I confess to being a bit of a news junkie. I love to listen to what is going on in the world. But what is going on lately makes me shudder for the welfare of my country. I love my country. I would like everyone to love my county, especially my fellow citizens who live here. The citizens of Ferguson. The citizens of Baltimore. The citizens of my home town.We have problems. Poverty, lack of education, family breakdown, disenfranchisement, racial tension, even maybe instances of police brutality……they all are on display. But as NFL New Orleans Saint, Benjamin Watson, says “they are smoke, but the underlying fire is something that we all have to deal with and that’s our sin.” If we are looking for root causes, we need to start there. There is a little of Ferguson and Baltimore in all of our lives. None of us treat others as we should. None of us give as much as we could. None of care as much as we ought. But realizing that is a start. Benjamin Watson says that it is “only through a relationship with Jesus Christ that we can really deal with these situations and deal with our problem and then we can move forward and have reconciliation.” Music to the ear…and from an NFL player!! Maybe I will watch a little less news and a little more football!

I recently watched. “Woman in Gold” and loved it!  I love learning history with popcorn and a big screen.  This time the history was sad.  My first awareness of the Nazi’s theft of valuable art  came in another theater showing “The Monuments Men” last year.  Woman in Gold taught me a little more.  It was great entertainment…but it is   disconcerting to hear that governments and museums fight to keep heirs from reclaiming masterpieces stolen from their families.  I am glad that the “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I” was finally returned and hope someday to see it in it’s current home, the Neue Galerie, in New York.

Hi there and welcome. Grab your coffee and let’s chat. I want this to be a place where life slows just a little. The world is a beautiful, dangerous, fast place. Here, I hope to slow the pace and let thoughts settle….condense. To consider – like the still water that is deep under the fast currents. That is where life really thrives. When I slow down, I notice things. Ordinary things. Beautiful things. Momentous and important things. Like the fact that the woodpecker who has been putting holes in my house is so BEAUTIFUL that is is almost worth the holes (almost). Or the fact that some birds can be bullies! And some can hang upside down to eat. I think I could sit and watch the birds for hours…..and learn a lot.