If you have ever seen a remarkable bird–so remarkable that it practically paralyzed you with fascination–then you will relate to this new essay from the journal Under the Sun. In “The Messenger” I am thinking out loud about the wonder of birds, about God, about aging, about the continued desire for transcendence. Here’s the link:Continue reading “The Messenger”
Category Archives: blog
Tunnel of Love
Certain pieces of art stay with you forever, like the hum of a tuning fork. Typically, such pieces are the invention of a solo genius like Rembrandt or Picasso. We associate them with contemplative solitude and silence. However, one art piece which had a profound impact on me was made by a whole cooperative. AContinue reading “Tunnel of Love”
A Fun List of My Favorites
I’m enthused that my first memoir–Chameleon Days–has been included on the growing shepherd.com website, which brings together lists of related books. If you have any interest in first-person accounts of expatriate life in Africa, here are a few of my favorites, now featured on their website. Simply click here: https://shepherd.com/best-books/memoirs-of-american-and-european-expats-in-africa
Equine Therapy
When I think of horses, I tend to think of them groomed and saddled. I think of them as domesticated or “broken,” as the cowboys used to say in old-fashioned Westerns. Those “tame” horses would open their mouths to the bit, which caught under their tongue or clunked against molars. They might sidle as theContinue reading “Equine Therapy”
Wave Theory
Coming down the steep zigzag trail in the forest, terra firma is still underfoot, and though the stairstepped Pacific-coast pines are quite different than the cottonwoods of our midwestern plains, they are still trees and we are still ourselves, a family living in a slightly heightened but normal state, minds prone to distraction—cellphone texts, baggiesContinue reading “Wave Theory”
Hey, Who Do You Think You Are?
When our sons were little, we provided them with a wooden chest full of random costumes, which is how we ended up being confronted in the kitchen by a buxomy matron in high heels or a helicopter pilot behind a tinted visor or a pirate of the most eclectic sort, one who wore a wide-brimmedContinue reading “Hey, Who Do You Think You Are?”
Of Cowboys, Doctors, Tradition, and the Individual Talent
We had walked to the other side of the rodeo, across from the grandstand, so that we could get a closer look at the calves dashing out of the chute and the cowboys galloping after them. This was where families of the performers hung out, and suddenly my eye was taken by a child beingContinue reading “Of Cowboys, Doctors, Tradition, and the Individual Talent”
In the Mind’s Eye
Imagination. The ability to picture what is not there. An alternative reality. A scenario that blossoms out of the brain, often eclipsing the reality all around. Just like Ron and Hermione and Harry have eclipsed the school-yard acquaintances of so many children. Or just like their school, Hogwarts, keeps eclipsing ordinary, “real” schools. And whatContinue reading “In the Mind’s Eye”
Another Sighting
The old farmhouse is falling to ruin. A screen door dangling by a hinge. Slabs of plaster and lathe in the tub. Swallows swooping up the staircase, chittering from mud-baked igloos. Blue sky yawning from the bedroom ceiling. But down in the kitchen, next to the crater where the sink used to be, Elvis croonsContinue reading “Another Sighting”
In Praise of Wildflowers
Not tame, they grow out of bounds—outside the rules that humans would put on them. Beautiful but hardy, they are found in the most unexpected places. Suddenly blooming on the sandy hardpan of a desert floor, surrounded by thorns. Dotting the dusty tallgrass prairie. Or scrabbling along a rocky scree above timberline, where the snowContinue reading “In Praise of Wildflowers”
Tim Bascom, Author 