Stories & Blogs
Roy’s Sunday Letter for May 21, 2023
** A Santa Fe writer friend linked me to “836 Valencia.” This San Francisco nonprofit began the unique mission of teaching children and teens how to write their story. This program strives to improve reading and comprehension as an integral part of learning. The empowerment of writing is now in multiple sites in San Franciso…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for May 14, 2023
** Wendy’s is testing an “AI Chatbots” for drive-thru. The chatbot will be able take your order and answer questions. Wendy’s says Covid, economic changes, and staff shortages are the reasons. Wendy’s drive thru now provides 80% of all their food orders. Gear up people, the times are indeed changing. ** I use Mailer Lite…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for May 7, 2023
** Beth and I now have our 6th Covid vaccination. Our pharmacist hopes next year the Covid and flu shot will be combined, making protection easier for us and pharmacist as well. ** St. Andrews Episcopal in Amarillo (our home church) was vandalized Wednesday night. Broken people breaking sacred peace and damaging the interior. The…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for April 30,2023
** The New Testament (Matthew 6: 9 – 13) gives us the traditional Lord’s Prayer: “Give us this day our daily prayer.” I now know more of how we are all connected, the interdependence of climate, crops, support to both large and small, urban and rural communities. I suggest this updated wording; “Give to all…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for April 23, 2023
** We all know the value and contribution of “Assistance Dogs” that they provide to individuals with physical and emotional needs, disaster search/rescue, victims of crime and really anything they can do for their humans. Something new to me…one of the long-term care facilities here, in Fort Worth has an “Assistance Bunny.” Hallway to hallway,…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for April 16, 2023
** Anne Lamott writes in Traveling Mercies, “I was raised by parents to believe that you had a moral obligation to try to save the world.” The Sunday Question: What message, if any, did your parent/s give to you? If not parent/s, who taught you to believe, and what was it you were to believe,…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for April 9, 2023
** As part of morning errands, Beth wanted to bring home breakfast burritos. Both a local burrito place and McDonald’s told Beth, “Sorry, we are out of eggs.” This was a surprise and a bit hard to understand. ** How we communicate with our devices in 2023. To Phone: “Hey Siri.” In our car it…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for April 2, 2023
** My naive 1960’s hope was to change the world, make society better, healthier, safer for all both nationally and internationally. Thus, for elected members of Congress to say, “There is nothing we can do about children being murdered with assault weapons,” it is an individual and institutional sin. I say that because, I truly…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for March 26, 2023
** I was granted a Master of Theology in May of 1970. I was well prepared to interpret the historical and cultural context of the Bible and to encourage and support a faith experience. Missing in that training were best practices in growing healthy, healing, sustaining organizations, recruiting/training board members, personnel issues, reading financial statements…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for March 19, 2023
** I am sharing with SL readers a partial list of my favorite sustaining words and phrases: Seeking common ground….Servant Leadership….To Hope, to Care anyway…To be a Witness….To show Mercy and to give Grace….Mystical & Magical…To Create…Never go away…Being present…Listening…Being a Neighbor…I can roller skate in a buffalo herd (Roger Williams)…More words next SL **…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for May 24, 2026
The Songs & Artists of Youth & Senior Years Music, both the sounds and the lyrics, were woven into my youth, working years, and now elder years. Today’s Sunday’s writing will present five of my forever songs. Most Sunday Letter readers were too young, or not even born, in 1966 when Joan Baez came out…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for May 17, 2026
Creating and Sustaining Community This week’s Sunday Letter has been inspired by Beth’s Delta Zeta Sorority’s magazine “The Lamp.” The current issue focuses on creating and sustaining sisterhood communities. Some readers of the Sunday Letter may participate in a local church, civic, or neighborhood association. Other readers may yet to have that experience or opportunity….
Roy’s Sunday Letter for May 10, 2026
MOTHER’S DAY 2026 Writing about mother’s is an opportunity as well as a challenge… Readers of the Sunday Letter may have experienced birth mothers, stepmothers, mothers-in-law or other family members who provided the role of mothers as best possible. Through our service at the Hope & Healing Place in Amarillo, we also know of mothers’…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for May 3, 2026
All About Goodness First Goodness: I had been dreading the clinic appointment with the Cardiologist. I had completed 3 recent heart tests and would hear test results and recommended next treatment…perhaps a Pacemaker or new medication. Instead, our MD explained my heart had a minor flow issue but were not health threatening. “See you in…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for April 26, 2026
About HOPE….How To Keep….Offer HOPE To Others Lately, as I have talked and listened to friends and family, I heard and felt their general despair. This despair seems to be from reports on the news, decisions being made by the unqualified, random acts of violence and harm to the innocent. I also heard and felt…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for April 19, 2026
Benefits of Letting the Old Man or Woman In Toby Keith wrote and recorded Don’t Let the Old Man In during his last months of treatment and eventual death from stomach cancer. There is a popular site offering T-shirts, hats, and bags with this message. I understand the resistance and push back of letting the…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for April 12, 2026
Paying Attention And Accepting My Limitations Beth, Peter, and I gather twice monthly to share writings and journals. We three also share of our individual lives. Beth and Peter encouraged me to allow a recent individual writing as the content of a Sunday Letter and thus I have done so this week. This Sunday Letter…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for April 5, 2026
This Easter weekend Beth & I walked our neighborhood block of 16 homes. Beth had prepared a gift bag for each neighbor with Zucchini bread, a card with her original art on the front and contact information. Both Jesus and Mr. Rogers spoke about neighbors. By knocking on 16 doors, we extended the hand of…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for March 29, 2026
Neighbors and Neighborhoods 2026 I am writing this week about the ways both neighbors and neighborhoods have changed, never to return to the days of images and memories of our experiences often reflected in a TV series or movie. Beth and I live on a traditional block of 16 homes. In my youth I grew-up…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for March 22, 2026
Being Safe, Prayers All Will Be Safe Where was your safe place as a child and later as a teen? Who were the individuals or groups who taught you about safety and provide you safety as a child…as a teen. Today, who are you teaching about safety and being free from harm? In what ways…