The Trials of Shared Living
147 October 6, 2023 I’m often asked how we five people are getting along in our shared home. It’s not all a bed of roses, but this story tells a lot. Yesterday evening, Oct. 9, unusually, only Steven and I were sharing the evening meal. I had done chicken drum-sticks on the rotisserie, with potatoes […]
The High Price of Ignorance
October 17, 2023 For four years I’ve taught a ten-week course at the Seniors’ Center titled How We Got the Bible. It’s been a great way for me to stay sharp and in-touch with reality. There are usually about a dozen folks, varying in background from atheists to Christian fundamentalists. A wonderful challenge. It’s fact […]
Try to Imagine
149 October 17, 2023 You live in a crowded wasteland. It’s so dry that you can’t grow a garden without extra water, if you can find it. Your family and neighbours are crammed into houses and apartments with over two million others. Mainly in two cities, squeezed into a strip of desert about six miles […]
Grandma’s Universal Secret to Survival
150 Oct 22, 2023 There’s a story in today’s paper about an Israeli grandmother who’s being hailed as a hero for fooling the Hamas invaders long enough that the army could to arrive and kill them. She had gone to the shelter with others in her small town but went back to her home for […]
High as a Kite, Low as a Worm
152 November 8, 2023 There’s just over two weeks before my two-book launch. These are my fifth and sixth books on Amazon, but the first time I’ve had the nerve and strength to do some marketing. It’s truly a ‘Coming-out party’ for me. A really big deal. For the first time, I’m handing out invites […]
Everyone’s not like me. Yeah! Darn!
153 Nov. 15, 2023 As I’m beginning to share my last two books with people, something that I’ve rarely done with my first books, I’m noticing that it’s usually impossible to predict people’s reaction, unless I’ve talked with them before concerning similar topics. It’s natural that I would hope and even expect people who are […]
J.D. and Others Please Get Your Lives Together
I write this in reaction to my double book launch of yesterday, and the many who weren’t there to celebrate with us. J.D., I hope you don’t mind me using you as a way to focus on a reality that most of our culture share: the segmentation of our lives. We are taught to assume […]
A Miracle on Ford Street
160 Dec. 12 2023 I’ve got to finish this and get it out. Before I change my mind. Again. I claim to be honest and sharing, yet I find it so easy to hide my deepest experiences and emotions. “I’m not a hypocrite,” I tell myself, “I’m just being careful. They probably wouldn’t understand.” But […]
163 Dec. 16 2023 A Message To Churches from the Street
On most Friday mornings from 11:30 to 12:30, you can find me at the corner of Wellington and Princess Streets here in Kingston, demonstrating with other members of the local chapter of ‘350’, one of the oldest international organizations, acting against Climate Change. In that hour I usually have about a dozen people stop to […]
164 Dec. 17 9:51 What A Morning!
Just awoke, trying to remember old words. Realized they didn’t matter. They were gone. New ones already there, bubbling up, needing to get out. Get out of bed! Don’t waste this ‘what-ever-it-is’. It feels too fun to miss. Who knows? Anything? I’m laughing. What’s happening? No pot involved. What is this sudden urge? Unexpected. New. […]
