The Southwest Airlines flight attendant leaned against the seat and, in a low “we don’t want the passengers to hear” voice, said to her co-worker, “That was really bad. I’m nauseous.” We were on the ground in Albuquerque last Monday night, waiting for passengers to board for the next leg to Phoenix. A few minutes earlier we were in […]

A couple years ago at about 4 o’clock in the morning I woke up sharply, thinking it had to be a dream. I’m not in Iowa anymore so it can’t be what I think I heard. I put head to pillow when I heard it again. This time Palmer heard it, too, and he hit the doggie […]

It was 25 years ago this month that my Grandpa Thompson passed away. I just realized that today. On the calendar, 25 years is a long time. Yet in my mind not all that long ago. When I look in the mirror, it’s easy to see I’m not the 18 year-old kid who preached his […]

  It’s 8:40 PM. I smell water in the air. The palm trees are swaying in a breeze that is more than a breeze but not yet a wind. It feels like the atmosphere is getting ready to take a really deep breath before exhaling. The rain starts falling on my drive home from downtown […]

My favorite time of year here in the Phoenix valley is anytime my roses are blooming. Like right now. My back yard is awash in red, orange, white, lavender, pink, yellow, coral, and peach. The hummingbirds swoop in to check them out before moving to the front yard where they prefer the trumpet shaped blooms […]

Got an email the other day with the subject line “Interesting Trivia”. It said that at two minutes and three seconds after 1 PM today the date will be: 01:02:03; 04/05/06 It won’t happen again for a hundred years. We tend to take note of events that don’t come around often. Halley’s Comet makes an […]

  It’s dry in the desert. That’s why they call it a desert. On a good year, the Phoenix valley receives only 7″ of rain. This hasn’t been a good year. Until God turned on the faucet last Saturday, it had been 143 days in a row with no rain. The last time water fell […]

“Daddy, can we make a pile of leaves and jump in them?” Annie and Emma are helping me clean up the backyard. After a week of low overnight temperatures my fig tree had dropped it’s leaves and I was raking them up to throw in the dumpster. Growing up in Iowa, fall was my favorite […]

Have you ever been to a carnival and seen a “guess how many are in the jar and win a prize” contest? The jar could have anything in it. Maybe pennies, or marbles, or if you’re at a county fair in the Midwest it might be a jar of shelled corn or soybeans. Everyone writes […]

My roses are blooming. Wanna come see? I remember my Grandfather saying these words. “My roses are blooming. Wanna come see?” He’d want me to follow and I would. Not because I had a passion for roses. More out of respect for Grandpa. Oh, I liked them ok. But he loved them. He even painted […]

It was July of 1989. En route to Milwaukee for a business meeting I decided to take a few extra days to visit old acquaintances along the way. While in Chicago I had opportunity to spend time with some dear college friends. On Friday evening we met for dinner at Timone’s, an authentic old neighborhood […]

   A pleasant discovery upon moving to the Phoenix valley was how much life exists in the desert. God has created a number of both plants and animals to thrive in this climate. One enjoyable way to get some exercise during the months October through May, the time when it isn’t a gazillion degrees hot, […]

When I first moved from Iowa to the Phoenix valley, I noticed the centerpiece of my neighbor’s landscaped yard was a red plastic snow shovel buried upside down with “RIP” painted across the scoop. I soon discovered my neighbor’s sentiment was shared by many, if not most, of the folks who live in the Arizona […]