Prisoner of Hopes

Category: Perspectives

  • Friendship

    Friendship

    If you’re ever in a jam, here I amIf you’re ever in a mess, S.O.S.If you ever feel so happy you land in jail, I’m your bailIt’s friendship, friendshipJust a perfect blendshipWhen other friendships have been forgotOurs will still be hot. (Noel Coward) Noel Coward wrote some catchy tunes. You can’t help humming along. This…

  • Passing The Time

    Passing The Time

    Today I am thinking about time. How quickly the years go and how slow the hours. I am sitting in a tiny coffee shop in a small Indiana Town. A fun find in the middle of nowhere. . . or somewhere, depending on your view. It is quirky and artsy, and best of all, it…

  • In Praise of Trees

    In Praise of Trees

    I love trees.  They speak to me in ways that I can’t adequately describe. The sturdiness of their limbs, the roots reaching deep into the ground, the delicate leaves; all contribute to their timeless beauty.  Of course, trees are also practical. Trees keep the air clean by filtering carbon dioxide and giving off oxygen. One…

  • Fly the Friendly Skies?: Travel Goals Ireland

    Fly the Friendly Skies?: Travel Goals Ireland

    Travel is a passion. The anticipation makes me giddy. New places and new faces call to me.  There is very little about travel that I do not enjoy….except airlines. Airlines make me miserable. If there is a way to make humans more inconvenienced, more anxious, and more impoverished; they have incorporated it.  I don’t fault…

  • Transported

    Transported

    Last evening, I happened upon a program I had never before encountered. The set was cheesy, a tiny theater set up to look like the interior of a barn. The host looked as if he had just been picked up out of rural 1970 on his way to work at a bank. As a matter…

  • Teachers

    Teachers

    Yesterday many area schools had opening day sessions for teachers. It is the first time in 33 years that I wasn’t at one of them. I hope their day was a celebration and that school leadership reminded them how important they are. Teachers are important to society, to communities, and to individuals. Teachers have impact.…

  • Of Outhouses and Other Surprises When Nature Calls

    Of Outhouses and Other Surprises When Nature Calls

    Bathrooms. Lavatories. Loos. Water Closets. Toilets. Powder Rooms. Out Houses. Johns. Ladies Rooms. Mens Rooms. Cans. So many names and none of them exactly topics for polite company. This morning, however, I find myself thinking of bathrooms. When I was a kid, my brother used to throw a fit to use the bathroom everywhere we…

  • Echoes: Rural Road Trips Nebraska

    Echoes: Rural Road Trips Nebraska

    Central Nebraska.  Corn and tractors.  Tractors and corn.  At Homestead National Park, hopefulness and despair were on full display.  The settlers who came by the thousands to homestead persisted out of stubborn hope for a better life.  They came with almost nothing and built a life out of hostile soil.  Cutting sod for houses.  Using…

  • Moments to Savor: Travel Goals

    Moments to Savor: Travel Goals

    Unexpected pleasures.  Little joys.  Small moments in time.  This is what a day consists of… if you are paying attention.  I wander around the campsite and pick up sticks.  This is a necessary scavenger hunt to start the fire that will yield me coffee.  Carefully, placed sticks and some dryer lint start the morning fire. …