On January 4th of this year, I noticed that my oldest and tiniest cat, Chayya, was not eating, and I was already facing a vet visit for her brother-of-another-mother, who clearly had some tooth issues. I bit the bullet and took an afternoon off and went to a veterinary clinic in Rio Rancho with...
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Two weekends ago was supposed to be about watching balloons flying among red rocks, but the weather decided to change that. The 24th Red Rock Rally in Gallup was scheduled to occur at the same time slot it has held each year since the event kicked off- during the first weekend in December. By...
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I don’t post on here very often, and when I do, it’s travelogues mostly. Travelogues are safe. This writing reticence is largely because I came to a point in life where I felt that what I had to say either 1) had already been said, and most probably repeatedly, by better writers than myself,...
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Yesterday, October 14th, was Annular Eclipse Day for astrophysicists and astrophiles alike, while the bulk of us experienced it as Neato Eclipse Day. To the informed, it was a “ring of fire” eclipse, in which the sun would briefly be obscured by the moon moving in front of it for those sitting on its...
Read more →I took some time at lunch today to watch the online feed of the memorial service for Tim Keller, who passed several weeks ago from cancer. Keller, founder and lead pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, was a giant in evangelical circles, if nothing more for his constant Christocentric approach to church and...
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On Friday, August 4th, I was able to take off from work for my birthday, and I used the day to casually drive north to visit my friend Steve up in Westcliffe. The trip would be a lot of driving, but I was up for it. Turning 55 this year, it was a suitable...
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The long weekend of July 14th through July 18th was a happy reunion for our family. On Friday evening, we drove to and converged on an Airbnb lodge off of the fifth green of the golf course in Angel Fire, New Mexico, which would be our home until Tuesday morning. It was a happy...
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For much of the last six months, a significant amount of my mind has gone to dealing with turbulence in our family, and more specifically, to coping with an illness and infirmities that threatened the life of my mother. In no grand and exceptional ways, this misfortune was a small gift, in that it...
Read more →I built my house under the Sorrow Moon In the season of shadows and ash Where the dell Veiled in waning willow Cloaks the cold gray earth There is no croak nor cry No bleat nor bark Where the sun has left its track And daylight idles beyond the twilight And the brooks have...
Read more →Last night, I went to bed relatively early for me, at 10:30ish, after finishing my litter box chores for the cats. I often put off the litter box chores too long, mostly because I dislike the litter box chores, despite thinking that it is not fair to the cats, until I need to take...
Read more →I met my pal and writing chum Tammie this morning, and as we settled into our semi-monthly routine of ordering some coffees, unbundling our gear at our table at the restaurant, and chatting a few about the recent events in our lives, our talk touched on current life and relationships, and my mind revisited...
Read more →These days, when I am toodling down Spain Road from Juan Tabo and my truck passes her old street, I often forget to look, like I used to. Then, I would take a glance to see if her garage door was open, to see if her car was out in the driveway, to see...
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This weekend I needed to get out for a bit, and earlier in the week, someone in the Facebook “American Southwest” group gave me my excuse. Curiously enough, they had posted an image of a page from an old NM travel guide (1969’s “101 Trips in the Land of Enchantment ” by Betty Woods)...
Read more →When my Aunt Margaret passed in the spring of 2020, there was some unreality to it. The world was on hold at the time, in a waiting room, clock-watching. With the COVID virus stoking fear in anything broadcasting anything, and consequently, in everyone subject to media, workplaces were mostly closed. Daily statistics related to...
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About 8:30 last Sunday evening, I was weaving my way through other walkers on Wacker Drive- which, as a riverfront path, is arguably one of the busiest pedestrian routes in Chicago on a summer weekend evening- when a long-haired and bearded young man in a canvas jacket and blue jeans strode passed me, speaking...
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Earlier this year I decided I wanted to return to Chicago and, once a resident long ago, spend some time in the city strictly as a tourist. I was grateful that I could take time off last week to do it (note to self: planning ahead is a good thing). I ended up flying...
Read more →This evening, for birthday 54, I went over to my folks’ house and ate dinner with them so we could watch the Cubs play- the second game of a double header in which they would lose both games. Later in the evening, after the baseball flop, we sat and talked a bit. “Do you...
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