Homage

For those who left too soon & for those who keep the flame.      

We salute you…

Stephen

Winter Checks In

Central VA received its first measurable snowfall this past weekend.

3 inches or so (by my best guesstimate) of thick wet snowball inclined white stuff.

The heavier snow came later in the evening, when the sky was pitch black and you could almost feel the presence of the front moving through.

Our premature pines groaned as the weight of the snow bowed them towards the ground.

In the distant wood line an invisible tree gave way to it's winter weight, thundering to the ground with an unmistakable concussion.

9:00pm with nothing moving, the snow with its strange tendency to mute and quiet everything in place.

We suited up, cracked a few cold ones, and went outside to sled and hurl snowballs at the unsuspecting pooches as they pranced around in the cold dark air.

Around an hour later, winter had its way and the power went south with a few feeble flickers of resistance.

There we sat under a cedar tree, clumps of snow falling around us, in complete darkness sans the dogs playing in the background.

We returned indoors to light candles and stumble around with the acoustic guitar, it’s hard to fathom that folks used to live each night under the candle’s light.   

Cheers to winter’s arrival however late it may be…

Choices

“There is no value in life except what you choose to place upon it and no happiness in any place except what you bring to it yourself”

~Henry David Thoreau

This is not an indictment of anyone’s chosen lifestyle, it’s your life, go live it.

That being said, this week has shown the consequences of choices from the celebrity to regular folks that I have known.

When you drop a pebble into a pond the ripples carry on from the impetus of its origin.

We would all do well to remember that the choices we make often affect people well beyond the light of our shortsightedness…

Stephen