Ink Tea Stone Leaf

A place to get the words out

  • Late September Thoughts on Baseball

    It’s America’s pastime, no matter what anybody says. Baseball is the sport that has always suited my sensibilities, and while I never had much talent for it myself I’ve always kept an eye on it, increasingly so for the past five years. We’re now approaching the end of this year’s regular season and the beginning… Continue reading

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  • Diptych – Grave of the Fireflies

    To celebrate the release of The Boy and the Heron, last winter Ariele and I decided to watch all of the animated features in the Studio Ghibli canon. We revisited old favorites like Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke, and we got to experience a few for the first time, which had eluded us in previous… Continue reading

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  • Proximity to the Beach

    People who know me know that I am not the most outdoorsy sort of person, nor am I the type to spend all his available time at the beach. My hometown and my taste in music aside, a more than ordinary susceptibility to sunburn taught me through bitter, blistering experience to be cautious around large,… Continue reading

  • Triangles

    (This essay previously appeared on an earlier version of this blog) When I was a junior in high school, I joined my school’s Academic Team. This was an activity that relied upon the ability of myself and my teammates to recall information from our classes faster than our competition could, and to buzz in like… Continue reading

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  • The state of the novel

    Having reached a point that is in the neighborhood of halfway through my rough draft, I thought it might be interesting to record my thoughts about the progress of The Ghost of Canard University. Since few people as yet are closely following my progress, this is mostly an exercise for myself. However, should it be… Continue reading

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  • Bonnie and Sherbert, Forever

    My precious little ones, you flew – further than you knew you couldand more than you could ever know,much more than any one could knowwho never held you in their hands.Best of all, you flew together -now at last, together you may restand watch the sun with one another,side by side, in love secure,forever reaching… Continue reading

  • Another post about loving my birds

    On Thursday, my lovebird Sherbert passed away, as she was receiving medical care. I found her in the morning on the bottom of her cage, apparently having vomited and fallen from her perch in the night. I cleaned her up, gave her some breakfast, and drove her to the veterinarian’s office. She was being tested… Continue reading

  • A post about loving my birds

    If you’ve put your ear to the ground online, you may have heard people arguing that keeping pets is unethical. There are a lot of very serious points in favor of this argument, and I hope that anybody who wants to bring an animal into their home will strongly consider them before doing so. As… Continue reading

  • Feeling cozy today

    The last few weeks, I have made a strenuous effort to achieve optimal coziness when I get up to write each morning. I think it’s important to be comfortable in whatever you do, but comfort is one thing, and coziness is at the next level. When you’re cozy, you know you’re doing something right. There… Continue reading

  • This Feels Better, Doesn’t It?

    It goes without saying that I am endorsing Kamala Harris and, once again, declaring Donald Trump unfit not only for the presidency but for decent human society. If that puts you off from reading this, it’s unfortunate, but I can live with that, as I have a longstanding policy of refusing to pretend that supporting… Continue reading