North Pole ...continued...

In order to prepare for this trip Mark and I went to a 3 day shakedown camp with the guides in January. We spent two nights in a tent at minus 20 Fahrenheit. The guides talked about knowing where all of your gear is at all times. They would say for example to keep your lighter in the same pocket and if you need it, it is there. And as soon as you are done put it back because it lives there. This is crucial in the arctic because we have limited space and you need to keep track of your gear. Too much energy is spent looking for something and if you are freezing you need it right away. Anyone ...continued...

~~In the Nighttime To the individual working in near darkness, the place felt like a basement at midnight, illuminated only by a dim light bulb at the top of the stairway. No. Better. It felt like a mortuary in the middle of the night, the perfectionist mortician preparing a corpse for a starring role at its own funeral. An undertaker is an artist, after all, who must exult in the unveiling of the handiwork—or creative artwork—as gawkers pass by the open casket. The lone figure’s grin appeared as grotesque as the thoughts in its wearer’s head, illuminated as it wa ...continued...

Our cooking today is so much different from days gone by. When my granddaughter was three, she stood in front on my oven door where a whole chicken baked in a glass pan. With wide eyes she said, "Is that a chicken?" You see, her mother only bought chicken parts. She'd never seen a whole chicken. How different from when I was a child. Below is a recollection when I visited Grandma at about age five. I've included it in my cookbook Family Favorites from the Heartland. Fried Chicken-Grandma’s Style During the late 40s and e ...continued...

North Pole ...continued...

Being only about five years old at the time, I don't have alot of memories of the times before TVs came into my life, although I find myself more and more in the minority in that I can remember the preTV days at all. I forget myself sometimes and don't feel my age, but the young bloods jolt me back to reality with comments such as "What was it like before you had shows to entertain you like the gold digger shows or Pawn Stars?" Quips like this make me realize we weren't really missing all that much.Or could it be I was only five at the time and just ...continued...

A Rugby day-out in Dublin - lunch in the clubhouse and a view from the bar The agenda for the day commenced at about 12.30pm with pre-lunch drinks in the club bar. A gong was struck at 1.15pm. Members and their guests then moved to the function room for a fairly formal lunch. This was followed by, hopefully, short but witty speeches from the respective presidents of the home and away clubs. The lunch finished at two-forty-five – fifteen minutes before kick-off. The more enthusiastic supporters donned their overcoats and went to stand by the side of the pitch in order to give close, ...continued...

As I go about my occupation as a corporate chaplain, I hear the heart of people. So many folks seem discouraged. When they have a need, Jesus seems the last place to turn. Others seem to have no concept of the Living God who intervenes in situations when invited in. While I prayed about how to be an encouragement, I remembered how God had met me many times in the past. I made a list and came up with about twenty stories. Each week I'd write one and take it to my critique group to get their input and feedback. Before long, I had twenty-seven stories--enough for a small book. Dan ...continued...

Throughout the history of the world, philosophers and religions have disagreed on many things. But they have all agreed on one thing …only one! You become what you think about. Read that sentence again. Most people hear it, but don’t truly understand it. You become that which you think about most of the time. We place value on material, replaceable things and very little value to the most irreplaceable thing of all. Our freedom of thought. Thoughts establish Habits, Attitudes, and Emotions&hellip ...continued...

Driving down the road on a beautiful pre-Autumn day, the large red sign catches my eye. "Estate Sale 50% Off"…. I am torn, yet curiosity draws my car to the curb. As an avid garage sale seeker, I often enjoy the victory of the bargains I find while rummaging through items no longer wanted by the owner. But the items of my garage sale victories are most often found outside on the hard cement driveway or garage…unattached to story, emotion or the life that shared its journey. This Autumn day I find myself entering the E ...continued...

Today we woke up to more of the same. A howling wind and violently flapping tent walls. We discovered that the wind, which is from the north, is rapidly pushing us back to our start location from yesterday. We call it a hamster wheel when the ice beneath our feet moves as quickly south as we move north. Since we are tent bound I have felt a survival mode kick in with both of us. I found myself hoarding the last of my Pop-Tarts as I secretly tried to eat them inside my sleeping bag, denying their very existence when questioned by Mike over the noisy wrappers giving me up. From the crunching ...continued...

Happiness is not being pained in the body or troubled in the mind. There was a time not so long ago when I could barely walk or move easily at all. My livelihood was being taken from me and I was depressed and miserable. Doctors told me that my arthritis could be managed but that it wouldn't get any better. Well it DID GET BETTER. Because I did something about it. I educated myself, I learned to lap swim. I listened to my body and developed a bodyrolling technique. i experimented. I found myself out of necessity chasing arthritis relief nearly everyday. I also found that with out a doubt a ...continued...

The title of my life story is "I Started Out As A Small Boy". Most readers will wonder "What is up with this dude choosing a stupid title such as this?" Well, I have to admit that it is hardly a unique beginning. I suspect that of the approximate 7 billion people people inhabiting planet earth at this moment, about 3.5 billion of them may have started out the same way. But then again, every story must start somewhere and I am convinced that mine started on April 29, 1937 in the Larned Kansas "Hospital". I put Hospital in qu ...continued...

Chapter One Matt Dalton held his breath. The doctor removed his glasses, and tapped them against the document in his hands, his blank face conveying nothing of the opinion he was about to render. “Mr. Dalton, based on this report, I’d say there’s about a ninety-nine-percent chance this boy is your son.” Matt’s pulse raced. It’s what he expected, but the doctor’s words of confirmation made it real. Holy Christ, he had a son. He was a father. Nothing so profoundly life-changing had ever happened to him, and it took his breath away. He s ...continued...

The reason i'm posting this recipe is because it appears in a cookbook called Homegrown in the Ozarks: Mountain Meals and Memories which of all things was a finalist for best book of the year in Missouri in 2007 and i told my co-author Mary-Lane when we complied the book we shouldn't put it in because there are so many wonderful recipes from the Ozark Mountain in the 1930's and 1940's when ladies cooked on woodburning cast iron stoves and it just did not fit and it's been the most read and commented on of all 140 recipe listings. A Skunk Recipe That Serves (2) I ...continued...