Not that the two are connected, but both have been in my life a lot recently.

I found a pasta maker in the recesses of my pantry the other day and the string of questions that arose went something like this:

Wow, how long have I had this?
Have I ever used this?
Who gave this to me?
What exactly is in pasta anyway?
Maybe I should try this?

So I did. I spent a couple days reading up on pasta in my here-and-there spare minutes,...

I first encountered this in an English class back in the day. It has remained one of my favorite humor pieces, and right now I'm looking for a little humor.

John & Mary
(by Stephen Dunn)

"John & Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who also had never met."
– from a freshman’s short story

They were like gazelles who occupied different
grassy plains, running in opposite directions
from different...

One of the pitfalls of watching Brisco County Jr. is the way puns start to slip into the mind at the most inopportune moment. I'm one of the few people I know who actually likes puns, so this doesn't really bother me. It just bothers a number of others around me.

Oh well. Or should I say, bwha-ha-ha!

I have much to be thankful for this year, and while it may be cliche to write out a bullet-noted list, I tend to live by lists. Then again, sometimes I feel like a walking...

Amidst all the drying land, burning fields, and final harvests of the season, there is still the occasional burst of life.





~Spero

Sooooo. What do you do when a neighbor comes to you and says, "I think I've got a problem. Last week my porch steps were even and now one side is 2" higher than the other."

You go look, of course.

At least, this is what I did, and in the two weeks that followed that initial observation, two inches became two feet. The hill above the house was (and is still) sliding--creeping--steadily downward, surrounding the house and threatening to take it along for...