Gratitude Friday 12-19-25 – Standing Still in the Dark
Solstice - derived from the Latin sol ("sun") and sistere ("to stand still") We are in the darkest of days. We will pass through the Winter Solstice on Sunday, Dec 21, 2025, 10:03 AM EST. From here on out each day gets a little brighter until mid-June 2026. Those days will be bright indeed as there is travel for me on that horizon, but I digress. One of my favorite things this time of the year is seeing our home with all the warm glow of light on the mantles and front door
2 hours ago4 min read
Gratitude Friday 12 12 2025 Our American Cincinnatus and Establishment of National Norms
As a side note, last Friday was the five-year anniversary of this blog. I have written 261 weekly gratitude blogs. This is roughly equal to 130,000 words. I have more in me but perhaps not weekly. Thinking that at the end of the calendar year, I may break from weekly writing on gratitude and revisit from time to time One of the things I have done with this page is to find history that resonates with me and reflect on it. I have learned a lot in that way. In preparing this p
Dec 124 min read
GF 12 5 25 - Reprint from December 2021 - Go Forth You, for the Light That Is You
“Do not be dismayed by the brokenness of the world. All things break. And all things can be mended. Not with time, as they say, but with intention. So go. Love intentionally, extravagantly, unconditionally. The broken world waits in darkness for the light that is you.” ― L.R. Knost This is a reprint from 2025 about a pretty significant week for me. The COVID Isolation had lifted a bit and I was able to spend time with people I respected. On that week five years ago, I was a
Dec 56 min read
Gratitude Friday 11 28 2025 Steeltown Kid
I grew up in a steel town, Bethlehem PA. My dad worked for “The Company” aka “the Steel” for 43 years. The company, of course, was Bethlehem Steel. Up until the mid-1990’s it would have been hard to separate the town from the company. Everyone was in some way connected to what at one point in American history was the second-largest steel producer in the United States. Bethlehem Steel reached its peak in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when the company employed around 300,000
Nov 294 min read