5 summer reads

Summer brings many things. One is often a bit more time to read. For fun and entertainment. To widen our horizons. To dive into another dimension. To explore life and ourselves.

9 observations about change

It was a time of change. It was a time of keeping things the same.

“Change is inevitable. Change is constant.” ― Benjamin Disraeli

Taxi ride in New York City in 1978

“What’s his medallion number?” Debbie quietly asked me. I was in the in the front seat of a taxi in New York City. Debbie was wedged in between me and the door. This was not going to end well.

7 movies about changing the world around us

What do a 100-year-old Swedish man, a boy in Africa, a French pianist, a young lawyer, a police detective and a book club have in common?

The man who would be top dog, pitched a fit too many and fired himself

For years I worked an industrial job. Part of a very oddball team. But we made things work. Then Hansson came along.

A penpal on the other side

Early ‘70s. The Cold War was still very cold. With no end in sight. Ever. And I had a penpal in East Berlin. Even went over there to meet in person.

Keep calm and carry on?

It was a regular Sunday morning at St. Andrew’s Church. Except as I looked into the sanctuary, it was way darker than usual. I realized electricity was out. How would this work out?

To be or not to be — or rather: to live or to exist

We each have so many years (which we don’t know up front) and then we’re done.

“It’s not enough to have lived. We should be determined to live for something.” ―Winston S. Churchill

Welcome to serendipity

Happy accidents. Chance encounters or events that lead to things we couldn’t have imagined.

“Serendipity is the faculty of finding things we did not know we were looking for.” — Glauco Ortolano