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Field Notes

I’ve heard it said that the best musicians are those who must sing or must write music. I guess it follows that I write because I can’t not. It only recently dawned on me that my inner muse demands that I open up a notebook or my phone to capture thoughts. Many are pure musings—slightly self-satisfying and frequently foisted on my wife for her reaction.

All said, perhaps some of the pieces below will contribute to your deeper insight or another way to think about the world. You will find published pieces interspersed with my own regular observations.

And generally, the accompanying images are my own, serendipitously composed while wandering, driving, walking, and more.

Enjoy!

Latest Observation

{#43} A Swiftly Tilting Planet

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Madeleine L’Engle once borrowed this phrase for a story about time, light, and the battle between darkness and hope. I’ve borrowed it again because the title itself feels like a season—something on the move, as if the world were leaning toward winter. We speak that way every fall, saying the planet is “tilting” or “turning away from the sun,” when in truth it isn’t.

Earth’s axis holds firm, steady at twenty-three and a half degrees, like a door slightly ajar.

What changes isn’t the tilt but our relationship to the light.

As we orbit, the sun’s angle shifts across our sky, and everything else—shadow, temperature, mood—follows. It feels as if the world itself is sliding off balance, but the truth is simpler and more beautiful: the constancy of that angle is what gives us the seasons.

read more
{#43} A Swiftly Tilting Planet

{#43} A Swiftly Tilting Planet

Madeleine L’Engle once borrowed this phrase for a story about time, light, and the battle between darkness and hope. I’ve borrowed it again because the title itself feels like a season—something on the move, as if the world were leaning toward winter. We speak that way every fall, saying the planet is “tilting” or “turning away from the sun,” when in truth it isn’t.

Earth’s axis holds firm, steady at twenty-three and a half degrees, like a door slightly ajar.

What changes isn’t the tilt but our relationship to the light.

As we orbit, the sun’s angle shifts across our sky, and everything else—shadow, temperature, mood—follows. It feels as if the world itself is sliding off balance, but the truth is simpler and more beautiful: the constancy of that angle is what gives us the seasons.

Other Articles

{#12} Orphaned

{#12} Orphaned

I didn’t see it coming – but then I did. The forgotten passwords. Her TV began to go on the blink intermittently, never an explanation....

read more
{#3} Woodman

{#3} Woodman

I was standing at the grave of Richard Ezra Rapp, my great-grandfather, on Memorial Day 2019 and struck by the inscription on the top of...

read more

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