Reflections
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In Dour Country
Well, I got it, too. On Friday, I developed chills and that head-swaying dizziness that I’ve experienced several times in the past with the flu. Cycles of fever started right after these symptoms. I took a home test Saturday morning and got the captain’s bars of a positive result. As people used to say a few years back, meh. Mrs. Orr is feeling better, fever-free and cough almost completely gone. Her remaining complaint is the soreness of her eyeballs, which she often gets after running a fever. That and fatigue. We’re continuing our Ivermectin/antibiotic/vitamin supplementation and I do believe this regimen has been responsible for minimizing the effects of the…
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Coof Positive
My beloved wife has the Covid. She’s positive for the ‘Rona. She has been stricken with The Chinese Lung Aids (hat tip to Ann Barnhardt for that little phrase). She all eat up wif de Coof. She’s been smitten with the Birdemic. She’s been assaulted by the Kung Flu, laid low by the Chyna Vyrus. She developed a fever last night and was very achey and flu-ish. We did a home test that we’d been given and we got the positive result in 10 minutes. The main concern has been chest congestion, which is the one thing that truly causes her distress. We’ve been treating her with Ivermectin (again, thanks,…
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Honing The Edge of Loss
These are days of depletion, of withered hopes, of long hours, of loss. That feeling that the little ship inside me has run onto a jagged shoal and now there is a little slick of acid growing in the waters around it. I have been interviewing for a new job, and have been quite hopeful that I was going to get it. But because of some remarkable bureaucracy jiggles and inflexibility, the moment has passed and I did not get the job. I made the mistake of allowing myself to believe that I was going to be awarded the position, and that belief lightened my mood at work and made…
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A Choir of Seabirds
The cold here is deep and milky, with probing fingers and breath on the back of my neck. The quiet has settled in at our little farm, and the flames are waltzing behind the glass in the stove, and I, I alone, am awake in this room, this room lit only by those flames. When I arrived at work, my crows were standing in a line so straight, they looked like decorations in a shop. They burbled at me in soft voices as I walked past them, sprinkling crackers across the striped and oil-stained asphalt. Later, when I came out to sit in the back seat and eat my lunch…
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The Chamber of Loneliness
I was born into this world with certain things intact. The color of my skin, my eyes, my hair. The size and proportion of my skeletal frame. A certain personality and a particular temperament. Specific and focused interests. A drive towards thinking about and seeking to fully experience the spiritual, the transcendent. Like all sons of Adam, my life has been a scattered path of trying to make sense of the damage that occurs when my interests and desires have not dovetailed with my abilities and personality. For example, I was born with some musical talent and the ability to write competently, but neither of these artistic areas ever led…
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Son Of There
I know what it means to be Southern. This is an entirely different thing than knowing that I am Southern, or identifying as Southern. I am Southern, and I potently, self-consciously know what this means. It is as much a part of me as my blood type or the patterns of the veins on the backs of my hands. Because I live deliberately in the South, I daily knock up against the distinctions between myself and other men who were born and raised and still live down here. My distinctions are etched by the experiences of traveling and living abroad when I was a young man. The things I saw,…
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Merry Christmas
To all my readers, a very Merry Christmas! We arose early (not by choice — thank you, Jinx and Bluebelle!) and had our Christmas. Before we settled in for a nice early afternoon nap, I prayed for each of you….by name for the ones whom I know by name, and for the rest of you in general intercession. I found a very nice arrangement of Ave Maria online. I was ready to stop the song within seconds, expecting it to be some jazzed-up silly monstrosity. Suffice it to say that when I listened to it, I was not prepared for what I heard. I hope you enjoy the skill and…
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Miracle In Kentucky
I wanted to lift everyone’s spirits during this season, and here is the perfect item for my desire. Read it and bow your head in awe and gratitude. Tip o’ the hat to Matthew Archbold for his very enjoyable blog. ~ S.K. Orr
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Winter Begins
And now we sit in the deepest pocket of the year’s darkness, with the night air so still that even the nocturnal predators do not dare to disturb the hush with their cries. We have reached the farthest point on our yearly circle around the great light in the sky, and are now beginning to swing back to complete the ring, spinning always, the great seas and the vast acres containing numberless bones slipping in and out of light and dark, and so it has ever been since ages ago, back when certain words were spoken. It’s difficult when I stand in the yard to remember that this bleak patch…
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The Fourth Sunday of Advent
This past week the weather was so warm it felt like May. The spotted dogs and I had the opportunity to take many pleasant walks, and I felt as if my body and soul were being scrubbed by the clean air I drew deeply into my lungs. I spent much of the week pondering my gratitude for my health and that of Mrs. Orr and all of our family. More than ever, I believe it’s important to stay out of the hospital and far from health care facilities if at all possible. Once again, I will refer you to the indefatigable Anne Barnhardt. One of her recent podcasts featuring an…