I called my brother Scott the other day on his birthday. He just turned 63, a few years behind me on that long road to geezerdom. We got to talking about how at this stage of our lives, we can’t remember if something occurred two years ago, four years ago or nine years ago. Spending the last 11 months in lockdown did not help memory matters. I stay busy working from home, writing, researching and reading, but the weeks fly by. Certain events, such as when I talked to someone or completed a task, become cloudy when I try to recall when they happened.
I recently saw online a current photo of someone...
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INAUGURATION DAY, 2021 — Just two weeks after insurrectionists stormed the U.S. Capitol and attempted to stage a coup, Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was sworn in as our 46th president. Democracy has prevailed. The United States continued a tradition of peaceful transition of power that has occurred in this country every four years since 1789 — 232 years. The snow flurries that swirled around as the dignitaries filed into this socially distanced event gave way to sunshine as Biden took office. My eyes filled with tears again and again.
Four years ago, when his predecessor was sworn in, I was attending...
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I went for a walk the morning after the Great East Texas Blizzard of 2021. The temperature hovered a couple of degrees above freezing, and the sun began to peek through the clouds. Snow started dropping off tree branches in our heavily wooded neighborhood, clumps of it bouncing off my hooded head. Birds were flitting about, no doubt looking for food now hidden beneath the 3-4 inches of snow covering the ground. I silently invited them to our house, where feeders abound to provide sustenance.
Our neighborhood is rarely this quiet. As I walked, squirrels scampered in the branches above, softly...
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A couple of years ago, Mere, my middle daughter, gave me a ballcap that I wear often while reading outside in the gazebo. The inscription: Fight Evil. Read Books. It is one of my favorite caps. She also told me about the Goodreads app, which I now use to keep up with books I have read or plan to read. For years, I used to keep a handwritten list in a notebook. That was rather analog. Goodreads is way handier and likely will keep me from buying the same novel twice, a few years apart. I have done that more than once. Now that 2020 is in hindsight, Goodreads kindly provided My Year in Books. So here...
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Happiness is 2020 in our rearview mirror.
— Apologies to Mac Davis
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This is the first day of a new decade, the end of a year in which time seemed to practically stop. Our darkest season is slowly, but inexorably, fading away. While COVID-19 continues to rage, and we must remain vigilant, it is possible to feel hopeful again. Two vaccines are being distributed with more headed to the final clinical testing stage. Perhaps in a few months — God and science willing — life will feel less restrictive, less fraught with peril.
Last January, I was finishing up interviews for a book...
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