Category Archives: Ponderings on the Meaning of Things

This is a time of year for family birthdays: my son Peter’s 29th birthday is today; my granddaughter Chloe’s 6th birthday was two days ago; and my wife Helen’s birthday is in ten days (and in deference to her, I … Continue reading →

The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind, If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind? Percy Bysshe Shelley, Ode to the West Wind Grip (n): Stagehand. A member of the stage crew who moves and sets up pieces of scenery … Continue reading →

And there are more I remember And more I could mention Than words I could write in a song But I feel them watching And I see them laughing And I hear them singing along Lyle Lovett, Family Reserve, Joshua … Continue reading →

Sing a song of seasons! Something bright in all! Flowers in the summer, Fires in the fall! Robert Louis Stevenson, Autumn Fires, A Child’s Garden of Verses Fall is currently on full display in Humptulips County, turning country roads into … Continue reading →

so much depends upon a red wheel barrow glazed with rain water beside the white chickens. William Carlos WIlliams, The Red Wheelbarrow We spent this weekend on Whidbey Island with our friends, Tom and Carrie. The trip became a thoroughly … Continue reading →

TANNER: No, a thousand times no: hot water is the revolutionist’s element. You clean men as you clean milkpails, by scalding them. ANN: Cold water has its uses too. It’s healthy. TANNER: [despairingly] Oh, you are witty: at the supreme … Continue reading →

The fog comes on little cat feet. It sits looking over harbor and city on silent haunches and then moves on. Carl Sandburg It is quite early and the city is swaddled in a dense fog of the kind that … Continue reading →

Breaking the crust of drifted snow with booted foot. Struggling up and across dubious and perilous mountain paths. Following footprints in ancient mud now hardened by time into stone. Following your footsteps. You had been here before, and here I … Continue reading →

Yesterday was my oldest son’s birthday. He turned 40. His accession to this age reminded me of what I was doing 40 years ago, which was graduating from law school and moving back to Humptulips County from the Midwest. In … Continue reading →