Randy | December 26, 2012
Remember this – movies and TV shows notwithstanding, a Dog is not a cuddle toy, a child’s playmate or bedfellow, a babysitter, or an animated piece of furniture. Society has lost this Great Truth, and Dogs are the ones that pay the price. ~ Muddy Waters Last week I introduced “The Great Divide” and explained […]
Randy | December 25, 2012
There’s a dark, joyful lustiness to this time of year that, for Mrs. LFM and me, begins as September yields the field to October, and doesn’t really end until the glorious din of another Spring supplants it. Here’s our gift of the day to you all. A Song of Winter By LFM The equinox of […]
Randy | December 24, 2012
This is a tale from a Christmas Eve long, long ago. I grew up with a younger sibling – a sister three years younger than me. As the oldest child, and a son at that, I was raised to be responsible, respectful, steadfast, and true; and it took. My sister, on the other hand, was […]
Randy | December 22, 2012
“The worst gift is fruitcake. There is only one fruitcake in the entire world, and people keep sending it to each other.” ~ Johnny Carson Here in Canada, fruitcake is a staple of this season, less often eaten as a dessert than as a point in itself. Much maligned by its detractors, I feel a […]
Randy | December 21, 2012
Beginning today and running up to include New Year’s Eve, this will be the first in an eleven part series of articles in which I will make personal observations on the season of Yule as I have come, and am still coming, to know it. With those words a year ago, I ended my […]
Randy | December 17, 2012
Yesterday I put out my observations and personal position on the predictable Hell in a handcart response to last week’s school attacks – in short, when evil incarnate stalks the land, blame the thing that’s in its hand. In a comment on that piece, Mrs. LFM posted a link to a Gawker.com article titled I Am […]
Randy | December 16, 2012
If your anger goes forth, withhold your sword; If your sword goes forth, withhold your anger. ~ swordsman’s axiom Last week’s tragic attacks on school children in the United States and China have been met with the predictable media frenzy and polarized posturing on both sides of the gun control demarcation line. It happens every […]
Randy | November 11, 2012
When evil stalks upon the land, I’ll nyther hold nor stay me’ hand, But fight to win a better day, Over the hills and far away. ~ Over the Hills and Far Away, John Tams arrangement ~ At the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, in a railway car […]
Randy | November 7, 2012
Earlier this year, on the subject of The Book of Five Rings – The Definitive Interpretation of Musashi’s Classic Book by Stephen F. Kaufman, I wrote – Musashi was perhaps the greatest swordsman who ever lived, and yet it would be a mistake to approach the Book of Five Rings as a guide to learning […]
Randy | November 4, 2012
In Norse mythology, Hugin (Thought) and Munin (Memory) are two Ravens that serve the God Odin, flying daily over the world and returning to him with the information they’ve gathered. It’s said that Odin was troubled by the prospect that one day, Hugin, Munin, or both might fail to return. According to one translation of […]