Palm Sunday has become a joyous day for me, not merely for the religious observances and for the pleasure of carrying palm fronds in public, but for it’s relationship to what has become meaningful for me over the years.

Thirteen years ago I came out to my parents on Palm Sunday, and so I consider this the anniversary of being truly honest about ( Read more... )

Last night I passed in and out of sleep several times with strange dreams ( Read more... )

Just 
( Read more... )

The last three weeks have been trying, both personally and professionally. In a way, I have been knocked out of my comfort zone, which to be honest has been rather unpleasant. I don't relish uncertainty, but in way, it's a good thing. I wrote to a friend earlier today:

Difficulty and dissatisfaction are necessary ingredients to finding out and ( Read more... )

Since moving in, my friends have declared my apartment something of a sanctuary of comfort, even with a degree of astonishment I would not have expected. In fact, some have expressed outright shock it that it does not look like a bachelor pad with miscellaneous mismatched furnishings or a monastic cell. So imagine my surprise when my friend
( Read more... )

Over three months ago, I found and rented my place by the sea. Spacious, affordable, and comfortable for me and my things, I was pleased to move in and make it my own. There is a place for books and glasses, art and bed, desk and dining table, and all else I have brought with me. I can simply be.

My neighbors joking refer to the building, just a few ( Read more... )

In the tenth century, Lady Murasaki wrote her long tale of the Japanese court, with exquisite detail and sophistication--from parties held to observe the flowering of wisteria or plum trees, the subtle hand of a lady in her brush calligraphy of the still recent hiragana, the layering of silks and the arrangement of all things pleasing. Sei Shonagon ( Read more... )

For your musical delectation, please view the following Bach performances. The first is by a Russian performer on an instrument for which my friend Ricardo holds special affection, the accordion:

Vitaly Dmitriev performing Fuga in d-moll BWV 565

Besides the generally frightful nature of experiencing a grand Bach organ piece rendered on an accordion, ( Read more... )

In Loving Memory of

Maude Myrtle McGregor

Born: August 12, 1925
Protem, Missouri

Entered into Rest: October 24, 2006
San Diego, California

"May the road rise to meet you.
May the wind be always
at your back.
May the sun shine
warm upon your face.
The rains fall soft
upon your fields and,
until we meet again
may God hold you
in the palm of his hand."
-- ( Read more... )

Sometimes you wake up in a dream. And sometimes, you wake up and get ready for your day in a dream. So that’s what I did, and went to work for my former employer, without realizing that I no longer worked there ( Read more... )