The Hermit Life

My grandmother, God rest her, always used to say, "believe half of what you see and none of what you hear." It is an expression I have used myself more times than I can...

Serious question: Have you ever written something and gone back a very long time later (looking for a specific pull quote) to reuse it in new content and thought to yourself, "damn... That was...

My birthday came and went a few weeks ago, quietly and with little fanfare as birthdays should be once you have fallen headlong into your twilight years. And, the older I get the more...

...sits down and orders a shot of Jack and whatever cheap beer they have on tap. Dispensing with Jack, he takes a baby sip of the beer to rinse the palate and, like he...

Of the many words I am deeply fond of, there are two in particular that give me pause every time I come across them. The word "Paradox" (a self-contradiction that may turn out to...

Technically, an essay worth its salt starts with an introductory paragraph intended to set the general tone for what follows in the body of the work. Admittedly a mere amateur at this craft (an...

When I arrived at the spot where I would have to await the transfer, I was amazed by how much snow the city plows had pushed up, over, and around the waiting area. The snow bank must have been three or four feet deep and would have otherwise rendered the bus stop useless save for the brave soul that had carved out enough of it to be able to get inside and away from the wind. I began to wind myself up. I started bitching out loud about the utter lack of care or concern, on the part of the city, over how important it was to provide safe access to city services for those of us out here that rely so heavily on them. And just about the time I had worked out my “flaming hate letter” to the new mayor in my head, Sweet Baby James started singing in my ear :

So Begins the category I have lovingly named "Hattie Matters" in honor of this gray little bundle of love and terror that came into mine and Daisy's life in October of 2018. My great-grandmother's name,...

When you consider the standard stereotype associated with people that declare themselves to be a "Hermit," it is a bit of a contradiction to suggest that such a person would go on...

It’s interesting how seemingly casual, light-hearted conversations can sometimes take on lives of their own and wind up in places that were never intended. I suppose it happens often enough to be no great...