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Kenwood House
One of my favourite spots in North London is Kenwood House, home to a marvelous tea shop and an even better collection of fine art. Among the jewels of the collection are two paintings, one by...
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Blaze
Not so long ago, I inherited a coat that had belonged to a far-flung relative. I learned a lot about him from what I found in the pockets. The more I learned, the more I appreciated the man. I...
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Our real work
Over at Poetic Asides, the November Poem-A-Day challenge is in full swing. Last Thursday, the prompt was to talk back to a poet. I chose to respond to Wendell Berry, not in disagreement but rather in...
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sunrise
A little poem about patience. sunrise to do the same thing over and again expecting a different outcome is sometimes called insanity i call it hope To share with friends over at the wonderful...
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While You Wait
Remembering a local business that disappeared in the name of progress. I can’t show you a picture, because it’s gone. But here’s the general location, right next to the tracks where it sat before the...
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Thirteen folds
Not so long ago, down at the theater, we temporarily had to take down a large American flag. The man I was working with treated this job with the utmost care. I found the whole experience strangely...
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Drink Me
Last night, there it was. A heart in a coffee cup. We just looked at it and rubbed our eyes. For me, coffee and love have always gone together. In Tanka form… should you find my heart floating in...
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Multiplication
In honor of tax day, and with a grateful nod to Garrison Keillor and the Writer’s Almanac… Multiplication If The Writer’s Almanac is to be believed (as if that’s even a question), Federal Income Tax...
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Castro Camera
This past week was Harvey Milk Day. Milk was an amazing man, a flawed hero, a great gift and a significant loss. I wrote this short piece last November in his honor. Castro Camera He was just...
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Seventeen
It’s a whirlwind season in my home life. Graduations, college preparation, combing through old pictures, casting off items we forget we had and certainly will never use again. Everyone is drifting –...
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Year 24: Nothing says I love you like a banjo
picture from GitBox Culture For my beautiful wife, on our wedding anniversary. Not the most romantic of sonnets, but consider the alternatives. This year was supposed to be a silver plate, and next...
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July 29, 1981
Photo credit: 80s Actual For whatever reason, I seem to be on a royal streak (flush?) right now. Here’s a brief memory of events from 32 years ago. Britain in the late 70s and early 80s was pretty...
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Sonnet: Talking on the phone to the mother of two pre-schoolers
Written with the greatest admiration for anyone who works at home looking after small children. How y’all get anything done is a minor miracle. Apart from, you know, EVERYTHING which you somehow...
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The Virgin and Child with St Anne and St John the Baptist
It was a bit over five hundred years ago that Leonardo da Vinci drew the cartoon shown above. It is thought to have been a study for a larger religious painting, but apparently that work never came to...
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Give my regards to Jerry
The monthly 50% off sale our our local Goodwill is a huge magnet for bargain hunters. It’s amazing the slice of life you can meet as you fight through the crowded aisles. Give my regards to Jerry...
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Thank You For The Music
Every once in a while, a “tribute band” comes through town on a national tour. Last weekend, we hosted “ABBA Mania” – a two-hour show chock full of ABBA’s greatest hits. It was a great evening, and...
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On teaching (the ukulele)
(A short meditation on teaching, and talent, and the ukulele) On teaching the ukulele It has been said: those who can, do; those who can’t, teach. It sounds quite clever, because, like all lies,...
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Lullaby
Picture from the Admiralty Blog Here in Indiana, we’ve begun 2014 with a snow storm. Listening to the weather forecasts on the radio takes me back to my childhood in England, listening to BBC Radio...
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Snowbound
Here in northern Indiana, it doesn’t take much talk of snow before the conversation turns to the great blizzard of January 1978. I was visiting Goshen, Indiana, when that incredible storm hit. We were...
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