Category: Odd Jobs

  •     Our grandfather clock is chiming midnight. Rain pours – no, roars – outside my window, just the kind of rain we need. A blessed sound, for sure. Every once in awhile I catch a flash of lightning in the distance. I've just finished a few things for work … or at least all I can…

  • About this time last year, I was on a walk of faith. I began a new career. It coincided with dramatic and tragic turns in my parents' lives. The changes that have taken place in all of our lives since July 2013 are mindboggling when I think about them too long. Despite his illness and…

  • For the past week or so I've been living vicariously through a couple of my kids. Again. My son and his wife have now experienced the beauty, beer, food, art, sights and sounds of Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Amsterdam. And through the wonders of technology, I've been able to tag along through their photos and…

  •       They grow so fast, don't they? One minute they're crawling around on your stylish-at-the-time-rose-colored carpet, exploring and investigating… picking on their older brothers, trying to stir things up…cuddling in your arms because they're still shorter than you and easy to pick up… …and then suddenly they're wanting to explore far beyond your…

  •     Following up on my vow in yesterday's "Happy Birthday, Long Hollow" post, I'm going to try to share more "short and sweet"s here rather than dumping it all at once on you. We'll see how that goes… I can't describe how it feels to help someone move closer to their dreams…especially someone you've known for…

  •   Today is life – the only life you are sure of. Make the most of today. Get interested in something. Shake yourself awake. Develop a hobby. Let the winds of enthusiasm sweep through you. Live today with gusto. ~Dale Carnegie   On my left, a chuck-will's-widow sang to the sliver moon hanging in the dusky sky.…

  • Last Friday I made a quick road trip to Houston to take care of some business for my mom. My friend Debra graciously opened her home in Seabrook to me and TG for the night. On our way to meet friends for dinner, I was mesmerized by the sunlight bathing pastel houses…the cloudless sky…the gulls swooping…

  • Tom and his brother straggled in later than expected from Florida this evening. They had to spend an extra four hours in Louisiana due to the muffler on Tom's car trying to make a break for it. It didn't succeed in getting totally away, but it did break loose of whatever major part it's supposed…

  •     "…Life's battles don't always go To the stronger or faster man. But sooner or later, the man who wins Is the man who thinks he can." From "The Victor" by C.W. Longnecker   Yesterday, at long last, with "Pomp and Circumstance" playing in the background, my name was called. I walked to the…

  •   I spent a long, lazy weekend with friends I've known since high school (several much longer than that)… just lying around a pool, eating, drinking, talking about our health issues, our parent issues, and whatever other issues happened to be on our minds.  (Hence, I learned a whole lot about the benefits of extra…