Though the Fig Tree Should Not Blossom

Spring in 2021 and 2022 brought hard and brutal frosts in late March. Overnight temperatures dropped near single digits and the mercury didn’t rise above freezing for consecutive days. These arctic blasts were unusually late, and all the magnolia trees had already gone to bud when they hit. The tender petals of their satin blossoms

Thank You Very Much, Mr. Komatsu

A brief but meaningful ceremony was held at the groundbreaking for the proposed assisted living facility off Pine Street this morning. Mr. Komatsu was summoned to the podium and creaked his aching joints up the ramps to accept his Lifetime Achievement award for Excellence in Excavation. Although his toothless speech and antiquated jargon were difficult

A Mother’s Mind

The heart and mind of a Homeschool Mother are displayed with the widest apertures when she is excited and eager to learn about the subjects she’s teaching. In her joy of rediscovery and/or new learning, she is like a rolling kettle that can’t help but sing out what’s she’s found amazing and interesting *this week*

God Made a Clerk

“Hey, these meetings are fun—and the snacks are great. But, like, don’t you think it would be a good idea if someone wrote down what we do and say?” And so God made a Clerk.  “Yes, capital idea! He can write down everything—who was at the meeting, who was not at the meeting, the reasons

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

My new (to me) pickup truck came equipped with a backup camera. A thick fisheye lens now bulges discretely from a perch just to the left of my tailgate latch and transposes a warped digital image to an index card-sized display screen where a man’s CD player used to be. I didn’t ask for the

Room Temperature

Recipes are not written for Sunday morning bakers in 19th-century colonials. “Room temperature,” in particular, is a description that has the appearance of objective uniformity, but really possesses none of the attributes that render directions clear, lucid, or helpful to a homeowner such as myself. It is not so much that I am unfamiliar with a space

Apple Stickers

Yesterday I was driving to work and eating an apple. For the first time in my nearly 37 years, I wondered, “Who puts the little stickers on all the apples?” Who puts them on and when do they put them on? Do harvesters apply stickers as the apples are picked off the tree? Does someone

Walking Home from a New Jersey Diner

The sights and sounds of a tow truck are among those few things in life that evoke almost the same feelings in almost everyone in almost every situation. The somber whirring of the cables, the sharp clang of the hooks and chains, and the slow lurch of the vehicle onto the flatbed are each slightly

Wrong Way

The WRONG WAY road sign stands unique in the pantheon of road signs. Barely more verbose than the abrupt STOP, and definitively more forceful than the deferent YIELD, the WRONG WAY sign is alone unto itself. It does not speculate like BRIDGE MAY BE ICY, and it does not equivocate like SLIPPERY WHEN WET. No,

Such A Time As This

The books of I and II Kings read like current events. Weak, wicked kings capitulating to a wicked, rebellious populace. Strong, wicked kings leading eager subjects into further debauchery and idolatry. Cycle after cycle, a progression of increasing heinousness and decay. But sprinkled into the timeline are a few righteous kings who know the truth