Music
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Something In The Water
We spent most of the day doing our rat killin’ (running errands, to you Yankees ) and returned home to sit in our chairs on the back porch, fans humming away, watching the thermometer climb to near 90F. Good times. The joints appreciate the lack of refrigerated pain. When we got down to the bottom of the mountain this morning, we detoured over to Pal’s drive-thru and we each got a sausage biscuit, an order of cheddar rounds (sort of like a large tater tot embedded with real cheddar cheese and smushed flat) and a sweet tea. While sitting in the line, I looked over and saw a familiar sight.…
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Across The Silent Night Sky
The weekend was a mellow, mild, and very welcome time to be at home and with my wife. We didn’t launch into any major projects, but did a lot of what I call “piddling around,” and enjoyed being outside in the warm weather. I’ve learned not to overestimate my stamina anymore, so I don’t plan day-long series of projects. I do one, take a break, assess how I feel, then move on to another one IF I still have gas in my tank. We have had problems with squirrels getting into Mrs. Orr’s flowers in pots on the porches, so I cut circles from hardware fabric, cut a circle in…
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Soft Days
We finally saw our first hummingbird last evening and were so happy to see him. We were relaxing on the back porch and the whirr of his wings made us both look up in delight. He didn’t stay long, but here was there, so we were content. Bluebelle did her part….I had her on hummingbird sentry duty all day and had ordered her to sing a song to coax them in. Mrs. Orr got our taxes done, and I am reminded again of how gifted she is in so many ways, and how she takes so many burdens from my shoulders. A latent benefit of her doing the taxes instead…
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St. Valentine’s Music
Mrs. Orr and I tend to ignore Valentine’s Day, seeing it as just another Hallmark holiday. We do, however salute each other every February 14th morning, and we even grab a kiss or two during that twenty-four hour period. She is my Valentine, in the old-fashioned sentimental sense of the word, and she is my dear dream. So here’s to you, beloved wife, from one of my favorite singers. And I’m your Valentine, too, sweet Texas girl. ~ S. K. Orr
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Up The Irons
I’m tired and my eyes are grainy from much reading, so nothing deep or meaningful today. The recent Chinese balloon incident was very amusing to me, mostly because of the response of the mature, seasoned, and reasonable adults who rule over us. Of particular interest was the crowing about how impressive the fighter jet pilot was, the fellow who shot the thing down. Yes, I was thunderstruck by the difficulty of firing a projectile into an object the size of — what was it they said? — three city buses. With skills like that, the military should be reasonably expected to be able to hit an elephant. IF it swallowed…
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Chill
I utterly despise the media, whether the news, popular culture, or what passes for “art” these days. A question came to me this evening and I turned to express it to my wife. “When’s the last time you heard anyone mention monkey pox?” She laughed, because she knew what I was getting at. Before that stumpy, swarthy little illegitimate comedian’s appearance before Congress today in his grimy gym suit, how many of you had heard anything about Ukraine (formerly known as the Ukraine) in the news in recent days? Do chefs still prepare chicken Kiev, or is it now chicken KEEEEEEEV? Covid is apparently cured completely, with flu and RSV…
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Fourth Sunday in Advent
I was thinking today about the year when we didn’t think we’d have a Christmas. We saw my daddy between two and four times a year. One of those visits was always between Thanksgiving and Christmas. He would show up and slam his truck door loud enough for us to hear it, and my sister and I would run outside to greet him. He would stand there, fists on hips, that devious, smiling, lean, dishonest devil of a father, laughing that completely delighted laugh of his, his weather-bronzed face split by an enigmatic smile, and scoop us up in his arms and swing us around as he loped to the…
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The Chokin’ Kind
When I was a small boy, the only stereo with which I had contact was my aunt’s big monster console record player/AM/FM radio, about the size of a deep freezer, with a deep, rich bass. You could load six (I think) lps on it and it would play one, drop the next one onto the turntable, play the next one, and so on until the last was played. The arm would swing back over to its rest and the thing would shut off. This was scary-good high tech in those days. The stereo had a small red light, about the size of one of those red dots that we’re not…
- Church Life, Daily Life, I Never Thought I'd Be In This Situation, Movies, Mrs. Orr, Music, Photographs, Quotations, Reflections
No Rest
The heartbreak of seeing your grandsons incarcerated God offers to every man the choice between truth and repose. Take which you will, you can never have both. — Ralph Waldo Emerson One of the quotidian pleasures Mrs. Orr and I enjoy is working crossword puzzles. We haven’t subscribed to a newspaper in many years, but a friend does, and Mrs. Orr will often bring home copies of the puzzle from the paper. It’s a pleasurable way to unwind in the evening or in the mornings while trying to clear the cobwebs from the head. Mrs. Orr enjoys working the crossword while she’s cooking. Lately, our pleasure in the puzzles has…
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All Hallow’s Eve Eve
During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher. ~ Edgar Allen Poe, The Fall of the House of Usher Since childhood, I have enjoyed Mr. Poe’s stories and poems, and that opening line from Usher is so evocative of a certain type of day in the fall, and today, here in these mountains, we have just such a…