I grew up with a superstitious mom muttering sayings about what caused luck to go one way or the other. Dropped my dish rag, somebody’s coming Nose itches, somebody’s coming. Ears burn, somebody is talking about you. Itchy palms meant money was on the way. Bubbles in a coffee cup meant the same thing. A cricket in the house meant …
How we’re helping hungry kids
Since January, I’ve been a volunteer with the backpack program, one of several affiliated with The Corner Table. It’s not that big of a deal on my part. I show up at the building off Tate Boulevard on a weekday morning or a Sunday afternoon and spend an hour or so filling plastic bags that are tied shut and stacked …
What’s the deal with UFOS?
Like most kids of the Sixties, I grew up musing about Unidentified Flying Objects. I read sci-fi books, watched the night sky for Sputnik and marveled at meteors. What if a spaceship landed with strange beings like the ones on “The Outer Limits” or “The Day the Earth Stood Still”? Project Blue Book–the government program, not the TV show—collected information …
Seek and you may eventually find
I was talking to my old friend “Maria” last week. She was lamenting the fact that she cannot find her topaz necklace. It’s a beautiful stone, she said. She has looked in every hiding place she and her husband can think of. I told her not to give up. Maybe the saints can help. It was a strange suggestion coming …
As Yellow Season ends, here come the cicadas
If you’ve lived in the Carolina Piedmont very long, you know that in April, pollen coats everything from pets to porches, turning blue cars green and red cars orange. The epitome came around May 1, when pollen-laden fluff swept into the garage, collected on steps and corners. I dusted handfuls of it off my outdoor furniture, but somehow managed to …
Comfort food to go
Last week I read a Los Angeles Times article about Central Americans and their boxes of Polo Campero, filling airline cabins with the aroma of deep-fried chicken on flights to LAX. Apparently, this has been going on for years. Relatives who would otherwise avoid freeway traffic gladly brave rush hour to pick up their chicken-carrying kin. Never mind that Pollo …
Overdue library book grabs my attention
Have you heard about the woman who kept a library book for 63 years? I read this bizarre story, thanks to email from Candace, a friend who saw it in The New York Times. The recent article told of 74-year-old Betty Diamond who had kept an overdue library book in her possession–carrying it with her wherever she moved–for more than …
Tax file purge offers lookback to 2012
Every spring I conduct a search and destroy mission for old tax records. This year, it was 2012. Those papers had been kept for more than the required seven years, so it was past time to set a match to the dead files. In the process, I came upon two check registers. For you young folks, a check register is …
Gliding through 2021 with Fr. Mike
Blame it on these unusual times. Several weeks ago, I came upon a Facebook ad inviting me to the Bible in a Year Podcast with Father Mike Schmitz. The invitation came at the end of January, that dead-of-winter time when we all need something special to keep us going. My own church wasn’t meeting in person, and still isn’t. During …
Vaccine theories leave me exhausted
Getting COVID vaccine has become something of a test. My first shot wasn’t until this past Friday, so obviously I lost the race. Most everyone I talk to had their shots weeks ago. In late December the news was full of images of politicians, celebrities and other more-than-equal personalities “setting an example” by being first to take the vaccine. I’m …