My day was bookended by memorable phrases. I was listening to On Point on the way to work this morning. Tom Ashbrook was leading a very interesting and rather animated discussion about the possibility of sending a surge of additional troops into Iraq as a way to make things better. William Odom, a retired Army…
Church today, for me, was an experience of non-sequiturs tethered together by Coffee Hour. On the heels of an experience that came close to The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, we had our monthly Church Council meeting, which involved discussions about everything from window shades to stewardship. Everything we talked about was important to someone in…
While my parents were here they wanted us to open our Christmas presents early so they could see how we liked what they got us. I love mine –- they gave me an iPod Shuffle. The postage stamp-sized gadget holds two hundred and fifty songs. I loaded it up for work this week with some…
In Arabic poetry, there are four great subjects worthy of the poet: love, song, blood, and travel. Roger Housden writes: These were considered the basic desires of the human heart, and thus travel was elevated to the dignity of being a necessity for any human being who is truly alive. The Romans felt the same…
My birthday means I’ve made some additions to both my literary and music libraries. One of the volumes I got to spend a little time with tonight is Ten Poems to Change Your Life by Roger Housden. The second poem is one by the marvelous Spanish poet, Antonio Machado called “Last Night as I was…
The first event of my birthday was Ginger giving me a t-shirt that read: “fifty is the new thirty.” I then had a wonderful breakfast with Ginger and both sets of our parents at Percy’s Place in Plymouth, a wonderful breakfast cafe that boasts the biggest breakfast menu in New England and has good biscuits…
I’m minutes away from completing my fiftieth year on the planet. I would like to anticipate that moment by paying homage to those with whom I share a birthday: 1673 Ahmed III 23rd sultan (Turkey, 1703-30) 1745 John Jay diplomat (NY-Governor) 1792 Alexandros Ypsilanti Greek resistance fighter 1805 Henry Wells founder (American Express Company &…
Earlier this week, Ginger asked me about buying ice cream for a Sunday School special event. She needed restaurant sized quantities, so I went to by East Coast Paper, a local restaurant supply, and ordered three gallons each of vanilla and chocolate for Ginger to pick up Saturday morning. Last night, on my way home…
Journeying through Advent has a bit of a Hansel and Gretel flair for me because I feel like I spend my day looking for a crumb or two to let me know where I am on the journey and to remind me where I’m going – which reminds me of a story. A number of…
I’ve decided to do my best to write each day in Advent as part of my journey to the manger. I ‘m not making any promises about length or coherence on Friday and Saturday nights. On most any evening, part of my practice before I write is to do a bit of reading on several…