Stories & Blogs
The What, Why, And How Of Work, 2023
My grandfather’s faded red tractor of many a plowed field and harvested crop was his office. From here he watched rain clouds, dipped snuff, and conducted the daily business of a dry land east Texas farmer. Walls, glass, door or no door offices grew from the 1960’s onward. Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford showed us…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for October 16, 2022
Beginning with Visioning. An extended family was considering buying a run-down farmhouse for family outings and vacations. Several “‘saw” moving walls, opening a blocked passageway and a wrecked floor that might hold secrets. Others could not imagine the farmhouse looking different than the unpainted, dilapidated, forlorn, farmhouse. Then, they realized, at the same time, that…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for October 9, 2022
Can a 2012 movie Inspire? Be Charming? Show us Hope? Yes. A British curmudgeon husband, a cancer-stricken wife, a community choir of elders. Trust me that Inspire, Charming, and Hope are still true. Terence Stamp, Vanessa Redgrave. A meaningful script and story line. HBO On Demand is one source for Unfinished Song. Tell me if you…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for October 2, 2022
Real time TV the week that was: First, the images of grandeur, such a different background than my own, priests’ words, musical magic, and stories of the life of Queen Elizabeth. Now, before, during, and aftermath of Ian in Florida, South & North Carolina. Lives, homes and boats, dreams, pets, animals, whole neighborhoods gone, storm…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for September 25, 2022
Beginning Positive & Meaningful: John Cena may be known to you for “cow commercials,” movies, or WWE wrestling. You may not know John Cena has been the “face” of Make-A-Wish, fulfilling Wishes of children, making their lives better, and their days of being family fuller. Cena has fulfilled 650 children’s wishes since 2002. ** Fort…
Am I Old….Really?
We live on a block and in a neighborhood of younger individuals and families, different than our 78 and 73. We speak and wave in driveways or dog walking, as we come and go in our daily lives. I often want to ask one of the younger ones to join me on front porch or…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for September 18, 2022
What are 1 or 3 parts of your once “normal world” do you believe you will not see or hear again? One for me would be new cars to open doors, test drive, with sales staff all around. A second might be “there is rain and water for all of us.” Add your Commnet for…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for September 11, 2022
Queen Elizabeth is the for me, and most of England, is the only Queen I have known. Black & white TV, a Queen following the established rituals, Diana not her finest moment, Netflix series, now YouTube 24/7. ** FAST Company and Tix Toc are reporting the trend of “quiet quitting,” the practice of not going…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for September 4, 2022
Richard Rohr and Harvey Cox reminds us Jesus taught mostly by story…stories about weddings, banquets, farmers, families, and business. 35% of the first 3 Gospels teach life and faith wisdom through the telling of stories. My Walking Prayers are my attempt to do the same. ** In a Fiction read, a 7 yr. old son…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for August 28, 2022
A successful New Mexico friend wants to continue to stretch, to grow her business. But, also wanting more. Observation: Most of us were educated and taught the life formula “Do – Have – Be. That model loses meaning at some point at some age, somewhere in the life of family and work. Shifting the words,…
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…