On the Tenth Day of 2025. . .

. . .I was in the shower just long enough to lather up with soap when the entire shower fixture came apart and water sprayed everywhere and anywhere but from the shower head. The third visit from a plumber in as many weeks, from the last days of December up to today, we have hadContinue reading “On the Tenth Day of 2025. . .”

On the Ninth Day of 2025. . .

. . .I didn’t feel sad about my son having to fly back to Southern California today until about an hour after I got back home from the airport. Little things irk me. The dogs. The general questions about what to have for dinner. My wife’s questions about a mysterious charge to our bank accountContinue reading “On the Ninth Day of 2025. . .”

On the Twenty-first Day of 2024: The Numbers, Again

Number of bicycle rides in 2024: 5 Number of walks I’ve taken: I wasn’t counting. Let’s estimate that I went for a walk with the dogs maybe 7 times in 21 days. Number of alcoholic beverages consumed: 0 Number of times I wanted a drink really bad but nevertheless resisted: 5 Number of dreams I’veContinue reading “On the Twenty-first Day of 2024: The Numbers, Again”

On the Seventh Day of 2024: The Numbers

Consecutive days of meditation: 7. Number of walks taken with dogs: 3. Consecutive days of sitting meditation, on a cushion: 6. Consecutive days of walking meditation, with dogs: 1. Chances that walking meditation with dogs was more successful than sitting on a cushion without dogs: 0. Consecutive days of bicycling: 5. Cups of coffee consumedContinue reading “On the Seventh Day of 2024: The Numbers”

On the Fourth Day of 2024: Chipmunk Instagram

I don’t know how long I will keep this up. It’s late in the afternoon now and I have had a somewhat productive day so far. Meditation, bicycling, breakfasting, coffee making and coffee drinking, making a silly reel for instagram, picking my boy up from school, grabbing lunch at Panda Express (my only mistake ofContinue reading “On the Fourth Day of 2024: Chipmunk Instagram”

On the Second Day of 2024: Notebooks

Morning meditation two days in a row after nearly a year and a half without. This morning my feet didn’t fall asleep as I sat cross-legged on the cushion, but I did find myself somehow less focused than I was yesterday. If opening my eyes to look at the timer is any indication of aContinue reading “On the Second Day of 2024: Notebooks”

On the First Day of 2024: Meditation, Bicycling, Music, Reading and Writing

I tried as best as I could to have a great day, a day that included at least a sampling of all the things I love to do and all the things I’m committing to do more of in the new year. I’ll make a quick list here for your generous perusal. So that, inContinue reading “On the First Day of 2024: Meditation, Bicycling, Music, Reading and Writing”

#446: I went without a drink, days: sixty-five

Welcome to day eight of sonnet mania and the effort on my part, during this most hallowed of months, National Poetry Writing Month, to write a new sonnet every day for thirty days. Before we dive in, a few introductory notes. Here’s another convention of the traditional sonnet that some readers may not be familiarContinue reading “#446: I went without a drink, days: sixty-five”

A Journal of the Plague Year: #26

What a terrible time to stop drinking. In the first week of this glorious new year, I was so disheartened by the attempted coup, the insurrection in our nation’s capital, it would have been SO easy to drown out that despair with alcohol. Similarly, it would have been so simple (and yet impossible) to self-medicateContinue reading “A Journal of the Plague Year: #26”