Removing My Website

  I get desperate sometimes. It's a craving. Time. Expression. Humanity. Productivity. Coffee. I crave it all. And it begets more because inevitably there is some sort of forbidden fruit. In this case, it's forbidden non-fruit. It's also a miniature escape. There's a pattern in this picture. If smart phones had existed, I could have taken a very similar photo in the late 1980s. For some reaons, a patty melt was the golden go-to for an impromptu excursion for decades. Book. Notebook. Water. Coke or coffee (then and now). Greasy burger. Midnight and beyond. I remember a night at Perkins Restaurant & Bakery. Oddly I don't remember the location, but it had to be somewhere between Willmar and Minneapolis, my common route during those days. I spent hours in a booth. Writing. Thinking. Observing. Talking to God on paper. It must have been near the Twin Cities because I remember having a conversation with a group of guys, some of which were African-American. Towards Wil...

  Sweat beads gathered. First, the forehead, then the upper lip.   Oh yeah! I need a fan!   Beth never remembered it when she was away from her tiny office, but at the first sign of internal heat she regretted forgetting.  Her tiny, trusty (and slightly rusty) desk fan sat unused at home ever since she resigned her full-time writing job the year before. The face of it had fallen off, but Beth kept it with the intent of putting it back together or turning it into something quirky and fun. But where to put a fan?  Her temporary desk was thoroughly cluttered that there was only room for her arms to rest while she typed. The rest was strewn with manuscripts, alligator clips, highlighters, mechanical pencils, headphones, a coffee cup, and   The Chicago Manual of Style . The only place was the floor . . .   Wait a minute!   There was   a floor fan in her neighbor’s curbside trash array just two days ago! But the fan was not of initial interest. The...

  Share your pleasure or pain with story and emotion. Since it is February, try expressing love or the opposite. What do you hate? Why? But even better, who or what do you love and why? Tell a story where love played a role. Share an experience that shaped your life. Consider sending your expressions to others this month.   All year, I have a wide theme of "breath," and this month your angle is: EXPRESS Ready . . . set . . . write! PS. If you would like to have a matching notebook for each month and theme (or just your favorites),   click here to see the collection .

This is a timed freewriting exercise with a theme. Set a timer for 10 minutes (or listen to 2–3 songs) and write or doodle whatever comes to mind. Your topic may turn into something completely different. Just keep your hand moving! Don’t stop until the time is up. My current inspiration is the gift of breath, so this month your theme is: INHALE Ready . . . set . . . write! PS. If you would like to have a matching notebook for each month and theme (or just your favorites),   click here to see the collection .

The exotic draw of fire and dance brought a crowd to Vida [short for Vida Cocina Creativa (Creative Kitchen Life), a restaurant on the shore of Lake Atitlan in the village of San Marcos La Laguna]. As the first showing ended, the dancer "ate" each flaming torch from his fire fans. The word pictures are so rich for me. We watch in awe as others face flames. We applaud. We are entertained by the years they invest. We avoid our own fire. We are timid to burn. We turn our faces from blinding brightness. But what if we didn't? It brought a scripture to mind: Isaiah 6:6-8 New Living Translation 6   Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7   He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.” 8   Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?” I said, “Here I am. Send me.” What if ...

  I heard paws pouncing on the plastic carpet guard in the office. Synneva was snorting at an insect buzzing on the floor near the desk. It was yellow and black. A bee? "Good girl," I encouraged her. "Get that thing!" She looked at me with ice blue eyes as if to reply, "Seriously? You want me to eat it?" I did imagine it. But I was also stung in my mouth this summer when I was working at the outside table and didn't notice a bee in my tea. Not fun. "I get it girl." I patted her and thanked her for downing the insect at least and sat down at the desk to work. Synneva barked and leapt at the window. Another flying foe! I took a fly swatter to it. When it fell, I noticed five others on the ground.   What? Five? Something's not right.   I made a mental note to ask my son about it later. While I was writing, I heard a buzz at the far bank of windows. I went there with my swatter and found a large bee (at least I think they are bees).   Where a...

  This boy. :-) He is the one who expanded my heart to see that I could do more--even for just one person. I shouldn't call him a boy or a kid. Enio is a fine young man who is raising his younger sister after the death of their mother. I wrote about him a bit here:  Thirteen Years in My Pocket Enio's serious, kind, and faithful soul marked me again in recent days. He is very young (at least to me--20 years old), yet very responsible. I see him follow through in detailed ways as he works (his boss is my host in   San Marcos, Guatemala ). Even when it is not his job, Enio helps others. I observe his ways in contrast to other young men his age (former coworkers) who are involved in a very serious situation against his boss. John 10:10 (AMPC) is playing out before my eyes:   "The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy."   I won't take long to explain, but a large amount of building materials were charged and sold (stolen!) supposedly to get money to...