Author: Fred D

  • Nature’s Soul Therapy

    Sunlight shafts illuminating ethereal mists of a thundering mountain stream; a 6-point whitetail buck stealthily crouching in a thicket to avoid detection; me silently crouching to avoid detection as a black bear saunters by 😟 😟 😟 . . . Nature’s soul stirring wonders to embrace wandering through the Great Smoky Mountains. “The Lord has…

  • Wiley

    Pal, my childhood German Shepard; Goliath, my massive St. Bernard; Brandy, a gorgeous Golden Retriever; and Lobo, my latest ‘man’s-best-friend’ German Shepard; I’ve enjoyed having a faithful furry buddy by my side. Snow-birding complicates transporting pets, and consequently I’ve been without a canine companion for some time. Here in the Great Smoky Mountains, Mother Nature…

  • Thanksgiving Gratitude

    Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –I took the one less traveled by,And that has made all the difference. Robert Frost Two lives diverged along life’s journey and, in the time we walked together, you made a difference in mine . . . Thank You “Two are better than one, because they have…

  • How Big is Little?

    Today our world’s population reached 8 billion . . . Happy Birthday World! It’s estimated 8 billion grains of sand would fill 8,000 cups and weigh 2 ½ tons. Recently, while I was counting sheep snuggled against my pillow, a group of obviously wide-awake researchers at the University of Hawaii estimated there are seven quintillion,…

  • Life’s Flight

    Flying has always fascinated me. As a child (some claim I still am 😊), the adventures of Sky King, a WWII aviator turned Arizona rancher, kept me glued to our family’s state-of-the-art, oval, 13” black and white TV. My time in the USMC as an aircraft electrician heightened my flying passion, and early in my…

  • Being Jesus

    Today a friend posted on their blog (gratefuladdict) the note below. Someone . . . prompted by love’s pure compassion . . . placed this note on the van windshield a homeless person was living in. This note simultaneously blessed and convicted me . . . blessed, aware of my undeserved abundance . . .…

  • Harmony

    Way back when I was a ‘wee’ one and dinosaurs roamed the earth😊, America was generally a ‘We’ society. Not perfect for sure, but an ambiance of respectful cooperation, collaborative resolution, and unified patriotism prevailed. Sadly, today’s American finds itself embroiled in a polarized “I’m right! – You’re wrong!”, violently combative, angrily divided ‘Me’ society.…

  • Murphy’s Laws

    Living in the forest demands continual interaction with the ever-changing dynamics of its trees . . . they die and fall down . . . often in areas that require their removal. Our driveway seems to be a tree favorite life’s end destination. One edge of it precipitously skirts the edge of a ravine that…

  • Halloween Visitor

    We only had one Halloween visitor stop by yesterday up here on the mountain > down in the ‘holler’ > over the ‘crick’. Great costume, but it got kinda’ spooky when got up close and insisted we look him in the eye and tell him we were really outta’ honey 😊

  • Life’s World Series – ‘Winners and Losers’ – ‘Unfair Grace’

    I’m not an avid sports fanatic. Perhaps it’s because, being from Philadelphia, PA, there’s not a preponderance of First Place professional sport team trophies in the City of Brotherly Love’s trophy case to brag about. But . . .  ranked to finish last at the beginning of the baseball season . . . the Philadelphia…