recovery advocacy

gratitude

general musings

Coffee, mornings, and writing

Moments of clarity come to me in the early morning when most people are still sleeping. I feel peaceful, everything is tranquil, and not much is moving. This is the time I sit, and write, and drink lots of good coffee. This blog is my place to be able to share my musings with you—to offer a place for reflection as well as a place to challenge your ideas, collect some resources, and find a sense of community.

I thank you for stopping by, and hope you'll find something here to make you think or maybe just smile. If you have suggestions or comments, please feel free to send your thoughts my way.

CONTACT BILL

email Bill

Allentown, PA, USA

Gratitude Friday 11 21 25 – The Noble of the Northern Forest Skies

“One way to open your eyes is to ask yourself, "What if I had never seen this before? What if I knew I would never see it again?” ― Rachel Carson This gratitude Friday I am writing about Raptors. When I say this, most people think I am talking about dinosaurs. A raptor is actually a bird of prey . Most people are thinking velociraptor . Related, although distant cousins , far removed. Bird watching is one of the few things I can do that stop the chatter in my head and holds

2 days ago5 min read

Gratitude Friday 11 14 25 Apollo 12 in the “Can Do” Era

" We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard " - President John F Kennedy September 12, 1962 President Kennedy made the " We choose to go to the Moon " speech before I was born. He said we would develop technology and get to the moon before the end of the decade. It was part of the space race between the US and the USSR, which started a few years earlier when the Russians put a basketball sized sa

Nov 143 min read

Gratitude Friday 11 7 25 Attitude of Gratitude

“ We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way .” ― Viktor E. Frankl It is Gratitude Month, officially in the United States. National Gratitu

Nov 74 min read

Gratitude Friday 10 31 25 All Hallows Eve

Yes it is Halloween. The holiday has roots in the Catholic Church, which designated November 1st as All Saints' Day. All Hallows' Eve, the evening before, was a time for religious preparation, including prayer and vigil. Name: "Hallow" is an Old English word for "holy" or "sanctified." Over time, the Christian observance blended with other traditions, such as the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. A historical note here, that kind of blending between religious beliefs occurs

Oct 313 min read

Gratitude Friday 10 24 25 Camusfeàrna

The beaches of Camusfeàrna are a treasure house for any man whose eye finds wealth at the sea’s edge. There are more shells than I have seen on any other littoral; a great host of painted bivalves of bewildering variety and hue, from coral pinks and primrose yellows to blues and purples and mother-of-pearl, from jewel-like fan shells no bigger than a little fingernail to the great scallops as big as a side-plate. – Gavin Maxwell For some reason, in recent weeks, I started t

Oct 244 min read

Gratitude Friday 10 17 25 – Thirty-Nine

Some readers will know from the title what the significance and context is. It is actually one of the most significant numbers in my life. It is how long in years I have been on the path of recovery from addiction. When I started the journey, that first 39 hours seemed beyond the realm of possibility. 39 days would be beyond conceivable before that landmark day when I stopped using and started living. I would have bet the house in that before era pictured above on failing to

Oct 174 min read