View From Here: Cut the Crap in 2014

View From Here: Cut the Crap in 2014: Not a nice title for today’s blog, but frankly, it’s about time someone said these things. A lot of talk today is in error of fact. T...

View From Here: Finding Peace

View From Here: Finding Peace: This season of year-end is a time to pause and find peace among the noise and chaos of modern life. Or any life, for that matter! From a ...

View From Here: Thought for the Day

View From Here: Thought for the Day: Acceptance. For who you are. What you are. What will be, as well. Appearances? That too. Think about it. And this: “As you get olde...

View From Here: Creaks

View From Here: Creaks: They began in the early morning. The creaks. Tiny sounds made audible. Little by little. Sleeping forms inert in their beds. Warm and toa...

View From Here: Overcoming Ugly

View From Here: Overcoming Ugly: With our eyes we see beauty. And ugly. With our ears we sense noise and pleasant sounds – purrs of kittens, mewling hummings and gurgles ...

View From Here: What’s In A Window?

View From Here: What’s In A Window?: I know, I know! It’s Christmas Day and what’s with the window question? I’m not sure, myself, but this thought niggled at my mind this mo...

View From Here: Easy Does It

View From Here: Easy Does It: Middle of the night. Early morning, before dawn. Sometimes the sky is pitch black. Other times it is deepest midnight blue with a tinge o...

View From Here: Gay Away

View From Here: Gay Away: In Russia the 2014 Winter Olympics will be scarred by insensitivity, hate, political and shenanigans. All based on playing a game with t...

View From Here: Thought for the Day

View From Here: Thought for the Day: Justice is our topic today. Please ponder this quote from Martin Luther King, Jr.: “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in h...

View From Here: ‘Tis the Season

View From Here: ‘Tis the Season: It’s the Holidays, or is that holidays?  It depends of course on your commitment and religious loyalty. Are you Christian at Christmas Ti...

View From Here: Health Insurance Options

View From Here: Health Insurance Options: This is a politically charged issue. Conservatives don’t think government should be involved in this consumer decision. Liberals think st...

View From Here: Energy Efficiency

View From Here: Energy Efficiency: We are about to move into an all-electric apartment. That means cooking, space heating and water heating are all accomplished by electric...

View From Here: Revaluations

View From Here: Revaluations: A lifetime of activity finds us falling in love, having families, buying homes, improving homes and establishing a life style. Our jobs m...

View From Here: Crunchy Cold

View From Here: Crunchy Cold: The snow squeaked with each step. The roll of the tires on the driveway did the same. Wisps of vapor curled from my nose when standing st...

View From Here: Thought for the Day

View From Here: Thought for the Day: Keep it simple. Focus on what’s important.  Here’s a lesson from Winston Churchill: “When Winston Churchill was asked to cut arts fun...

View From Here: A Perfect Gift?

View From Here: A Perfect Gift?: In this season of gift giving we often scratch our heads at the options open to us. What really stumps us, though, is selecting the gift ...

View From Here: Cause and Effect?

View From Here: Cause and Effect?: It was quiet in the church. Sparsely attended, too. Then a whisper came to me from a man sitting six feet away. He said, “The snow falls ...

View From Here: Age Old Thoughts

View From Here: Age Old Thoughts: Today’s title is about those ideas humans have wondered about throughout the ages. And I bet you thought I was going to dwell on aging!  ...

View From Here: Arduous Journeys

View From Here: Arduous Journeys: The times I worked closely with youth I observed these facets: Kids want to be heard; discussions engaged; ideas respected Adul...

View From Here: Cherishing

View From Here: Cherishing: In the ‘60’s a song entitled Cherish was released. It was popular around the time of a famous murder in the Chicago suburbs – Valerie Pe...

View From Here: Thought for the Day

View From Here: Thought for the Day: In this season of gift giving, here’s a quote to think about this weekend:             “There is no such thing as ‘The War on Chris...

View From Here: Entitlement Changes

View From Here: Entitlement Changes: I’m not referring to Social Security or Medicare. Both of these programs are trust funded for generations and we all pay into them consis...

View From Here: Living the Dream

View From Here: Living the Dream: If we are going to face the future with bravery and resolve we must also meet that future fully realizing the demise of the old economic ...

View From Here: Watching the Toll

View From Here: Watching the Toll: Watching AND living the toll of a political economy gone very much awry! The unemployment. Maybe worse yet – the UNDER-employment! Career...

View From Here: Thanksgivings

View From Here: Thanksgivings: In this season we pause to consider the things we are thankful for. Much of our attention dwells on the people in our lives who are speci...

View From Here: Counting Chickens

View From Here: Counting Chickens: The other day I published a column in our local paper on the joy and thankfulness of finding a new home in a local condo. As we awaited...