In The Cigar Box

With a bit of trepidation I touched his shoulder. He didn’t move, didn’t recoil, didn’t raise his head where I could see his eyes deep in the shadows of his hoodie cowl.   With his legs stretched or his head bent and propped in his hand, he had been there every morning since the night temperatures reached down into the small numbers.   The coffee shop had to feel like a morning oasis if his nighttime was spent outdoors. Since he didn’t move, I looked more closely.   I wanted to be sure his chest was rising and falling or wanted to see a twitch of his fingers.   His tall fur-lined boots sat next to his chair.   He always chose the seat near the corner – out of sight of the cashier.   Two backpacks were tucked close, one under his leg and the other touched by his left hand dangling down.   A paper cup with a plastic lid and the Roasterie logo sat on the floor but well within reach.   For more time than manners would allow, I sta...

We mailed about a hundred Christmas Cards by the old method this week.  There may come a year when cost and time conspire to end that habit.  However, while postings have been extremely sparse this year, this posting is in keeping with the tradition started a couple of years ago.  It is one story - one reflection - this season brings forward.  Merry Christmas and good wishes to all who may happen by this blog!         the cornerstone About a year ago, standing atop the muddy Walls, I tried to visualize the foundation.   We would build a new house here.   We’d Build it to last.   We hope it sees a century of Christmases for us and those who come after. Looking down, ten feet deep in the mucky wall An oblong object, not root nor rock, jutted out. Sliding into the hole, caking mud on my jeans,   I slogged to the corner and knelt to touch it. An iron stake, rusty and scaly, with a skewe...

The fever is spreading, temperatures are rising.  This virus is transmitted easily through sharing the air, touching an infected person and may even be carried in the saliva from overly friendly pets.  There is no known cure and the symptoms are difficult to ameliorate but some of the hysteria can be diminished through sedatives or a judicious sip of medicinal spirits. Babies seem to be immune as their appetites and temperatures remain steady even when their parents’ systems are in escalating distress.  Many senior citizens were infected years before but there is little evidence that antibodies were created to vaccinate them from the current infection.  The cycle for the recurrence of such a potent virus remains maddeningly unpredictable and defies all efforts to be ready to aggressively treat each new wave.  Manufacturers have stretched the capacity of factories to produce the gear to be worn by all infected people.  Thousands of suits of personal...

Remember when you took an old painted cookie tin, stowed it behind a chalky gray stone between the roots of a sweet gum tree.   Nature helped secret your stash when   a mossy blanket in the moist shade inched up on the stone.   Sometimes the tin sat undisturbed through hundreds of moon cycles awaiting your return.   Laying in plain sight the plight of a cigar box can be to remain unopened – waiting for inspiration and inquisitiveness to lift its lid.   Stumbling upon it can be like greeting an old friend whose face appears at your door only once in a blue moon. The month is April.   April is blue, bluer than a blue moon.   It is the month when awareness of autism is augmented and accentuated by monuments being bathed in blue light and public service announcements proclaiming the latest statistics meant to elucidate the epidemic.   But really, for us, it is the month when we marvel in Mason and the ripples of humanity that are ...