Tag: Bible
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The Year (Day) to the Left of Sixty
Twenty-something years ago I started writing a series of short essays/devotionals which were to be compiled into a book titled, “The Year to the Left of Forty.” They’re still in my desk file drawer with a couple of additions and a scratched-in retitle — yes, you guessed it — “The Year to the Left of…
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Trees of Life
To plant a tree is to begin a memory. I’m a big believer in the power of growing plants along with growing the family. A measure of a kid or two or three or four can be marked right along with the rings of a tree I’ve left here and there across our pathway. And…
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Donkey Kong New Year
Back when social media was more fun and frolic than politics and pandemic, there were a few words written by a younger me (subtract 10 from what you think I am now) on straight-up Facebook, not buried in a blog. I’ll put them here just for fun but you’re excused to skip over and go…
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O Christmas Tree
It’s easy to blame 2020 for many a habit or “quirk” as I like to call them, but if we’re honest, a few of those tendencies were already firmly established before this year rolled around and we’d best just own up to it. Yes, I speak of myself. You’re off the hook. I have a…
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This Is Now
Around the time that first memories were becoming solid and not just fleeting images of grandmas and old houses and smells and scenes, I can remember a Thanksgiving in Houston, Texas at my Great Uncle Clyde and Aunt Juanita’s house. We’d traveled there from Colorado and when I crawled into my lovingly prepared cot at…
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Francie’s Chicken Salad
She was a tiny little old white-haired lady from New Jersey whose energy defied her age despite her occasional smoking and addiction to daytime television. And she was my first best friend in Arkansas. The memory of how I came to meet Francie is murky but it feels like it was somewhere on the upstairs…
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A Chickahominy Dream Come True
Dear boys and girls, Maybe you recall the very first post on this blog was about Chickahominy Reservoir in eastern Oregon and my weird unfulfilled curiosity about that place. You’ve probably been wondering if that long-standing dream was ever realized. Well, wonder no more. Here’s Bob representing our mutual enthusiasm on the day we finally…
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One Thread
Written in black sharpie on the back inside cover of my 8th grade yearbook is this: I have tears in my ears from lying on my back in my bed while I cry over you. Now if those words are not poetry I do not know what is. And ohhh, I loved the boy who…
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A Twist — Not a Knot
Confession time. Since the stay-at-home order I’ve been cross stitching like a mad man. I’m not sure exactly how many mad men actually cross stitch, but you get the idea. It’s a little weird. I’ve read about so many folks taking care of their families in such admirable, practical ways — canning, baking, sewing, hunting,…
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Real Estate Bird
Right in the middle of writing a different blog post (a pretty dreary and potentially depressing one) I thought, “Hey, let’s lighten things up a bit.” We’ll start with the basics. Parakeets can talk. And fly. Twelve-year old girls aren’t always smart. But they mean well. The summer of 1974 was monumental. We, our giant…
Beyond Lashley Lane 