Disquieting news right before bedtime is never a good thing. There were a lot of Floridians this week who didn’t sleep well. Whether they were able to evacuate to higher ground or decided to ride it out at home, it’s likely sleep didn’t come easily. If you evacuated to safety, you toss and turn worried about your property and neighbors who stayed. If you chose to stay, boarded up windows and retreated to an inner hallway in your house, sleep also eluded you as the winds howled and you waited anxiously to see if your roof would remain in place. … Continue reading Good Morning 9-30-22

Grandson Nathan and I had some “alone” time together yesterday while big brother James was at football practice with Grandpa. While he ate supper he asked if he could watch some videos of himself when he was little. I pulled out my phone with its 4,901 photos and videos and said, “Sure.” He watched “Baby Nathan” trying to kiss cousin Charlie. He saw the video on vacation when he loudly sang Old MacDonald at the breakfast table. There were videos of him swimming, riding on the boat, and acting silly with his brother. As we headed upstairs to get ready … Continue reading Good Morning 9-29-22

The second day of Rosh Hashanah was yesterday and once again the rabbis and sages seem to have blown it with the chosen scripture for the day. We read the Akedah, that horrific account of Abraham’s near sacrifice of his long-awaited son, Isaac. Consequently, I’m left puzzling over why they thought this was an appropriate passage to read on Rosh Hashanah, the head of the year, the birthday of the world, The Judgment Day. Was it a judgment made by God in regards to Abraham? Here is this righteous man who left home and country at age 75 to go … Continue reading Good Morning 9-28-22

Corrections: I made a few mistakes this morning regarding Abraham and Sarah’s ages when Isaac was born and about the scripture reading about Hannah. That and the story about Isaac’s birth and the subsequent exile of Hagar and Ishmael were all part of Rosh Hashanah Day 1 readings. Those corrections are in bold below. A common problem for writers is writer’s block. I usually try to have something in my head the night before so when I get up in the morning, I can begin to write. Since we’re staying with the grandsons this week and there’s school and breakfast … Continue reading Good Morning 9-27-22

Sixty years ago this month John F. Kennedy spoke at Rice University in Houston, TX regarding the US space program. His stated goal was to persuade the American people that they needed to support the Apollo program which at that time, was beginning its moon mission. In this brief address Kennedy opened with these words: We meet in an hour of change and challenge, in a decade of hope and fear, in an age of both knowledge and ignorance. The greater our knowledge increases, the greater our ignorance unfolds. Sounds a lot like where we are today. We’re living through … Continue reading Good Morning 9-26-22

Grandson Nathan asked me an interesting question yesterday. “People talk about ‘in the past’ and ‘in the future,’ but where are they? Where is the past and where is the future?” I thought it was a pretty intellectual question for a six-year old. Of course he hears people talk about things that happened and the term “in the past” implied to him that it was a place. He simply wanted to know where the past was. Same with the future. I explained that the past and future are actually points in time. Anything prior to today, actually prior to this … Continue reading Good Morning 9-25-22

It’s been said that the people in my family don’t retire well. It’s the truth. My paternal grandfather sold his business in his sixties and moved to the Black Hills where he was bored enough to go out and get a job working road construction. First day on the job he jumped off the back of a flat bed truck, and broke his ankle. Not wanting the foreman to think he was too much of a baby, he simply laced his boot up good and tight and never missed a day of work. When he and my grandmother moved back … Continue reading Good Morning 9-22-22

Dr. Jordan Peterson’s lectures can be found all over YouTube. One that was recently published, though it appears to be from an old lecture he did at the university, is about relationships. Specifically, he talks about the relationship of marriage and why it is a good thing. According to Peterson, built right into the vows is the concept that you are not leaving. That boundary ensures that every time one of you manifests a flaw, which you are both sure to do, someone doesn’t just abandon the relationship saying, “I’m outta here!” Without those stated vows and that widely disdained … Continue reading Good Morning 9-21-22

Return is a wonderful thing. We are relieved to return home even after a wonderful vacation. We have children return home after being away at college or, better yet, return with grandchildren for you to enjoy. Good friends of ours have returned to the same resort year after year for summer vacations. They grew from a family of six in one cabin to a tribe of sixteen flowing over into two or three cabins. A few weeks ago I returned “home” for my class reunion and a group of us toured our old high school. Many things had changed. The … Continue reading Good Morning 9-20-22