Everyday it felt different. Everyday her skin felt different than it did the day before. She felt that she was changing into something different every day, and she could never anticipate what that something different would be like. Sometimes it was very different. Sometimes, for example, she might feel like a man, which, of course, she was not. On other days, the changes were more subtle. One day she might feel like a red head; on another day she might, in her skin, be a blonde. She never knew in advance and that's why every day began with a little bit of fear. What would it be today? What would she feel like today?

Stumble It!

This is how it worked for him: Everyday he would carry in his left-hand pants pocket, a neatly folded dollar bill. It was there so that if someone asked him for "spare change" he would have the dollar bill ready to give. It was a good solution for him, because he didn't want to say "no" if someone asked for money, yet he was uncomfortable with rummaging through his wallet on the street, looking for something to give. This way, he always had something. He knew that a single dollar could buy practically nothing, not even a cup of coffee anymore. But, it was something at least. At least he could do something.

Stumble It!

Let the jousting begin!

Stumble It!

She was the most flamboyant of the gang. She was always that way, even in High School. She laughed freely, was always the first to jump in the lake, or ski board down the hill. She was the first to get her drivers license, the first to marry, and the first to divorce. She never stopped thinking young and acting young and, perhaps as a result, she continued to look much younger than she was. She was a "wild child" and her friends loved her more for her outlook on life. That's why it didn't make any sense to anyone who knew her. It just didn't add up, what with her outlook and all. She had so much to look forward to to just up and disappear like that. It was crazy. There was a sense of disbelief and, following that, dread. Why would she abandon everything and vanish like that? What if something bad has happened to her? How could she just, "poof", vanish into thin air?

Stumble It!

To the ones with a strong heart, our graditude. To the ones who make war, a rest.

Stumble It!

Our lives are made up of fragmented moments of almost uncontainable joy. These moments are food to the soul and are, like any good meal, best shared in the company of others.

Stumble It!

As a way to recognize and celebrate the Winter solstice that just happened, an image from St. Johns, USVI. Have a cool drink, go for a swim, and dry off on the sand. Go for it.

Stumble It!

If you build it, they will come. If you build it out of bricks, they will stay.

Stumble It!

The Plains, Virginia.

Stumble It!

Nothing happens all at once. Storms don't happen all at once. You can usually see a storm coming; there's a warning. Earthquakes don't happen all at once. There are signals that something is about to happen. Nightmares don't happen all at once. They unfold a little at a time. Winter doesn't happen suddenly, or Summer. For everything, even if only in retrospect, there is an unfolding of events. Looking back, it's usually clear what should have been noticed at the time. In the future, our vision is clear. We knew, or strongly suspected, what was going on. It is only when it is happening that events seem unclear, and the path uncertain. Tomorrow, we will tell our children that we should have known and that someone could have taken measures to stop it, but didn't.

Stumble It!

It's strange to me for some reason. I live 8 miles from the center of downtown Washington, DC. It's most definately not the "country". It's not the city, but it sho' ain't the country. I would estimate that 30 percent of the vehicles on the roads in my town are trucks. Not big trucks. Not like garbage trucks or moving trucks. I think that what I see are called "light utility trucks", except they never seem to be engaged in kind of light utility work. Mostly you see them in driveways or, like here, in the subway station parking lots. From casual observation, the most that there ever is in the back loading bays of these vehicles are empty beer cans. Another 25 percent of my neighbors (and it could be 30 percent or more) drive those humongousmobiles, those SUV things, but that's another story.

Stumble It!

Overheard on a 1 block area of downtown DC:

A lady standing in an alley way: "May Jesus bless and preserve you"
A man on his cell phone: "For me, it's just one day at a time".
A man, singing to himself and with a big grin: "Yes, I'm the Hootie Kootie man. I'm gonna Hootie Kootie you."
A woman, walking fast to keep up with her friend: "They said he was burned beyond recognition."

Stumble It!

He said: "Oh, no, baby".
She said" Oh, yes! This was the last time, the very last time. You can't hurt me no more 'cause I'm done with all that now. No more. Every time you lied, every time you cheated on me, my heart bled, and I had to make my heart hard there so the hurting would stop. Every time I found you out, a little more of my poor heart bled and died. And you know what? You can't hurt me there anymore. My heart is now like a stone. It's hardened. You made my heart hard. I'm not going to bleed for you anymore, 'cause this is all over."

And he said: "No, baby. Don't do this".
And she said: "No. You still don't understand, do you? I'm leaving here and I'm not ever coming back. There ain't nothing that you can do to make me come back here and be hurt some more. I believed your lies and I put up with your foolishness because I thought that you would learn how to love me. It turned out that I was the foolish one. But, I got smarter and you didn't. This is the end, baby. If I can't save you, I'm going to save myself. This is the end."
It was at that point that he picked up the gun and fired until there was no more sound.

Stumble It!

Sometimes what it amounts to is a long good road to nowhere. Sometimes the destination is besides the point.

Stumble It!

There is no breeze in the trees. The flags do not stir. It is a quiet morning. Still and early. The sun is low. The sky is grey and it is cold and we wait for what will unfold.

Stumble It!

If all of the humans here were to leave and go back to where they came from, don't you think that the place here would become the Garden of Eden that it was always meant to be?

Stumble It!

"...and God bless us, everyone." prayed Tiny Tim.

Stumble It!

Washington is a city of smoke and mirrors. That's what governing has become. It's a place where a junior congressperson can drive to work in his Rolls Royce, a gift from a thankful constituent; where a yacht is a perk for the connected; where business is a black bag operation; where a war isn't supposed to cost the tax payers a dime; where the deeply religious feel that death by injection is acceptable and where the poor, homeless, and hungry can get along by themselves because when you're making that much money, taxes are more than annoying, they're a liability; where if you want it bad enough, it can be had. Washington makes New York look almost homey.

Stumble It!

I like the "idea" of seasons, but the reality of cold, finger biting, tear producing, doesn't-matter-what-you-wear cold is something else again. It's not bad if you are doing something energetic and enjoyable, like skiing or sledding or something. But it's no fun to have to slog through artic coldness just to get to work or school or to the grocery store. I feel real bad for the homeless folk who sleep outside in doorways. How do they do it? And, more to the point, why do they have to?

Stumble It!

We got our first snow last night. Just a couple of inches, but enough to make the point that Winter is surely on it's way. It has been much colder this week; the garden has finally put itself into suspended animation for the duration. Most of the leaves are off the trees that stand naked and looking the worse for it. It's time to chill.

Stumble It!

Tea House, Washington, DC

Stumble It!

Into each fry, a little rain must fall.

Stumble It!

The morning is my favorite time of day. It's full of expectation. It's too early to have had a "bad day" yet. And the light is perfect, creating long, mysterious shadow.

Stumble It!

It was just the way she remembered it. Not a thing had changed in all those years. It was like it all happened yesterday, instead of so many years ago. She had secretly hoped that it would be this way: everything was just so. Not a thread out of place; not a detail missing. It was beyond her wildest dreams and now she was besides herself with rapture. Oh, if only Henry could be alive to have witnessed this moment. If only he could have been there with her. That would have made it even more perfect that it already was. That would have meant everything to her.

Stumble It!