May I assume the headline got your attention? Here’s the back story. On a recent fishing trip I had a conversation with a fellow fisherman who turned out to be a fellow follower of a guy who knew a lot of fishermen. He acknowledged a struggle with alcohol overconsumption, “It’s so hard to say no. The angel on one shoulder says ‘Just say no,’ and the demon perched on the others says ‘Just say yes.’” So, in a flash of either idiocy or brilliance, I responded, “Just don’t say no…to temptation.” His look likely appeared like yours at reading the headline. But...
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East of Temecula from Temecula Valley Hospital
Random Musings about Mortality
The pic above, looking toward the mountains east of Temecula, was the best part of my hospital stay. The day before began with checking out emails on my laptop, when some lightheadedness began. No necessary link here, folks! Then I headed to the kitchen for a restorative cup of coffee, and my body veered to the left when I wanted to go right. A bit suspicious, I tried to walk the straight grout line on the tile—same result. So I did a quick mirror test for stroke signs, good. Next I stood on one leg and balanced, or tried to. Not good. As much as I resisted my own idea, I asked Sheila...
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Fish by Faith, not Sight
Take a look at the pic above. A close one, and focus at the middle of the pool just below the horizontal line of white water, just below the good sized rock. See any trout? Peer more closely, but you won’t see any. But trout are swimming in that water. I know, because I pulled one out of there a few weeks ago.At least 90% of the trout I catch I never see, until ...
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Beauty is its Own Reward
I’m a decent stream fisherman for trout. On my last Sierra trip, in 13 hours of fishing I pulled in 43 trout, some up to 15”. That’s pretty good for smaller Sierra streams. No brag, just fact. (Kudos to the first that gets that allusion about “no brag”). Then came McGee Creek.
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image by Mike Scott
An Ephemeral Life
Mike Scott, a friend from high school daze, took this pic of a New Mexico sunrise when he had to get up. Sunrises and sunsets so blend beauty and brevity. Their glory changes almost by the second—I’ve often called Sheila to see one, and in the 20 seconds before she gets there it’s changed, or gone. That’s life—as slow as it seems to go looking ahead, it’s fast in the passing. When I ...
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The Real You?
Does the difference between how you appear on the outside contradict what you value on the inside? Most of us have a gap there, where these two contradict one another. Back in college, I contemplated suicide because I couldn’t figure out which was the real me. My heart that loved God, or my behavior that denied my stated faith? Then a recent event reminded me ...
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image from ebay.com
Prayer Changes Things? What Things?
A cheap plaster of Paris plaque, much like the one above, imprinted on my values early one. Just 2” X 3” at most, dark brown. But I believed it, tried to live it, and certainly saw it occur. Then yesterday a friend Donna posted a quote from Mother Teresa, “I used to believe that prayer changes things. Now I know that prayer changes us and we change things.”A nice discussion followed with diverging ideas, where ...
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Our motel in Alpine WY
Get in the World!
Our biker crew recently rode through Las Vegas on I-15 with the temp a bit above 100, and in a strange manner, I enjoyed the warmth. I tried to remember that a few days later when we pulled out of Alpine WY with the temp at 30, but it soon dropped to 28, and stayed like that for an hour. In a strange manner, I embraced that too. We drove past a lot of alfalfa fields, many newly mown, and the scent reminded me of the hay barn at our old family farm.Half a mile before we saw the truck, I knew...
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