Looking back down on the way I had come I knew the return would be tough. What got me here was going to be repeated. What goes up must come down. But for now, I rested. The view stretched forever. A snow-covered mountain glistened. The sky was eternally blue. A range of steep, forested hills […]
To Ponder
Letter: Side By Side
She knows I love to hike, though saunter is more the word that describes our pace. Because I am irresistibly drawn to places where beauty, wonder, and awe abound, to be inspired as with Descartes’s portrayal of wonder as ‘that sudden surprise of the soul,’ (“Wonderstruck – How Wonder and Awe Shape the Way We […]
Letter: The Last Appointment
Submitted by Gregory Alderete. Mara sat in the waiting room, staring at the flickering fluorescent light overhead. It buzzed, a low, monotonous hum that filled the silence between the occasional coughs and shifting bodies of the others waiting with her. No one spoke. There was nothing to say. She had spent the last decade chasing […]
Let’s Talk! – A Field of Butterflies
Are you ready to switch off your screens and ponder or discuss another writing/conversation prompt during dinner tonight? You want to know about my thoughts on it? Here’s my take: Isn’t this a pristine image? A field suggests something quiet and peaceful. Butterflies are usually something beautiful, ephemeral, therefore somewhat precious. A field of butterflies. […]
Letter: The Best Treasure of All
“Would you like your hand back?” Everywhere we go, to the car, to the store, hiking a trail, or sitting on a park bench, my hand is in hers and thus hers in mine. And once every week we go treasure hunting, to the mountains, to the sea, and near waterfalls we find tiny flowers, […]
Letter: How the City of Lakewood Killed Waughop Lake (And What To Do About It Now)
Submitted by Tom McClellan. On Monday, March 17, 2025, the Lakewood City Council is going to review studies of the water quality of Waughop Lake prepared by its contracted consultant firm TetraTech. The members of the City Council need to look skeptically at the assertions which will be offered by that firm. In 2018, I […]
Across the Fence: Mozartkugel
Today’s Germanism in the English language is probably most interesting for all of those among you who have a sweet tooth. A Mozartkugel (pronounce: Mo-tsart-koogle, meaning Mozart ball) is made from chocolate, pistachio, marzipan, and nougat. But this is where the similarity between Mozartkugeln (plural!) ends. Because it has become a generic name for ball-shaped […]
Letter: The ‘Periwinkle Girls’
The lesser periwinkle is so called “because it is smaller than its close relative, the greater periwinkle.” Like the little lavender-blue flower we found at our feet below the locks attached to the fence that proclaimed forever love, she is the shortest of the three girls – her “close relatives” – her daughter and granddaughter. […]
Painting to Look Good or Better
Submitted by Don and Peg Doman. A while back Georgia and I had moved into our new house, just shy of our 10th wedding anniversary. It wasn’t our home yet, but we so wanted it to feel welcoming, with the joy of a family home and not just a house. Georgia had furniture from her […]