One of the signature pastimes of any true Southerner is piddling around. It’s a cultural art form. ********* It’s Saturday morning. I sit around the pool deck, piddling. How do I know it qualifies as piddling? Read on, I’ll tell you. Maybe you’ve never thought about piddling. Yet, maybe you piddle without even knowing it. …
The Renunciation, the Covenant of Ashes, the Horror of Abstinence, The Dejection of Failure. Such is Lent. ********** I see a vision. A brilliant light radiates from The Great White Throne. Beside it is a golden table with the Big Book of Life. It’s full of names and notations. A diaphanous Apparition with wings writes …
Stealthy exits keep social intercourses friendly. This is a good one. ********** On the whole most of us follow the ‘do unto others’ theme in matters of social decorum. We use well-meaning but dismissive comments to conclude social interaction; comments like ‘See you later,’ or, ‘Stay in touch.’ Light touch escape idioms. Such comments, while …
The invitation was engraved. The embossing reminded Bob of some bath towels he once bought from Sears. He asked himself, Why me? Hack journalists don’t hobnob with the highbrow upper crust crowd. He shook off the inhibition and showed up. A lovely evening, guests always say. The word gets a workout from the wellborn. …
Ah, so you’re finally getting married. So sweet. It’s about time. The family is relieved. You are, too. The fresh breath of Spring floats on the air. The diamond sparkles on your finger and all the future is brimming with delight. The family rejoices. Marital bliss is blooming. The household buzzes with preparations for June. …
This week I’m busy rummaging through the over-stuffed library in my home. Books everywhere, too many books, books never read, never to be read. Wisdom wasted: so little time. New rule: buy a book, shed a book. Stuffed third-tier back in the shelves are my ancient high school yearbooks. Inside the 1958 one are some …
You might dismiss it as a mere figure of speech, but it’s a fact of life…The Premonition is following us. ********** There’s a shadow behind every tree, a menace under every bed at night and a pervading notion that somehow we are guilty of something. Real or imagined, The Premonition is there. Job knew …
“In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall all be changed.” 1 Corinthians 15:52 ********** Strange title, I admit. Like a New Year’s Eve kiss, where will it go? Forget the part about the dead …
“…and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.” Matthew 2:9 Over 2000 years ago some wise men showed up in Jerusalem looking for the Messiah. They inquired, “Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we …
“You, who are on the road, must have a code that you can live by…” Graham Nash ********** Lately the news has been a smorgasbord of strange happenings, some of which seems to have been cooked up in an asylum by a host of weirdos, nutcases and crackpots. It’s hard to get a sense of …