So, here we are: summer has come, the restaurants are serving, the cruise ships are sailing, and people are gathering in large numbers indoors and out. It seems Americans have decided that they’ve had enough and that the Covid pandemic is over — at… Read More
All posts filed under “American values”
Now What?
Okay, I’ll admit it: I am one of those people who is wary, even anxious, about this rush to return to normal. Yes, I have been vaccinated, and yes, I am encouraged by the declining Covid numbers, and yes, I am hopeful that we will… Read More
Memorial Day
Memorial Day is an American holiday observed each year on the last Monday of May. It is a remembrance holiday in honor of the men and women who served, and died, in the U.S. military. Established in 1868 following the Civil War by General John… Read More
Solitude
So much has been written about the loneliness and anxiety caused by Covid restrictions over the last 14 months. A recent study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association from Boston University School of Public Health found that the rate of depression… Read More
Stepping Out
Spring has sprung, albeit a bit late, even in South Texas. Finally, trees are leafing, vegetables are sprouting, and wildflowers are blooming along remote country roads. Homeowners like us are clearing out the bushes and shrubs and trees that didn’t survive last month’s… Read More
What to Wear?
I got my first pair of high heels right before Easter — “high” being a descriptor relative only to ballet flats, but never mind. I must have been about 10 or 11 years old and I felt sooo grown up. I can still remember how… Read More
The Good Ole’ Days
Lent is once again upon us. For Christians, Catholics especially, these six weeks are a time for prayer and penance, a period of quiet spiritual reflection in anticipation of the joyous celebration of Easter and the renewed sense of optimism that spring inevitably brings. For… Read More
The Covid Show
Since beginning in late January of last year, the Covid 19 virus has been center stage. At first, it was the foreign invader, immediately suspect because of its origin, something to be concerned about, but contained. Then it became a bigger threat, a world player,… Read More
Peace and Quiet
Do you hear the silence? The lack of dings on your cellphone, the absence of “Breaking News” bulletins on your TV, the reduction of text messages and e-mails and even phone calls full of commentary and exclamations from like-minded friends and those not-so-like-minded… Read More
Where We Stand
When I was in school, we had a name for those kids who repeatedly lied, cheated, brown-nosed, back-stabbed, grand-standed, and otherwise tried to make themselves into something they were not. We called them “fakers.” Not quite yet old enough, or sophisticated enough, to recognize personality… Read More









