday supper together. We all did a good job of not broaching the fact that his cat, Chloe, whom we all loved so much, wou...
Photography lets you explore with your inner eye
Photography is fascinating to me because it’s both descriptive and symbolic at the same time. Descriptive because it shows you something that looks like the world and symbolic because the best ph...
Spring makes the world come alive, and I’m so grateful
O world, I cannot hold thee close enough! Thy winds, thy wide grey skies! Thy mists, that roll and rise! Thy woods …that ache and sag And all but cry with colour… …Long have I known a glory in it...
Panhandling: The Moral Dilemma
My whole life I’ve been aware of the homeless among us. I remember like it was yesterday driving with my parents in downtown New Orleans and going down Camp Street, which was the city’s Skid Row ...
It was the end of lunch period and the screen doors to the cafeteria slammed behind me on my way out. I grabbed my books and walked to the stairwell leading to the long day’s 4th period class. I ...
Once in a lifetime
A Cheyenne elder of my acquaintance once told me that the best way to find something is not to go looking for it… he said to watch out of the corner of your eye, open to possibility, and what you...
Afternoon walks, and what it’s like to be unemployed for a long time
When you’re out of work for months at a time and you don’t have an illness or disability that prevents you from getting out, something as simple as a afternoon walk can make the difference betwee...
Get your motor runnin’ Head out on the highway Looking for adventure In whatever comes our way… “Born to be Wild” Steppenwolf, 1969 I had forgotten it was Oldies Music Party Time at the 55+ “act...
I’ve passed an old abandoned/derelict house in downtown Charleston countless times over the years as It slowly deteriorated, becoming more forlorn, tattered and ghostly looking. I can’t even im...
What is “awe” and where can we discover those feelings of transcendence?
What gives you a sense of awe? That word, awe—the feeling of being in the presence of something vast that transcends your understanding of the world—is often associated with the extraordinary. Yo...
The enduring allure and mystique of Spanish moss
Deep shadows of a late afternoon sun followed me as I slowly ambled around, leisurely taking pictures of centuries-old live oaks scattered across the property. I particularly like to catch the s...
I had of a brief phone conversation earlier today with my younger brother, who was clearly exasperated into sullenness by my immediate jokiness and corny conviviality. I do like to joke around ...
This Winter
A few weeks ago we had three days in succession of the coldest weather I can ever remember since I’ve lived here on the coast of South Carolina. That cold spell did horrific damage to our plants...
Mortality. After a certain stage in life (for me it was retirement and turning 70), my focus seemed to turn like a laser beam to all the health matters that I was suddenly aware of, but had hard...
… Life is filled with suffering, but it is also filled with many wonders, like the blue sky, the sunshine, the eyes of a baby. To suffer is not enough. We must also be in touch with the wonders o...
Thoughts on the meaning and purpose of education in today’s world
The cost of college is a cruel joke these days, and has been for some time. It makes indentured servants of students beholden to the usury of lenders, and thus graduates are permanently in debt p...
…It’s not as if I believe that everything works together to bring us to a particular predestined point. But I do believe that everything we experience can be seen as related, if we are open to ...
The bitter cold fact and symbol of this December’s weather bomb
A few nights ago for the second night in a row, we had temperatures well below freezing. At 18 degrees it was a record, or near record low. We rarely ever have cold like that here in Charleston,...
Book Description
Short essays from the interior of my life.
