There is no holiday equal to the Thanksgiving of my youth. It was a grand affair when women wore dresses and men wore suits and ties. As the New England weather cooled and the last brown, dry leaves fell from the maple trees, Halloween a pleasant memory, I looked forward to Thanksgiving at Babcie’s with …
Category Archives: Awe and Wonder
Toyland
Fifteen years ago, I began work on my second novel which was published in 2010 as The Hamsa. I still refer to it as ‘my holocaust story’ although it covers 26 years from 1918 to 1944 and the protagonist is a Polish gentile, Bronisław Czech, the 349th person incarcerated in Auschwitz. I pride myself in …
Candles and Hummingbirds
From 2010 through 2016, I started every day at 0500 or sunrise – whichever occurred first – at the Redemptorist Renewal Center in Picture Rocks, Arizona. Those were special years. My first act of every day was to kneel silently before the icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help illuminated in the winter months by …
History and Space Exploration
My two favorite areas of knowledge to study are history and space exploration. I think it is not coincidental that I live in the open desert with minimal light and noise pollution less than 20 miles south of the Casa Grande National Monument, a group of Hohokam structures dating back to the 12th century. Twenty …
Chosen
I learned of a potential physical challenge a year ago in August 2022. From the beginning, I have prayed the leper’s prayer, which he pleaded to Jesus, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” From the beginning, I believe I was chosen to be made clean. That conviction was validated yesterday morning when I …
Be Like John Boy
As I recall the scene from “The Waltons” [circa 1975], John Boy was in his room trying to figure out how he would earn the money to go to college. Grandma timidly knocks on his door and enters and gives him the minimal dollars and cents she has been saving for years for that very …
A Good Laugh
Any time I need a good laugh, I go to this video. It has served me well for over a decade and I hold it in my favorites folder for ready reference. Thanks to this courageous boy and his inventive father for bringing laughter to the world.
I have heard your prayer…
It is easy to fall into a funk when one encounters physical and mental difficulties. The more severe the difficulties, the easier it is to succumb to the darkness. My daughter and two grandsons came to visit this week. When she asked, “How are you?” I broke down for the first time in a while. …
God Bless the USA
On this Memorial Day, I choose to bless the USA despite all her faults in memory of all those men and women who sacrificed themselves to give us the freedom to choose. Please join me and choose to listen…