• Field of Dreams 

       Spring forward has done me in & brought me down. I have succumbed to the couch, with the shades drawn against the extra light pouring in through the windows. No amount of espresso in the morning will overcome this lethargy. The promise of a chocolate bunny isn’t enough to drag me off my recliner. …


  • What’s a measure of worth?

     If an artwork doesn’t sell, it could mean any number of reasons.    1. It’s not any good, but good is a relative term. Fauve was a pejorative term applied to the bright colors and bold forms of Matisse and Rouault, among others.  2. It’s actually bad. Here bad means unskilled. Of course, naive painters like…


  • 2015 in review

    The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 380 times in 2015. If it were a cable car, it would take about 6 trips to carry that many people. Click here to see the…


  • CHRISTMAS TREE ICON

       Not everyone has an icon of a Christmas tree. I made this “holy image, worthy of reverence and honor, a window into heaven,” while appointed to a church which venerated its symbols of Christmas more than the Christ who brought the day into being. Of course, they didn’t see it this way. When they…


  • I will make changes in my life because change is the only constant. Trees burst forthwith new, tender leaves in the spring. Their full canopies shade is from the sun’s intense heat in the summer. In autumn, we enjoy their palette of colors and in winter we appreciate the stark structure of the limbs. Each…


  • IRREPRESSIBLE SLEEPINESS 

       Irrepressible  sleepiness–it comes over one at times.  My night class on World Religions at seminary with Ruben Habito began with silent breathing. Centering, he called it. Some of us called it falling asleep. A long day of work or classes, or both, with a short night of sleep before an early morning wake up…


  • ONE OF THOSE DAYS RIDING THE WAVES

    This has been one of those days! A real roller coaster of emotions for my extended family, my own family & for me. Friends suffering the breakup of their marriage and all the emotions of grief surrounding the celebrations of others’ anniversaries. The highs and lows of a lost and found bipolar family member, who…


  • Destruction

     The old Majestic Hotel, a historic property in Hot Springs, Arkansas, burned and was deemed irreparable. The city became the official owner after several years of attempting to convince the true owner to clean up the wreckage. After demolition, the site will likely become a park or amphitheater. The good wrought from this debacle is…


  • Hercules & the Hydra: the beast that wouldn’t die. 

    If you lopped off a head, another grew back. Hercules seared the wounds to prevent regrowth, and finished his second labor. We all have monsters in our lives–addictions, bad habits, old memories, worries, fears, stresses, control needs, hopelessness, and more. We try to chop one off, but another rears its ugly head in its place.…


  • Under Construction 

       I walk on Thursday evenings in the historic downtown district of Hot Springs, Arkansas. Most of our buildings are from our salad days of the Victorian period and early 20th century. We are building new construction, such as this new Regions Bank Tower, which will replace the one directly behind my back. I often…