Thanks for joining me! I've recently moved my prior Blogger blog to this spiffy new WordPress account with my own domain name.  Historic postings on Blogger can be now found here as well.  Thanks for stopping by and happy reading! Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton

Over the past 15 years or so, I have evolved from someone who spent too much time on Facebook (FB) looking at the inane antics of the world, to a person who dumped in it all in the Fall of 2016, when I began to sense that the entirity of social media had a very … Continue reading Is There a Better Way?

It was a bitterly cold afternoon, the kind of cold that is unforgettable and unforgiving.  The sun was out but did nothing to ease the onslaught of bitter arctic air that had descended on the city for several days.  Our steps were audible as we crunched through the fallen snow and up the small incline … Continue reading Two Final Words – A Lifetime of Meaning

As 2017 comes to a close, we bring you the warmest Christmas Cheer from the Norris family.  Now, the family highlights of 2017:Always to the one to steal attention from others, Nancy grabbed the family headlines at the close of 2016 (just after last year’s Christmas letter had already been posted), by being thrown from … Continue reading Norris Family Christmas Letter – 2017

Recently a good friend, who also loves Bluegrass and the Steep Canyon Rangers, sent me this clip from NPR Tiny Desk.  I have purchased the Steep Canyon Rangers new album (featured above), and can't stop listening to it.For some time now, I have wondered to myself, why I find some forms of Bluegrass so appealing, … Continue reading Music in My Soul?

It was supposed to just be a night at a concert.  But we left feeling as if we had witnessed someone’s heart being broken, and then, very slowly, healed.  It was excruciating and yet hauntingly beautiful.  And it all happened in choral song at Disney Hall.  A number of years ago there was a lovely … Continue reading "I Fall" – Tony Silvestri – Lyrics, Eric Whitacre – Scoring

On the church calendar, it is Lent, a time of waiting.But our worlds leave no time for waiting.  We have that big meeting on Tuesday with a client, that business trip to plan, the schlepping of the kids to school each day, that needy relative or friend who demands our time.  And the shopping, when … Continue reading Wait. Lent.

Good night, dear heart.These words seemed to sound familiar to me.....There are two stories of sadness associated with these words, which resulted many years after their writing, in the sublime beauty of a choral piece.  These are words that originated out of great loss on two separate occasions.  Another illustration that from great loss, with … Continue reading Good Night, Dear Heart

Should old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind?Should old acquaintance be forgot, and days of auld lang syne?Auld Lang Syne - “For the sake of old times” - is the translation of the Robert Burns poem, penned on the cold Scottish coast in 1788, and something many of us have sung on New … Continue reading Norris Family Christmas Letter – 2016

Recently, an early Saturday morning found me in a coffee shop in Seattle. I was in town to enjoy a weekend with my younger daughter.   The morning would be full of conversation and breakfast, catching up as Dad and daughter.  Later in the day, we would head to Husky Stadium, part of an unbelievably … Continue reading Unexpected Encounter with Silence and Dignity