“He’s got the whole world in his hands…“ Laurie London first recorded this popular spiritual in 1958; it eventually went all the way to # 1. Simple lyrics coupled with a melodious tune have sustained the music’s popularity through the years. Most of us find it comforting to think that the world and our very lives do not simply spin unfettered in space, but rest firmly in the grasp of the almighty. However, I wonder what the song sounds like in Cantonese. I wonder if they have ever sung it in China. If so, do they still?

Piney and She Who Must Be Obeyed had first come to Florida to look after She’s parents. Among the first jobs they had was Piney as director of education for the thousands of boat-people, mostly Vietnamese, streaming in from that horror-war aftermath. She was a volunteer teacher of English.

Most expectant mothers keep a bag packed ready to grab and go when the first contractions occur. The bag contents vary but probably include a beautiful yet comfortable gown, lists of names and phone numbers to call after the baby’s arrival, and a going-home outfit for the newborn.

There is a new church in Wales. Founded by two cousins, Barney and Michael Jones, it is the Church of Jediism.

My annual battle with the grass is under way.
Just a day or so ago I waded through embarrassingly high, hip high in places, grass, alternately pushing and dragging a mower. In fairness to me, I had mowed the half acre immediately around the house. So this wasn’t my first time on the lawn. It was, however, the first time that really counted, the first time I mowed everything, or nearly everything, I’ve got to mow.

Magazines are carefully arranged in neat little stacks on the wooden side tables in the doctor’s office.

Thanks a lot scientists of the year 2006.
Before you rode in on Rocinante, penning some new definition of the word “planet,” life was easy. Back then there were nine planets. Even if we didn’t exactly, precisely and for sure and certain know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, what we all meant when we said planet, we knew there were nine of them. Now we aren’t so sure. Worse, we don’t know what to say when our 6-year-old sons ask if there are eight planets in the solar system.

Older senior citizens remember waking to find their mothers stoking the kitchen wood stove in preparation for making homemade baking powder biscuits for breakfast.

We live in paradise. I noticed it on May Day, songbirds and creekbirds flitting through my little woods, butterflies floating over the flowers, fat bumblebees bumping clumsily into each other through the blooming bushes.

There are winners, and there are Nate, Mark and Tommy.