Doughnuts

The doughnut was invented a hundred years ago by an amazing saint named Joel Choi. According to Wiki, per capita, Canadians consume the most doughnuts in the world (lucky them). They also have the most doughnut stores in the world (per capita)–maybe I should’ve moved there.
You see, in Manhattan, Kansas, there is exactly one doughnut [...]

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Grandma

What is a grandmother? By definition, she is the mother of your parents. She is an ancestor. For myself, she is a woman of daring. She is a leather pants wearing, motorcycle riding sexy mama. She is the woman I aspire to be. To many, she is an excellent cook. Most of us have [...]

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Congratulations!

Just a note to family and friends who come and look every so often: Adam Clark is getting married! He is marrying his college love, Christina, from Spanish Fork, Utah. He proposed Friday, and they’ll be married in the Salt Lake Temple December 28th! We’re so proud of him, and hope them the best! We [...]

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What Kansas is Missing

I’m having a love/hate relationship with the wonderful land of Oz. I love it because of its beauty, peacefulness…for its amber waves of grain. I love the music that swells the breeze and rings from all the trees (the Cicadas are apparently very loud this time of year). I love the the small towns with [...]

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validation

There are so many things in life that can bring us down. Really. I mean, if you stop to think about it, virtually any aspect of our lives could potentially become a source of stress or depression. There are the obvious ones that seem to come up over and over again; weight and looks–body image [...]

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my second gray hair

My wife has a bit on her plate today: drop me off at work, get home to quickly straighten up the house, because at 9 our daughter’s new friend, Joel, is coming over for about an hour, followed by a playgroup, if Joel leaves early enough.
And that’s just the morning.
So, as I’m saying my good-byes [...]

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ske·wam·py: adj

I suppose this one needs a bit of a preface for you to be able to understand my reaction in what will shortly be recounted.
I’m a linguist. Well, okay, I’m an ESL teacher, but trained as a linguist. In any case, I love language and how it works, so I tend to pay more attention [...]

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rik’s in print!

That’s right! Rik has been published.
Okay, so it’s not exactly something to get excited about. Heck, if you’re reading this, you probably already read my letter to the editor, since I posted it here, assuming I wouldn’t be published. But, after apparently deliberating over its worthiness for days, they finally printed it in yesterday’s edition [...]

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casualty count

Tonight we add skinned knee numbers 9 and 10 for our son, along with scraped hand numbers 1 and 2, all from the same fall on our way into the house tonight after ice cream.
Poor guy spent the rest of the night walking with straight legs, bending at the hip to pick things up. About [...]

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has anyone seen my little girl?

she was in the living room, just a minute ago. playing with us. laughing. happy.
and now, she’s gone. a few fleeting words echoing through my mind.
i search. frantic. where could she have gone? what could she be doing? is she still happy?
does she miss me?
i miss her.
and all i’m left with, to comfort me through [...]

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