About the Ghost Turtles
150 years after Robert Duncanson painted this luminist scene on the Little Miami River, I stood in the same spot and saw a soft-shelled turtle sunning on a snag. It slipped silently into the water when it heard me. That’s when I knew past is present and destiny, too. That’s when my vision of the Ghost Turtles began. Read more
Ecology of the Senses
Returning to Lake Superior year after year like a migrating loon, I’ve learned the other side of a slow, uncertain process that could be called “going blind.” With the lake as my teacher, I know what lies on the other side. I call it letting go of sight. Read more.Prayer at Big Creek
![Sandhill cranes land on Platte River sandbar roosts west of Rowe Sanctuary’s Iain Nicolson Audubon Center southwest of Gibbon, Nebraska. [Photo by Lori Porter| Kearney Hub]](https://www.ghostturtles.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/sandhill_cranes_kearneyhub_032015-300x225.jpg)
At the threshold of consciousness, as I slipped back and forth between two worlds, I put my mind in the best place I could imagine, a marsh on Lake Erie called Big Creek. I knew I’d find cranes waiting for me. I cannot say whether I prayed for them, or to them, or with them. The cant of words doesn’t matter. I believe in the still, small voice. I believe what the poet Yehuda Amichai said. Gods come and go. Prayer is eternal. Read moreFreedom to Read
![An endangered Whooping crane takes flight. Yhe large bird has a 7-foot wingspan. It is all white except for black wing tips and face markings. In this photo its long neck stretches forward; its wings sweep upward; and its black legs trail straight behind it. [Source: International Crane Foundation]](https://www.ghostturtles.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Whooping-crane-eastern-ICF-080622-300x157.jpg)
Whenever I hear sanctimonious pronouncements about woke, parental rights, and banning books, I think of Whooping cranes. In my family, the gawky, audacious, elusive and endangered birds are synonymous with our values about the First Amendment and the freedom to read. Read more.Sister, Teacher, Pathfinder
A guidance counselor in high school told my sister Diana, “With your eye problems you will never make it in college. Just forget about it. Get married. Raise a family.” That advice only deepened her determination. She did it all in due time, in her own way –college, marriage, family. She became a guidance counselor herself. She certainly was the most important guide and pathfinder in my life. Read more.Flaneur & Bouquiniste
![Mark Willis peruses a 1745 volume by Voltaire at a bouquiniste book stall on the banks of the Seine in Paris. He wears a brown leather jacket and checkered flat cap. He holds the open book in his hands. Rows of old books are seen on shelves behind him. [2005 photo by Ms. Modigliani]](https://www.ghostturtles.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/mw_bouquiniste_05-300x225.jpg)
I remember the book I held in my hands that day. I remember the feel of its time-warped, water-stained pages. I remember its murky, moldy river smell, call it the book’s bouquet, suggesting years of storage on the banks of the Seine. Had I bought it then, I could feel and smell it now and know it from a hundred other books in my library. Read more.R & K: A Rant
Marjorie Taylor Green auditioned for R&K’s Authoritarian It Girl at the 2023 State of the Union address. She and her Republican colleagues yelled like Tarzan swinging through the trees as they jeered and booed the President’s speech. Read Rants & Kisses.R & K: A Kiss
Songs by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Singers like Dione Warwick and Dusty Springfield. What Do You Get When You Fall in Love? The Look of Love. I Say a Little Prayer. I sit in the car’s back seat and listen. I’m glad it’s dark. I’d be embarrassed if anyone could see the dreamy look on my face. Read Rants & Kisses.
Category Archives: Memoir
Yellowstone’s Obsidian Cliff: Humanity’s Tool Shed for 11,500 Years
New York Times: “Obsidian is among the most prized tool stones in the world, and this particular deposit, nearly 100 feet thick, is exceptional because of its continuous use by Indigenous people since the last ice age. Over the last 11,500 years or so, the stone has been fashioned into deadly knives, razor-sharp spear points, darts for atlatls, or spear-throwers, and arrowheads.” Continue reading
Posted in Histories, Memoir
Tagged archaeology, Chillicothe, Grandpa Graves, Hopewell, Ohio
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Take Care of Yourself, Jerry Springer
R.I.P., Jerry Springer: I remember a time when Brendan, Chenoa, and I played hooky from other responsibilities and made it a point to watch “The Jerry Springer Show” together. It was an opportunity to commune with twisted people who had worse problems, and less shame, than we did. My show favorite was the bald bouncer who roamed the set breaking up brawls. He looked imposing like Mr. Clean. I think his name was Steve. When the audience chanted “Steve! Steve! Steve!” we howled for blood with them. Family values like that is what makes America great. Continue reading
Posted in Memoir, Rants and Kisses
Tagged 2000s, Brendan, celebrities, Chenoa, obits, TV
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Lessons My Mother Never Imagined
I still make the kinds of innocent mistakes made recently by fully sighted people in the wrong place at the wrong time. Lost and looking for directions on a lonely country road? I’ve been there. Knocking on a door at the wrong address? I’ve done that. Climbing into the wrong car in a parking lot? Guilty. To the extent I see them, all cars look alike. Continue reading
Posted in Memoir, Rants and Kisses
Tagged blind, foot rage, gubs, Mary Lou, walkable community, white cane, Yellow Springs
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Let The Rough Side Drag
If it’s too heavy to lift, whatever it is, then drag it away. This is one of the most enduring lessons I learned as my father’s helper. If there is a smooth side carried effortlessly through the world, there usually is a rough side that can withstand whatever it takes to get the job done. Let the rough side drag. Continue reading
A card game for people with dementia has no rules : NPR
(ho-dee-ay) play without rules | “This set of cards is all about birds–big birds, small birds, colorful birds, song birds, and birds in flight! Vermont photographer Peter Riley shared his talent with us, providing a variety of amazing bird photographs for our cards. ” Continue reading
