Autumn breaks the stranglehold of summer’s heat. The corn dries and the fields slowly turn from green to golden. Birds flock and fly south. The air becomes clear and the sky bluer. The last flowers of the season bloom and farm markets spill over with bounty. Grains await the harvest forming a patchwork quilt of […]
Small Town Security
Our neighborhood is peaceful this evening. It is a cool fall evening and I write at a table in front of the widow of our upstairs bedroom. Occasionally a car purrs by. After it passes the sound of crickets returns.
Between Memorial Day and Labor Day
Memorial Day and Labor Day are the bookends of summer. This morning I found a couple old journal entries I had written about twelve years ago. The first one was written at the end of the day on Memorial Day, the second was written after I put the children to bed on on Labor Day.
The Pain of Rejection
The first girl I ever bought a flower for was named Violet. She lived in northern Ohio. I met her at summer camp in Greenfield, Ohio. We exchanged many letters and a few phone calls. I drove north to visit her at Christmas time. For a Christmas gift I bought her a beautiful leather study […]
Ralphy’s Moment
A few years ago I was coaching baseball in Ohio. I was standing in the mouth of the first base dugout watching play when the other team sent up a little kid that had been on the bench all year. He played for a very cut-throat, competitive team and rarely got in the game. His […]
Irritating Neighbors
I have irritating neighbors. I would so much rather live in the country were you don’t have to worry about neighbors. These people are the worst neighbors we have ever had.