I Never Thought I'd Be In This Situation
- Bluebelle, Daily Life, I Never Thought I'd Be In This Situation, Jinx, Mrs. Orr, Photographs, Prayers, Reflections
In The Carolean Era
We went Thursday evening to the orthopedic urgent care clinic I mentioned in my last post, and it was a surprisingly good experience. I was dreading any encounter with the post-coof medical/pharmaceutical behemoth, but this was an example of being in the right place at the right time. It was clear as soon as we entered the clinic that we were the only people in the place. The receptionist was kind and affable, and got me checked in quickly. An x-ray tech who looked like Lisa Loeb’s twin sister appeared with a most-welcome wheelchair and took me back for pictures of my knee. She, too, was very kind and personable,…
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My Knee Grows
For a couple of weeks now, my right knee has been giving me fits. I assumed it was arthritis at first, but then the pain increased gradually and reminded me of the time I hyperextended one of my knees several years ago. Been hobbling around for a few days, using a cane when walking farther than from room to room. I figured I hurt it when I hopped off the lawn tractor week before last and landed with some unsteadiness. This past Saturday, I broke the belt on the tractor and had to end up mowing the back yard with a push mower before it rained, planning to go the…
- Church Life, Daily Life, Holy Days, I Never Thought I'd Be In This Situation, Photographs, Prayers, Reflections
Easter Sunday
The sun will set in a little while, and another holy day will be memory and history. We sat outside as much as we could today, but the brisk breeze kept forcing us to retreat inside. Sitting directly in the sun helped a bit, but it was still chilly, so we didn’t get as many outdoor hours as we had hoped. The dogs romped and rolled in the grass, and the birds were so numerous and so active, we were in awe. We watched all day for a hummingbird — a year ago today, we got our first hummingbird of the spring –but none ever appeared. We had a fine…
- Church Life, Daily Life, Holy Days, I Never Thought I'd Be In This Situation, Lectio Divina, Photographs, Prayers, Reflections
Between Sorrow And Joy
I recently read someone’s observation that Good Friday is the end of all things, and also the beginning of all things. The phrase is a barbed one; it stings and stays with me. I think on how Christ’s disciples must have felt after their master was lowered from the cross. limp and bloodless and silent as a slaughtered lamb. The women took charge of caring for His body, and they must have discussed the burial details with the generous Arimathean, Joseph, and the men present must have seen the body taken away, and then the reality settled down on them. How silent it must have been. In their shock and…
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Holy Week
The days have unspooled quickly in this early part of springtime. My interior life has been not in turmoil but in flux, an almost palpable ebb and flow, and through all my misgivings and doubts and ragings and grim, silent musings, I have felt like some sort of antenna, unmoored but still grounded, with invisible signals popping and whizzing around me during my hours. A good friend, who roves across much of the same rocky spiritual landscape I do, recently mentioned in passing how he just might be holding onto a hope that he will one day believe again. That sentiment sang in me like a tuning fork when a…
- Bluebelle, Books, Church Life, Daily Life, Dixee, Holy Days, I Never Thought I'd Be In This Situation, Jinx, Movies, Mrs. Orr, Photographs, Reflections
Approaching The Realm of the Ides
Today, the sun is pouring out of the sky onto the greening grass and the resurrecting branches of the trees. The weeping willow out front looks as lush as it usually does in high summer, and the peach trees are decked with lovely pink blossoms. This being early March, I know that a killing frost or two will arrive and dull down the lively colors, but for now, it is an enjoyable sight. The breeze is somewhat stiff, which keeps a chill in the air if I’m not in direct sunlight, but this is nothing compared to what we had a few days ago. On Thursday, a strong windstorm system…
- Church Life, Daily Life, Holy Days, I Never Thought I'd Be In This Situation, Photographs, Reflections
Ash Woden’s Day
And so Lent begins today. This is the first year since my awkward and stumbling embrace of Catholicism began that I will not be observing the day or the season. It is a fitting coincidence that today also marks the anniversary of my receiving my honorable discharge from the United States Marine Corps and became a civilian again. Leaving the Corps was an interesting experience, bringing with it a feeling of being unmoored and yet settled on a somewhat shrouded path. That’s a good description of how I feel today. I look outside and see the tiniest patches of green in the woods and little emerald dots along the length…
- Bluebelle, Daily Life, Dixee, I Never Thought I'd Be In This Situation, Jinx, Lectio Divina, Mrs. Orr, Photographs, Reflections
The Delta
This past weekend was a time of animal intrusion. The dogs were all quite obnoxious. No matter how I tried to command them or cajole them, they were on the rampage. By Sunday afternoon, Mrs. Orr and I were looking at each other with weariness in our faces, and our whispered conversations contained words like giveaway, shelter, dogcather, euthanasia, pistols, and shovel/mattock. They calmed down at some point, but we were not perky dog owners by Sunday night. Sunday afternoon, I dressed for the rain and went for a walk. I made my way up into the woods and finally climbed over the fence separating my neighbor’s pasture from our…
- Bluebelle, Books, Daily Life, Dixee, I Never Thought I'd Be In This Situation, Jinx, Mrs. Orr, Photographs, Reflections
Brakes Is Gone
It snowed much of yesterday, nothing significant, just periods of near-whiteout with the wind tossing around those little Styrofoam pellet-looking bits and scooping them into interesting patterns on the ground. I wiggle my numb toes and look to the skies and think of spring weather. A rare green comet is supposed to be visible these days in the early morning sky. I keep forgetting to find out where I can look for it and to go outside before sunrise to gaze up into the realm of stars, that place that has enchanted me since I was a small boy. This is the first year I can remember that I did…
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On The Nearby Hill
They buried an old man today in the cemetery up on the hill. He was in his nineties, and from a distance it looked like about two dozen mourners attended the graveside services. I didn’t know the man, though his family name is prominent in these parts. And now he has gone on from this life, away from those who knew and loved him, and someday he will pass into that place where unvisited memories go. He lived, and he mattered, and now he is gathered to his people. This winter seems harsher than any of the threescore-plus ones I’ve known, and it has only begun. The land lies dormant…