Monday Morning Mojo

When I go into the woods on retreat, it’s not all just kicking back and relaxing. I also go in to address the toughest challenges I am facing, alone and away from all distractions. I find the woods to be a place where I can clear my head and get into the essence of the […]

Around Mile Marker 20 on Skyline Drive is this small parking lot that opens to an old road no longer in use, except by park rangers. Just a ways down that road there is a flat spot on the left, perfect for a tent. That’s where I pitched mine last Thursday night to enjoy 24

Four times in the last 2 weeks I have initiated or responded to a conversation in Hindi. Admittedly, although I understood what I said and I gleaned only a small fraction of what was said back to me. But, the thrill was there nonetheless! It was a big step for me on my journey to

In the garden, in front of my house, I grow only two plants in significant quantities: cherry tomatoes and jalapeños. I grow the cherry tomatoes so they face the street and encourage passersby to help themselves when the fruit is ready. I like to have a wall of grape-like sweet tomatoes facing out. I grow

That’s me on the right last Saturday night. I was west of Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia, beautiful country, with three friends. Fire circles are almost as old as humanity, the central gathering place. This is where people come to talk through the day, tell stories, and imagine what might be possible just as

None of us chooses the circumstances we are born into. War, famine, political struggle, peace, plenty, social progress. They are all determined by forces larger than ourselves, like weather and geographic events. Of course, we can choose to be active agents engaging the fronts we find imposing on our world. But, the events themselves are

Two nights ago was our final frost…or at least it most probably was. Everybody in my neighborhood was out working in their garden. It was a beautiful Sunday, and many people celebrated Easter – what a great day to do it here in Washington, DC. My family and I went to Shenandoah National Park. It’s

I wrote this poem many years ago after reading the Zen teacher, Shitou’s poem, The Grass Roof Hermitage. My apologies to Shitou. the coffee drinker He’s come to drink coffee and nothing else. After drinking, he relaxes and sits without thinking, People come and go. He’s been doing this so long that nobody notices him.

You may know how much I love the blog, True Stories Well Told. A good friend, Sarah White, has been running it since 2010. It’s chock full of great stories by a variety of writers. Sarah’s pieces are always exceptional. If you’re in the mood for some humor from college days that is somewhat risque, check

The oldest written languages we know are about 5,000 years old, Sumerian and Egyptian. Scientists speculate the oldest spoken languages are 50,000 – 300,000 years with the arrival of anatomically modern Homo sapiens. In 2020 scientists discovered an origin to the human language pathway in the brain, pushing back its evolutionary origin to around 25