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If you were raised like me to be ordinary, this is a place to discover through images, stories, and ideas just how extraordinary the ordinary is. So, come walk with me here for a while and see what I have seen. 

Words can explain or imagine an experience, but photos compress and immerse us in an experience.  The images in this section range from the pretty to the raw, from rugged mountains to the antics of birds, and from pictures of interesting folks to intriguing places.

Long fence across Colorado plain with Rockies in background

My kids tell friends that their dad embellishes everything; I call it inciting interest. In these stories, I do embellish, turning real life into fictional short stories and telling tales about animals that act like humans.

Stories for Adult-types

ALL BETS OFF ... by rSkaare

When I died a week ago Monday from life’s complications, I hadn’t quite finished telling you the story about this woman, an older woman – I’m not sure how old — sitting in an unfamiliar chair late one afternoon wondering why she was wearing a nightgown. Certainly it was her nightgown, her disagreeable odor, the same kind of gown and odor wafting from the parade of bent women clutching walkers, shuffling determinedly, habitually, back and forth in the hall.

WILD RICE RIVER WILD ... by rSkaare

Olaf Sneen stared dazedly into the mottled mirror behind the rows of dusty liquor bottles. His third beer and shot sat untouched in front of him like strangers wanting but unwilling to start a conversation. Dull sunlight pushed its way through the grime of the two small windows high to his right on the street side of the small-town, country bar, and spread across the smoke-dulled, knotty pine paneling behind him. Silted warm air waited patiently at the front screen door, stopped by the bar’s coolness and brutish odor from years of cigarette smoke and sweat.

Stories for Little Kids,  Big Kids, Kid Wannabes

HOW TO TAKE A BATH ... by Stella Spoonbill

Stella Spoonbill was walking one day with her good friend Woody Woodstork who shocked her by saying, “You need a bath,” A bath was something new for Stella.  She needed advice and determination to take on something new.

Alligator with mouth wide open

HOW TO HIDE ... by Arnie Alligator

Arnie was resting one afternoon and listening to his friends playing hide-and-seek. But he didn’t want to play that game because … well, because he is a big animal, moves slowly, and is easy to find. But he wanted to play, so …

Ideas encourage change, explore what’s possible, stir discomfort, shake us out of ordinariness and boredom, and take us on an unknown, winding road to somewhere.

Join me as I venture into unfamiliar territories and ask “huh?” and “why?” .

IDEASSnippets That Stuck

Someone once said, ‘You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you odd’ … Oddness is important because it is the quality that adds color, texture, variety, beauty to the human condition.”
Messy Spirituality, Mike Yaconelli

An old person is in an ideal position to open his mind to new ideas in consequence of his absence of fear for the future.
Travels with Epicurus, Daniel Klein

If patience wasn’t so easily tested, then it would hardly be a virtue. .”
A Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles

Word of the Year nominations from a past American Dialect Society conference:

gate lice: airline passengers who crowd around a gate waiting to board;

hate-watching: continuing to follow a television show despite having an aversion to it;

dancelexia: the inability to pull off dance moves (such as misspelling YMCA).

IDEASThinking Out Loud

Bald man with looking away with sunglasses looking back

Deciding Not to Decide

Richard SkaareYou're put into an authority position -- say, in your company, for a community organization, or at your condo association -- because you exude confidence.  Your first challenge is to not let consensus thwart that confidence.Consensus is an uncomfortably...
Woman waving from behind bushes

Back to the Foxhole

Richard SkaareA regular paycheck after unemployment can cause us to forget what we promised in the tough times that we would do in the good times -- like remembering people from back then. Time to return to the foxhole.The week before getting a job offer, following...

Mistakes: Oops or Ouch?

Richard SkaareMistakes are not what they used to be. They once were black and white, intimidating, and your fault. Now a mistake is more oops than ouch, encouraged as development, touted as a growth opportunity, and not completely your fault.Errors do not have to be...

Paying Attention

When I stepped into the university classroom as a guest lecturer for a course titled “Computer-mediated Communication,” I faced 40 students sitting in rows of tables peering politely at me from behind computer screens while tapping on keys.  I was well prepared to use...
Photo of poster of child with bonnet

Regret Writing

Richard SkaareI wrote an angry email to my oldest late one night that broke my 12-hour rule.  I was right in the reprimand but wrong in the tone of the message.1 hit the Save and then Shut Down buttons on your computer, not the Send button.   2 read what you wrote –...