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Puddles
Bluebelle stayed in my office with me all day today, sleeping in the doggie bed at my feet, next to the heating vent, while Jinx snored beneath his blanket on the living room couch. The raw, damp weather made perfect sleeping for them, helped along by the fact that Dixee wasn’t here with us to whine and to yap. My wife took her to the vet’s office to be checked out after her recent tussle with the spotted twins, and to be groomed while there. One can work quite peacefully under the soft sighs of sleeping dogs with cold rain pattering just outside the door and Hovhaness playing at a…
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Who Can Say?
A hundred and forty-six years ago today, the Indian warrior Crazy Horse fought his last battle before being taken by the U.S. Army. He would be stabbed and killed by a guard while in captivity some time later. I respect a man who ferociously fought those whom he believed had stolen his land and heritage. He fought. Isn’t that shocking to your modern eyes? Oh, we shouldn’t resist evil. We shouldn’t fight. We should meekly submit to all authority. We wouldn’t want to get in trouble, would we? When I was a boy, a common cliche’ about Indians was that they believed heaven was a “happy hunting ground.” Well, I…
- Daily Life, Holy Days, I Never Thought I'd Be In This Situation, Jinx, Photographs, Reflections, Saints
Something In The Air
We awoke to one of those days that couldn’t be more perfect for the Orr temperament if we’d sat down with a Weather & Scenery Catalogue and ticked off all the boxes for the Saturday we were ordering. A muted, witchy glow of cloud-shrouded afterthought of a sun, leaves layered like the scales of Jonah’s fish across the slippery skin of the mountain earth, the rain as fine as the mist at the produce section in the grocery store, the stillness and sacredness that churches and even libraries once had but will never have again. When I swung my legs over the bed and touched the floor, the Spotted Southern…
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Enmity Between
The first day of summer yesterday, and it felt like it. A heavy miasma of humidity hung over these mountains for the past four days, perhaps to be broken up tonight by the rain falling just now. The temperatures are supposed to be milder today, and perhaps the creatures of the land will calm down and be less restive. I celebrated Father’s Day by being snakebit. The dogs were at the side of the house, barking at something and giving it Hail Columbia when my wife went to investigate. She returned with the news that a snake was under one of the blueberry bushes. When I reached the scene, I…