October Six Word Photo Story Challenge: “Site or Sight” — Winter sun brings joy with hope Often jokingly called “Miami guy,” it is well known I was not thrilled with the bitter cold of northern Minnesota in the winter. These days, after decades of snow and ice, I have been converted — somewhat. It works this way. Start with an apartment’s underground heated garage, and never…

Crow’s Feet Writing Prompt #40 Assisted Living Devices — Using something to help me walk sneaked up on me. Or maybe I should say I fell into needing assistive devices. My marathoning career was long over, but I was getting around quite well until the basement-bulkhead-steps episode. We bought a few used dining room chairs from a friendly woman…

Why did it take so long for my eyes to open and my mind to shift? — When I was about ten, my parents joined a new neighborhood Methodist church in Jacksonville, Florida. Mostly unwittingly, they thereby allowed fundamentalists to trap me. For me, it felt as if I were imprisoned in a cult-like situation. Fear and intimidation are paralyzing, so I just complied and ‘went along.’…

Stories scare those who haven’t even read them — Which writer is more dangerous, Ernest Hemingway or Hellen Keller? ‘Dangerous,’ you ask? The Old Man and The Sea? What about Optimism? Absurd, right? Maybe don’t answer too quickly before reading about the May 10, 1933, book burnings in Germany. …

Candles are ancient artifacts that still offer much to our lives — As essential and valuable as candles are, we still take them for granted. A thread wick surrounded by slow-melting wax offers a small flame lighting the darkness. Don’t touch that flame. It is fire and hot. But I bet you knew that. Conservative estimates based on archeology assert humans first…

When do you stop aging and become just plain aged — Will you still need me, will you still feed me When I'm sixty-four, um, eighty-four? Thank you, John Lennon and Paul McCartney, for those timeless words (to which I've added my paraphrase.) I loved it when I first heard them when I was still in my twenties. I remained enamored…

It turned out to be a party in her memory with tears and joy — In an ironic twist, my wife's mother died four days before her 100th birthday. We had grand plans and preparations to celebrate, a vast invitation list, the main dining room reserved, and food galore. But it didn't happen that way. She would have been 100 on August 29th. …

Do we have to call each other names that might not apply — The last thing I would suggest is a false 'color blindness,' but wouldn't it be fun to see simply 'people?' So this little essay is more a fantasy than advice. Here's hoping you read it that way. Right-winger loudmouths spew a fear of 'alphabet soup' as if memorizing LGBTQ+ is…

Phobias often distract us but may also protect us. — Here is a little lesson in zoology. Arachnids are everywhere. Wikipedia tells us: …there are 50,356 recorded species of spiders in 132 families….Spiders are found in nearly every land habitat….Spiders are found worldwide on every continent except for Antarctica, Here's hoping that just reading about these tiny web engineers doesn't…