While trying to salvage memories and useful things from my Mother’s and Sister’s houses, it is never more clear to me that “Stuff Becomes Junk.”Mom is gone. Sister is incapacitated. I am old trying to pick up the pieces. 1 – Why Do We Hoard the Unimportant? My Mother grew up on a farm during […]
Writing is hard. It takes time to let your thoughts leak out onto the page. It is a lonely task. Nobody can do it for you. You’ve got to do it yourself. And you have to do it. Here are a few thoughts about the process. Preparation – Study, Research, Tools Inspiration – Ideas, Goals, […]
I live in Oregon, the Pacific Northwest. I’ve lived here all my life except for a couple years around college and the military. There’s no place like home. You might have heard that it always rains in Oregon. That’s a myth we like to perpetuate. Yes, it does rain, but not like in other parts […]
Last month, I celebrated a milestone. I am 70 years old. But, I don’t feel a day older. Birthdays mark the date on the calendar when we note another year in life has passed. We inexorably drift towards that final calendar date when we no longer age. The date when we meet our maker. In […]
It’s been a hectic couple of weeks. And every day has been interesting. We bought a small farm out in wine country here in Oregon. Yamhill County is an hour away from the Portland Metro area, on the way to the Coast. We were supposed to close on it nearly a month ago. But one […]
Most days, I operate in a fog of sorts. Even if it’s a sunny day outside, my mind can seem fuzzy or foggy. My thoughts are random, wandering into my conscience, making a deposit, then drifting away. If I have work to do, these thought drivels take me away from productivity. I can’t help it. […]
It seems that when we travel, we are blessed with inspiration, inspiration to dream, plan, and create. But, travel also introduces a different kind of fatigue we have to fight. We travel in a motorhome with our small pickup towed behind, and our 7-year old Beagle, Chloe, riding on the dash. We are quite the […]
Sometimes, you just have to start over. Like the other day. I had been working on a project, and could not make any headway. I concluded that I was on the wrong path. So, I started over. Clean slate. Sometimes you figure it out and get into the groove. But, if you stay in the […]
Today is Life. Yesterday is but a Memory. Tomorrow is a Vision of Hope. Dwelling on the stains of yesterday’s spilled opportunities takes time away from acting today. It is today that matters. It is today that comes to us a few minutes at a time, and which we can have a chance to influence […]
(More thoughts from 20 years ago.) Writing is almost magical sometimes. I find it interesting how a word captures, encapsulates, and solidifies a thought. By changing one word, or the punctuation, a sentence takes on a totally different cloak of meaning. I am interested in transferring clarity of thought onto paper. How do some words […]