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What is a desert?
In my last post, I talked about how I live in “the” desert and it is hot here. Those things are both true, this time of year. But six months from now, it will be lovely during the day and so cold at night you wouldn’t want to be caught out without a jacket for…
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What Dreams May Come
“…and then a whole bunch of us were gathered in what looked like a laundry room and it was weird, but I could stand up on my own, without a walker or a wheelchair. And my sister was standing next to me, but she wasn’t really my sister. She kind of looked like that girl…
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Potato Meetings
I’d like to start today by talking about the potato. It is most often associated with Ireland. The Irish were first to adopt it as a staple of their diet in the 18th century, and by the mid-19th century, “reports describing the appearance of a mysterious disease on the potato crops in various parts of…
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Eavesdropping
Right now, everyone who sits at my table in the dining room is sick. There’s a bug going around. I had it last week. So, sitting at a table that seats four alone, I found myself eavesdropping on the conversation at the table next to me which, believe it or not, in an LGBTQ+ assisted…
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My technicolor brain
I have always had a fascination, bordering on an obsession, with the French poet Arthur Rimbaud. When we speak of a poet, a novelist, a songwriter, or even a philosopher, we look to their early days for clues, for the seeds that germinated and sprang forth into what he or she is known for. One…
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Time Will Tell
Ever since I was old enough to think thoughts deeper than “I want a candy bar,” I have had this very unscientific, wholly subjective feeling (notion, inkling) that most things, on the whole, are just getting better. And nowhere is that more obvious than the area of medicine. As early as 1592, parish officials in…
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Portable Breakfast
Few things in life give me as much satisfaction, as much joy, as much sheer pleasure as an Egg McMuffin from McDonald’s. Tacos do, but that’s a whole other experience for a whole other time of day. I’m old enough to remember a time before McDonald’s served breakfast – when they didn’t open until 11…
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Medieval Humor
Imagine yourself inside a Medieval scriptorium. In the Middle Ages (roughly 500–1500 CE) books were written and copied by hand, as Johannes Gutenberg wouldn’t invent the printing press till around 1440. Scriptorium is a Latin word meaning “place for writing;” a scriptorium was most often found in a monastery where manuscripts (handmade books) were written…
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Stampeding Ostriches and a Homicidal Pope
It includes an observatory, an amphitheater, a zoo, two museums – one dedicated to trains, one dedicated to the history of the American west, a merry-go-round, and not one but two golf courses within the boundaries of its 4,310 acres. It is the second-largest city park in California, after Mission Trails Preserve in San Diego,…
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Consider the Anus Radish
Now at first blush, it may seem I chose this topic for its shock value, for its “ewwww” factor, or just because it is silly and intriguing at the same time, so it made me laugh out loud and say quietly to myself “hmmmm.” On reflection, I think all of those things are true. It…
Your mileage may vary.