I get nervous when Desiree and I are hanging out at the house and everything suddenly becomes silent and I don’t find Desiree at her normal hangouts. This can mean only one thing: she is somewhere in an unforeseen spot plotting how to fit in a new houseplant.
—Mitchell
Hegman
I sometimes chirp about how smartphones have elbowed their way into every facet of our modern lives. I am especially concerned with how most of us become self-absorbed in fiddling with our phones at the exclusion of old-fashioned human interaction with those around us.
That
being said, smartphones have revolutionized the way we share information. I
recently had a personal experience that exemplifies this.
During
my youth, I spent too many summers in the sun without using sunblock. As a
result of damage from that, I have developed numerous precancerous spots on my
skin in recent years.
Several
weeks ago, I noticed a conspicuous reddish spot on my right forearm. After monitoring the spot and not seeing it
fade away, I figured I should have my dermatologist take a glance at it. A call to her office indicated we might do
days or weeks of back-and-forth before connecting in person. The five-minute solution: a photograph sent
from my smartphone.
—Mitchell
Hegman
In his famous poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, T.S. Eliot offers a bleak and disjointed view of the modern world, one where the quest for meaning and connection is elusive, if not evasive. Two lines from the poem have always stuck with me:
“I should have been a pair of ragged claws
Scuttling
across the floors of silent seas.”
The
lines suggest absolute surrender to the darkest sensibilities.
On a
good day, I consider my own lines of hope to replace those penned by Eliot. I try to insert lines of optimism and imagine
how the tone of the poem might be altered.
Today, my lines are these:
“I should have been a white bird
Veering across the brilliant light of an azure sky.”
—Mitchell
Hegman
On a walk to the lakeshore my path took me near my country neighbor’s back yard and garden plot. As I sauntered past the garden plot, the stark white bones of a ribcage – posed openly on a patch of tended grass – caught my eyes.
Last
fall, while butchering a deer harvested by his son, my country neighbor flung
the ribcage out his back door so the local magpies and ravens could feast on
the sparse flags of flesh on the bones.
The
birds quickly picked the ribs clean and now the sun fully embraces the bones
throughout the day.
I
suspect such a sight would be range on a scale beginning at conspicuous and
ending at scandalous in many places, but around here a second glance is not
warranted.
—Mitchell
Hegman
— “Almost
everybody is born a genius and buried an idiot.”
— “I
don't like the clean-shaven boy with the necktie and the good job. I like
desperate men, men with broken teeth and broken minds and broken ways. They
interest me. They are full of surprises and explosions.”
— “Some people
never go crazy, what truly horrible lives they must live.”
— “Love breaks my bones and I laugh.”
A dividing line has long existed in the world of pizza making. That line is the point where a decision is made to top a pizza with pineapple.
Way
back in my high school days I worked at a pizza parlor that offered pineapple
as a topping option. I recall a few
debates (sometimes grimaces) when a pizza with pineapple appeared on the order
wheel.
I
was neutral on pineapple but I was firmly opposed to anchovy pizza, which we
also served.
Well,
somewhere on my twisting journey to late adulthood, my taste in pizza topping sensibilities
modified. I drifted away from stock sausage
and pepperoni pizza toppings and began to embrace more “exotic” things.
I am
still a “no” to anchovies, but last night I ate a pizza topped with artichoke hearts. In all, the pizza ingredients included
artichoke hearts, pesto, sun-dried tomatoes, toasted pine nuts and mozzarella
cheese.
I am
not sorry I did this.
—Mitchell
Hegman
Aloe vera plants are not native to the front entry to my home, but the one growing there is thriving.
Aloe
vera is a succulent native to the Arabian Peninsula but is now found in many
parts of the world. The plant has long been
known for its medicinal properties. The
gel found inside its leaves is commonly used to treat various skin conditions,
including burns, cuts, and sunburn. Additionally, aloe vera has
anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties and can aid in digestion.
Growing
in ideal habitat, with appropriate water and sunlight, an aloe vera might bloom
once a year. However, the frequency of
blooming varies depending on growing conditions, and some aloe vera plants may
not bloom at all.
I
have grown several aloe vera in my house – some for many years – but never
managed to bring one to bloom. Now, for
the first time, the aloe vera at my front door is blooming.
I am not sure why the aloe vera opted to bloom this year. Spring has not been cooperating at all on the outside of the house, but on the inside, we’ve got this.
My Aloe Vera
—Mitchell
Hegman
