“If I could save time in a bottle,” sang singer-song-writer Jim Croce in his 1972 hit single. The opening line was both insightful and a bit haunting. Insightful because it posed a dilemma we all face. We can hoard money but not time (not in a bottle or a bank). Use it now or it’s […]
You can copyright books but not book titles. So, theoretically, I could title my book To Kill a Mockingbird, or Gone with the Wind. And I would get exactly 0 readers. But titles do make a difference. Research shows that good ones get a second look. A reader might peer at the promotional copy on […]
Took our drive yesterday afternoon. Our drive goes south of Canyon on I-27 for about 12 miles; then east on FM 285, past Hidden Falls Ranch, to Wayside; then the road turns south for two miles, then east for another four, where it dead ends into Texas Hwy. 207. From there, we go north to […]
My friend Bill is a dealership driver; that is, he drives vehicles to and from Amarillo automobile dealers. It’s a rigorous gig. Last Sunday, Bill drove to Corpus Christi where he picked up a 15-passenger van early Monday; then, scooted back to Amarillo by 4:00 p.m. On Wednesday, he delivered that vehicle to a customer […]
Mt. Windy—a six-year-old grandson named this point on the canyon rim, directly behind our house. Last fall, we built railroad tie steps from our backyard up the steep slope of Mt. Windy. Last week, I bought a park bench to install there—— Because the area looks over the picturesque, green valley of Palo Duro Creek. […]
Finally got out to see Amarillo’s Sod Poodles, our new AA minor league baseball team. We lost, but the team has some big bats (sadly, all the home runs came with no base runners). And they have a kid from Mexico who consistently throws 100 mph fast balls (his control needs some consistency, too). I […]
Old Mike’s Peak. It’s why I stopped blogging over two years ago. Let me explain. In 2006, the 57-year-old version of me had taken a circuitous route up the east side of New Mexico’s Wheeler Peak where I met a couple who were camped at Horseshoe Lake, just 800 feet below the summit. The problem […]
I’m not an RVer, but, for those of you who are, I think I get it. It’s not only the wanderlust or the nice rigs (nicer than the hotels I visit). I’m betting the greatest appeal is the camaraderie. When I happen on a group of you at a campsite, I hear the same story. […]
It was C’s birthday—last Friday when Charlotte and I ate with two of our favorite couples. C and S and S and L have been our friends for at least 40 years. They represent a group I’ll call my FCM-PCC-EFC friends—the initials coming from three church homes we shared in the ‘70s and ‘80s. With […]
I met my first friends in the summer of 1966 at Hidden Falls Ranch (a Christian youth camp on the Palo Duro). Sure, I had friends growing up in Canyon, but real friends—I believe one needs to be a friend to have one, and before that summer I didn’t know how. To be a friend, […]