Lyfting Me Up

I have been thinking about the words nice and kind for the last 45 years. It all started when a man who was a member at Central Christian Church in Pueblo, sported a bumper sticker that said—“Niceness is kind of Nice”. It’s a decent thought on first blush, but the problem I had with this… Continue reading

The pandemic of 2020 has been part of our history for five years. Travel was an integral part of my life until then. My dad Bill died 25 years ago today. To say I was privileged is an understatement. He made sure that we saw the world. By the time I was 18, I had… Continue reading

The inpouring of memories that keep coming this time of year—keep it up! I was listening to some friends talking about the various things their families shared, that only seemed to come at Christmas. My mom was half Swedish. Her father was raised on a farm near Essex, Iowa, by immigrant parents who came to… Continue reading

Last night, a friend asked me “Did your mom put baking soda in her peanut brittle as she was stirring it”? My answer was “No, Birdie made our peanut brittle”. It will be 66 years ago tomorrow—December 22nd, that Birdie came into our familie’s life. It was a Monday morning and my dad had written… Continue reading

One of the many joys of growing up in Belmont, was that a 10 year old Mark could walk four blocks to the corner of Yorktown and Horseshoe, and ride a bus all the way downtown, for a dime. I suspect I did this dozens of times, as the YMCA was on the corner of… Continue reading

This is the year that we sold our fake tree, tons of lights, assorted snow men and whatever we could pass off as no longer being used. It’s “Christmas light” at the Pumphreys. Our house is now adorned with a small nativity, an18 inch fake tree, an ornament hanger that has seven of our most… Continue reading

I am not much of a shopper. Actually, my approach to shopping is more like going hunting: go get it, bag it, get out. It took me two minutes to buy my “Rollater” on Amazon. Red or blue was the only question. Two days later there it was. Recently, a good friend, who also grew… Continue reading

About a week ago the meteorologists who occupy our various news stations, began the “Get ready its coming”—hype. Every day the drumroll for the possibility of something very normal happening inflates every news broadcast. I have a suspicion that what raises their ratings, is raising our anxiety over “when will it come, how much will… Continue reading

I have a confession to make. Today as I was making my usual Saturday morning drive to downtown Denver for a weekly meeting, I went channel surfing on Sirius. That is nothing egregious, however, my eye was caught by “Holiday Traditions” and I went for the bait. Mind you, I am the guy who goes… Continue reading

I am remembering a Pumphrey family ritual that took place the last week of October. The whole family would head out to the farming area east of Pueblo. It was time to pick out our family pumpkin, which would be transformed into a Jack-o’-lantern on our dining room table. This ritual was sort of a… Continue reading