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Full Moon in January

No, your calendar doesn’t have a misprint. In this first month of the new decade, the full moon isn’t until January 24, but perhaps that is where the collision started. Here’s what happens to me – things collide. They don’t just sort of quietly merge together; they slide with a bang, images tangling with words. … [Read more…]

Saddling a Galloping Horse

The press of work and expectations of what was planned seem to elbow each other sharply about now, pushing, crowding, and yelling for a better place in line in an already packed mind. In short, the “should’ves, would’ves, and could’ves” crowd the balance of summer around the end of July. We may begin to feel … [Read more…]

Critical Mass

It is interesting how ties from the distant past follow us. Recently, I found a packet of letters from my great-grandfather to his father discussing his preparations to leave Kentucky ahead of the impending Civil War. The planning included selling off house goods, purchasing supplies, and packing the wagons for the trek west. Over 150 … [Read more…]

Montana’s Ocean

Yesterday, the wind blowing in from the southwest signaled the arrival of warmer weather.  It changed our world from a pristine Hallmark card image to a rippling, moving place where as a youth I imagined trekking across the dunes of a desert landscape.  The wind-rippled snowdrifts reminded me of our Moroccan friends Taoufik and Oulya … [Read more…]

Three Little Words…

Three Little Words…. But, the realist in me whispers that they may not always be “I love you.” I started out writing this piece to send love and anniversary best wishes to our son and daughter-in-law. I embrace both in who they are and how they have built their lives, both individually and together. Here’s … [Read more…]

A Cow and the Creative Zone

A writing teacher once told my class about receiving an essay that began, “Cows is just like people.” Although she saw it as a great example of subject-verb non-agreement, I had been raised with cattle and saw nothing unusual or bizarre in the statement. Grounded in a common-sense comparison, the sentence seemed marked with a … [Read more…]

Iris

Earlier this week, the day before July 4th, before snow coated the hillsides and frost visited valley gardens, our son took on the task of mowing the grass around the buildings. Rain and moderate temperatures had created a tangled mass of grasses and weeds. He wheeled the mower around to the south side of the … [Read more…]

An Upside-Down Ride

Flying hooves sprayed sand in my face. Fetlock hair and hooves filled my viewshed as I hung upside-down and tangled in a stirrup. I remember wondering how strange the horizon looked. The day had started out quite differently. My mule-headed, opportunistic pony and saddle had been traded; and I had moved up to a “real” … [Read more…]

An Ongoing Discussion

On a hillside, near the summit of one of the highest hills in southwestern England’s Vale of the White Horse, are two examples of that could play in a debate on “what is art.” The first example is the Uffington White Horse, a 374-foot long, stylized horse formed from trenches cut into the grass with … [Read more…]