Category Archives: Uncategorized

4/27/25: St. Sophrony the Athonite: a Paskha thought

(Still life at dusk, with apple blossoms and tiny moon.) Cashier Zia is a bright and upbeat young woman, wielding competence and cheer on a seriously multi-tasking job. On Easter Sunday during a break in the action she waves hello … Continue reading

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4/8/2025: Angels

Angel of the Resurrection window, installed in 1898. Artist John La Farge, known for working with superimposed panes of layered glass in opalescent hues. Those peacock feathers in the wings are a glorious sight when the sun rises outside. The … Continue reading

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3/31/25: Delivery Driver

Bedtime. Take out the compost, or leave it for morning? I ran out to the bin with my bucket, stopped for a night shot of Mrs. Wing’s daffodils, and came back inside. In the downstairs lobby I gave a courteous … Continue reading

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2/15/2025: Their Valentine Heart

Every Possible Disclaimer: This incident is true, and the dispatchers and patient are real. The details are a composite hash of the five (5) sites where I’ve served as a medical interpreter. As always, the characters have pseudonyms. The fictitious … Continue reading

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2/14/2025 Valentine’s Day

A holiday theme story is in progress, almost ready to post here. And meanwhile, Here is a wee corner of the Valentine’s Day display at our corner Big Chain Grocery. This is only 25% of the fanfare; I cropped out … Continue reading

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1/11/25: Ring-Necked Ducks

Down at the pond, we had a rare calm sunny day of winter. On today’s visit there was a new kind of waterfowl. My phone camera doesn’t capture bird pictures. But of course the Cornell Bird Lab comes through instead. … Continue reading

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12/31/24: Mingling in Good Faith

1/5/25, wee update: Our same Catholic church-which-does-all-things-brilliantly emailed me a month ago about a welcome social brunch scheduled for today. It was their first social since pandemic lockdown. They wanted to welcome all the people who had registered with the … Continue reading

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11/28/24: Thanksgiving Ramble

Usual Big Disclaimer: These notes mention a couple of potentially edible plants. But as always, don’t put anything in your mouth on my say-so. Why would you go to a foreign-language major for your foraging or nutritional advice? After the … Continue reading

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11/15/24: Cashiers

On our street at National Grocery Chain, a cashier is leaving. His presence has been one more important seamless stitch holding together the social fabric of our everyday lives. When the stitches of presence work together, the fabric runs like … Continue reading

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11/1/2024: Someone Left the Pizza in the Rain

Well, not really in the rain. It was tucked back under the eaves out of the path of the rain, on a bench under the call box of our building, where clearly someone didn’t pick up the phone in time … Continue reading

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