Chewing the Cud

December 25, 2013 The door banged open and Arnie blew in with the Santa Ana’s (that’s wind for the non-southern California folk).  “I just got off that L.A. freeway without getting killed or caught,” he said.  We knew what he meant.  Every one of us had spent time on California freeways to get to this…

December 19, 2013 This morning, two days before the longest night, I walked the creek.  I came to the place where the creek widens into a large pond.  A Great Blue Heron stood on ice protruding into the pond.  I covered a frost covered boulder with my coat and sat.  She paid little heed as…

December 06, 2013 Two lanes, hot weather, and apricots are of summer memories.  One memory pulls in each year with the apricot harvest.  As I migrated north from the southern California canyons of my youth, the season of memory has shifted, but not much.  West coast apricots all seem to ripen sometime from mid-June to…

Reblogged from Faith and Values in the Public Square: Prompted by our “Insert Catchy Title Here” debate between Dr. Michael Trice and Rabbi Anson Laytner, David Bell responds to the topic discussing the idea of nation and what it means to be the United States, what it means to be America, and what it means…

November 24, 2013 I walked off the plane and through two security doors leading to the public area of the airport.  Being one of the last to exit the prop plane that flies between Seattle and Yakima, my friend’s spouses and partners were already hugging and kissing them.  I’ve seen this many times after folks…