Summer Memories, Summer Sadness

Several years ago, I invited a colleague, an Evanston resident, to join the Windy City Miata Club cohort in the Evanston July 4th Parade. She had a great time breakfasting with club members before the Parade, helping to decorate the roadsters in red, white, and blue, and riding shotgun in the Parade, waving to the enthusiastic crowds which lined Central Street. When the day was over she thanked me, explaining that the summer holidays are always harder for her than Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Kindness and Calm in the Midst of Uncertainty

Today’s texts from the prophet Jeremiah, the Psalms, and St. Matthew’s Gospel offer us conflict, chaos, anger and violence, difficult realities which may reflect the way in which we experience our society today, but 180 degrees from where my mind is at the beginning of this week.

On the Anniversary of the Emmanuel Nine

This morning I finally had a chance to open the June edition of The Christian Century. On page ten I found these numbers:

As of May 3, there were 14, 191 gun-related deaths in the US in 2023.

6,073 of those deaths were homicides.

8,118 were suicides.

Only 360 of the total gun deaths were committed in self-defense.

It’s About Taking Care of Our Home

Judy and I have done several major home improvement projects in the years since I retired from Rainbow Hospice. The first was replacing the second floor (“Judy’s”) bathroom. Taking the existing bathroom down to the studs was probably one of the most satisfying experiences of my life. At the end of the day I could truly see what I had accomplished.