• Bluebelle,  Church Life,  Daily Life,  Holy Days,  Jinx,  Lectio Divina,  Mrs. Orr,  Photographs,  Reflections

    Daylight And Other Things Saved

    An almost-spring rain has been falling most of the day, and the birds have been very busy at the feeders and in the birdbath. The daffodils are up, along with the grape hyacinth. The Virginia bluebells are getting ready to bud out, the forsythia is daubed with yellow up and down its slender branches, and the peach trees are blossoming out as well. A near neighbor’s pear tree is a perfect pink lollypop in the distance, and all the colors are set off by the silvery mist in the hollers. And tonight we move the clocks forward into Daylight Savings Time, and the tone and tenor of the days will…

  • Daily Life,  I Never Thought I'd Be In This Situation,  Mrs. Orr,  Prayers,  Reflections

    An Update

    I wanted to thank everyone who has offered prayers on behalf of Mrs. Orr and me during this season of trial. We got an update on something we’ve been anxiously awaiting, and I thought I would post an update here. Not far into the new year, I was fired from my work-at-home position. The reason for my termination was my refusal to comply with a company policy that I believed was unethical and heartless. I had been previously warned about this on prior occasions when I was a new employee, and the situation did not arise again until sometime around Christmas. I was advised by my supervisor that I was…

  • Daily Life,  I Never Thought I'd Be In This Situation,  Mrs. Orr,  Photographs,  Reflections

    Hiatus

    We have a winter storm bearing down on us, with heavy snow slated to be dropped on us starting late tonight, and the attendant temperatures getting down into the single digits — some days the highs are forecast to be in the single digits. I think most of the rest of the country is staring into the same abyss, and I hope all of you stay warm and sequestered with those you love. Dear readers, my wife and I are facing a couple of major life challenges that sailed into our formerly calm harbor a few days ago. These things are going to occupy most of my time and emotional…

  • Daily Life,  Music

    Color Me Chagrined

    You’ll remember that back around Christmas, I heard a wonderful tenor singing “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” on a radio program, and could not find information about the singer, who I heard the radio host identify as Pete Smith. Some of you emailed me and left comments here in an attempt to assist me. I posted here my intention to email the “Seems Like Old Times” program director, Craig Orndorff and request some assistance. His gracious reply both satisfied me and shocked me. Here is what he wrote: Hi SK, Thank you so much for the kind words. I’m glad you enjoy the show. Great to have you…

  • Daily Life,  Mrs. Orr,  Photographs,  Reflections,  Saints

    Almost Elvis’s Birthday

    We spent two days in the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area to celebrate our wedding anniversary, St. Joan of Arc’s birthday, and my birthday, and we had a very relaxing time. Except for the extraordinary amount of walking and climbing we did. We spent too much and ate too much, but we enjoyed ourselves. By the time we arrived back home on Friday, we were all stove up and ready for a nap. Once we got the dogs settled in and the bags unpacked and put away, that’s just what we did. Sprawled out in recliner and on couch, with dogs piled up on us, and we got some good catchup sleep.…

  • Poems

    New Years Trio

    New Years Trio: 3 Haiku i Bubbling black-eyed peas Skillet cradles jade cabbage A year’s meals begin. ii Cardinals perching Red lanterns hung from branches Warm flames in iced air. iii New pages on nail Unmarked calendar on wall Waits for life to write. ~ copyright 2024 by S.K. Orr

  • Daily Life,  Reflections

    Two Thousand Twenty-Four

    I wanted to wish a Happy New Year to each of my dear readers. May this year be a healthy, prosperous one, and may it bring about the destruction of those who hate us and those like us. May we receive answers to some of the questions that trouble us. May we stop wasting time on things and thoughts and people who dissipate our energies and disrupt the harmony we crave. May we notice and laugh at the absurdities swarming around us in this life. May we abandon the idea that we’re going to solve that particular problem or set that certain thing right. Most of all, may we open…

  • Bluebelle,  Daily Life,  Holy Days,  Jinx,  Mrs. Orr,  Music,  Photographs,  Reflections

    Christmas Eve, 2023

    It’s been an interesting day. Very mild and sunny, very springlike. We enjoyed a very mellow time of it, right up until I started to microwave a biscuit and some sausage leftover from breakfast for a snack. When I pressed “start,” the display of numbers went blank, and then the entire bank of kitchen lights went out, along with the lights and the fridge out in the utility room. I went to the cellar to look at the breaker box, but no breakers were tripped. Still, I flipped the proper ones off, then on, then back off and let them sit for a while. Turned ’em back on and nothing.…

  • Short Stories

    Reprise: Christmas Cat

    My friend Lewis has been faithful and regular in his appreciation of what I post here. In particular, he has mentioned more than once his enjoyment of a short story I wrote and posted four years ago on Christmas Eve. I happen to like the story, too, and decided to repost it here. I hope y’all enjoy it. And I hope you’re all enjoying a peaceful season as we ease into Christmas Eve tomorrow.  ~ S.K. Orr Christmas Cat The damp leaves muffled all sound as Wynn moved down the slope towards the creek. A crow sitting high in a pine called down into the woods, and the sound reminded…

  • Daily Life,  I Never Thought I'd Be In This Situation,  Memoirs,  Photographs,  Reflections

    The Pencil Seller

    When I was a boy, I used to see an old blind man outside the Kress’s store on Main Street in our town. He would sit on a little chair outside the back entrance, wearing his dark glasses, his white cane propped against his leg. He would hold out a tin cup and would extend a fistful of white pencils in the other hand, all the while hawking his wares with his impeded speech. He would say “PEN-suls! PEN-suls!” over and over. Every once in a while, some benevolent soul would stop and say “I’ll take two,” etc. and drop coins into his cup. The old man would nod in…