Exploring the Third Season of Life

Notes from Vanaprastha

Reflections on Faith, Nature, and Writing

Recent Posts

Cold Fronts

Cold Fronts

Last week, a cold front came across the eastern part of the county, moving in the typical pattern from northwest to southeast. On the weather map, a blue line with triangles swept away temperatures in red.  Cool, dry air replaced the warm humidity of the...

The line in the sand

The line in the sand

People want their lives and history to be predictable and controllable, and the best way to do that is to try to control and even manipulate the gods. – Richard Rohr, Things Hidden: Scripture As Spirituality A week ago Sunday, I suffered an anxiety attack. Not the...

Labor Day Braid

Labor Day Braid

Before being eligible for working papers at age 16, I did extra chores for cash, and I babysat. I didn’t always enjoy babysitting but knew that parents needed time together and was happy to earn 50 cents an hour. After the children were safely tucked in bed, I’d...

Blue Moons

Blue Moons

Once in a blue moon happened last week, something seldom, rare, occurring almost never or not at all. Well, not exactly. Actually, blue moons happen relatively often. A blue moon is either the second of two full moons in a calendar month or the third of four full...

All’s Well That Ends Well

All’s Well That Ends Well

This past weekend, Keith and I attended a performance of Shakespeare’s comedy – or was it a tragedy? Most likely, the plot derived from Boccaccio’s Decameron and the title from an expression already common at the time. But what does all’s well that ends well really...

Skunked

Skunked

skunk  (skngk) n. 1.a. Any of several small, mostly carnivorous New World mammals of the genus Mephitis and related genera, having a bushy tail and black fur with white markings and ejecting a foul-smelling oily liquid from glands near the anus when frightened...