(To begin with, always get at least two opinions on anything. After a dear friend read my recently published book, she suggested that it have a prologue. It is too confusing if it does not, she said. So, here is the prologue to my new book, available on Amazon.) A…

A flock of migrating waxwings visited the hackberry tree on the east side of the house this morning. That was much to the dismay of our resident mockingbird. Earlier in the year, a flock of robins visited the tree and only a constant battle of dive bombing and squawks kept…

One of the current “hobby horses” for the far right is CRT, Critical Race Theory, actually an upper-level course in law schools across the country. Somehow, they have defined and promoted it as a course taught at all levels of school. This mis definition claims it is a way to…

As I was walking in the meadow one recent cold afternoon, I noticed an odd pattern in the dirt. At first, I suspected the print of someone’s shoe, but it was much to widely present to have been a shoe. They are tiny ditches in the layer of loose dirt…

My love of history can be traced to an act by a dedicated librarian. It was the result of my summer reading contest persistence in reading all the books in the children’s library section of the Carnegie Public Library in Laramie, Wyoming. When I ran out of books for my…

“Alexander, the conqueror of the world; Julius, invader of Rome and of the world, who was the first to unite dominance in both war and arts within a single person…would not now be remembered, without the aid of books. Towers have been torn down; cities overthrown; triumphal arches have succumbed…

The sun has dropped behind the edge of the hills to the west. It’s not dark enough yet for the night hawk or the poorwill. An occasional wasp or dragon fly will move through the sultry thick air. Still not a hint of a breeze. The only things moving are…

“I just can’t live without them.” Really? A gross exaggeration or exaggeration for effect by a angst filled teenager when asked to forgo something. Or by an adult trying to make a point with humor knowing full well they will not be taken seriously…an exaggeration based on a cause for…

I missed it — the elusive scent — the overwhelming sweetness, no not sweet, that would be cloying like too much candy. This is exotic, almost erotic, yet dangerous. The bees swam the tiny blossoms. The bush hums as if electrified — like the control box down the road. The…