Stories & Blogs
Roy’s Sunday Letter for July 9, 2023
After 159 Sunday Letters I am takin a break for month of July A time to refresh, read, write stories, and look around to whats next. August will be here for us all soon. Roy
Roy’s Sunday Letter for July 2, 2023
I am taking a July break from composing and sending forth The Sunday Letter. The SL began as friends wanted to know how Beth and I were adjusting to our Apri, 2020 decision to return to Fort Worth from our days in Amarillo and Santa Fe. There have been 159 Sunday Letters, never missing a…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for June 25, 2023
** We have intentionally planted to attract bees and butterflies. Google says the butterflies have a life-span of two to four weeks, some less or more. Accessible and available nectar is vital. Thank you to the summers’ butterflies for blessing us with your beauty and grace. ** Philanthropy journals are reporting a 25% decline in…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for June 18, 2023
** Why I listen to jazz: A jazz group will begin together; then, players will drop back, others step up. Jazz presents the whole as well as the individual, all flowing together. To me, this is why I miss Tuesdays at 9 staff meetings. Seven at the table, the individual reporting, ending with the whole…
Roys Sunday Letter fot June 11,2023
** We now have two hummingbirds coming to our feeder. Three or four would be a normal summer count. Global warming, decline of natural habitat? ** Good writing from a Fiction book: “She (he) was too young and had no stories or depth of life to reply upon.” An additional comment from recent presentation on…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for June 4, 2023
** Saturday, I joined others around Texas and across the US by wearing Orange, as our way of standing against gun violence and harm to innocents. There were speakers, panels, storytelling, and education, and, of course, Tshirts. Across town there was the monthly Gun Show with over-flow lines and parking. ** Interview with researcher/author of…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for May 28, 2023
** Thursday marked 365 days since the gun deaths of 19 students & 2 faculty in Uvalde, south Texas. My Texas Legislature turned away from the pain, the challenge, of leadership, of courage, to take common ground steps to make schools safe. Dallas ISD has distributed “Stay Safe,” a Winnie-The-Pooh book teaching 5-year-olds to “run,…
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 March 9, 2025
The CEO of Starbucks said he wants Starbucks to be everyone’s “third place,” after home and work. Come with friends, visit, perhaps purchase food and drink, but come and be a part of our place. In a similar way, I would like the Sunday Letter to be an ongoing source of encouragement, support, always with…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for March 2, 2025
FINDING MY PURPOSE IN WRITING THE SUNDAY LETTER 2025 The past weeks have been chaotic, upsetting, and stressful for me, for many of us, perhaps for you too. I stared into a blank screen wondering what I could write about, what would I write about, as well as should I even write or not. After…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for February 23, 2025
NOTES FROM FULL POCKETS I may not be alone in making notes on daily life or maybe even a random thought. In this Sunday Letter I am emptying my pockets of crumbled papers and notes as each might become lost. One topic in our Tuesday Meditation group was Balance, in ways consistent with in and…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for February 16, 2025
A Writing On Pets I am writing a Sunday Letter about the benefit of having a pet, fully understanding not every one’s life is matched to care for a pet or may have a medical situation that prohibits a pet. This Sunday Letter will hopefully be welcomed and enjoyed by readers blessed by our pets,…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for February 9, 2025
A LENTEN SEASON WRITING I attend a writer’s table hosted by Broadway Baptist. We writers were invited to draft a short piece for the individual Sundays of Lent 2025. As a Southern Baptist youth, I am not familiar with, nor practiced the historic rituals of the Lenten Season. For this Sunday Letter readers who also…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for February 2, 2025
BEING A SENIOR IN 2025 AMERICA I recently completed a story of seniors having lunch at separate tables at Mary’s Grill. Tables were needed to serve waiting families, friends, and office workers. The seniors order lunch Specials and leave small, if any tips. Since Mary’s is a friendly place, for several seniors it is not…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for January 26, 2025
Friends and friendship join Joy, Kindness, and Peaceful Living on life’s wheel. As I talk with and meet people or on a social platform, I listen to the challenges of making new friends, going deeper with a current friendship, or losing friends through aging, health, or relocation. There is a touch of spirits unique to…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for January 19, 2025
I began, we began, seeing video of the Pacific Palisades hillside fire and the push of Santa Ana winds on January 7. Today, 12,000 homes have burned with thousands displaced and at-risk for dreams, hopes, and memories to be lost somewhere in the sudden need to flee. Some with a “Go Bag,” others only a…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for January 12, 2025
INSIGHT ON WRITING PRAYERS AND THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNITY Prayers and Other Notes: There are two mentors I consider personal heroes. The first, my grandfather, who left his east Texas tractor each Friday afternoon then entering a small hut on the side of the barn. He would use two stiff fingers from repairing too many…
Roy’s Sunday Letter for January 5, 2025
Thoughts on Mentors and Mentoring Most of us, whatever age, gender, and background, have become who we are through family, education, and life experiences. In addition, many of us have received guidance and support from one or more mentors. And now, perhaps from our own experiences and elderhood, we can provide the “pay it forward”…