Kelly Learns
A compilation of my columns from the Sunday issues of the Daily Courier, Prescott, Arizona.
I’ve been writing an every-other Sunday column for the Daily Courier in Prescott, AZ since late 2020, thanks to the kind encouragement of long-time columnist Ron Barnes, who spent over 30 years contributing his wisdom not only to the newspaper but to many other people and organizations in the Prescott area. He put in some good words to the publisher and editor for me when he decided to retire from column writing. It’s one of those gifts you never knew you wanted and then realize how grateful you are to have it.
The Daily Courier has exclusive rights to my column for 60 days after publication, which is why you might be reading a Christmas column in February. I love writing but seem to need a project and deadline to do it. Hopefully this blog will inspire me to write more. Thanks for stopping by to check out my site!
Oh deer
I have no scientific data to back this up, but this year it feels like there’s more of every type of animal in our neighborhood. The other day I had to stop jogging while two flocks of turkeys with their babies crossed the street to continue eating their fill of nearby grassy lawns. After waiting a respectable amount of time for them to pass, and taking a few photos on my phone, I continued my run until a herd of javelinas wandered slowly across the road with their youngsters in tow. I backed up to give them plenty of space, the babies working hard to scramble up over the curbing and retaining wall rocks to keep up with the pack. I was on high alert for the rest of the run, but only saw a few rabbits and squirrels skittering away from me as I got close. On a recent hike down Copper Basin...
Second time around
When Wanda and Bill Starkman first met and fell in love, they were 16 and 20. Bill noticed Wanda walking by the pool hall he frequented in Blythe, California, and thought she was the prettiest girl in town and asked her out. They went on a few dates and six weeks...
The places you’ll go
I sat down in the hard wooden chair, squeezing my knees into the tiny space allotted to me in the middle seat of section 220, Row 13 of the Sky Dome in Flagstaff, surrounded by thousands of other proud family members waiting to see someone they love walk across the...
Take a walk with me
We all have traditions that we keep, like making green bean casserole at Thanksgiving dinner, even though no one seems to enjoy it enough to serve it any other time of the year. Some traditions we continue because they are meaningful and personal. Every year since we...
Bluebird of happiness
When I was a kid, I spent a week each summer at a Campfire camp in Boone, Iowa. Sunday was check-in day, and we’d run around taking swim tests, signing up for crafts, and making friends with the kids in our cabin, followed by supper in the big lodge and what seemed to...
A Covid vacation
It could have been the bowling alley. I always wonder if they ever clean the finger holes of bowling balls. Or maybe the Italian restaurant, packed on a Sunday night, everyone laughing and talking as they passed around breadsticks and slurped spaghetti. I’d been a lot...
Last accordion repair shop
This week, I met a recent Prescott transplant who repairs clocks for a living. He seemed younger than I expected someone with that job to be, so I asked him how he happened to choose clock repair as a career. Turns out he’s a third-generation, a skill passed down from...
Dog years
We knew we were on borrowed time. There’s an unwritten agreement when you take a dog into your home, someday they will break your heart. If you’re lucky, like we were, you’ll get almost 14 years of joy as part of the deal. Chipper was two when we adopted him. I was...
Light years away
The opening scene of the 1997 movie “Contact” popped in my head while clicking through the imagery sent back from the James Webb Space Telescope this week. If you haven’t seen the movie, it’s worth looking up the three-minute opening scene on the Internet. Starting...
A grand idea
It’s been five years since I grasped the metal handrails at Mather Point and stared at the vast canyon rippling out across the horizon. The first years we lived here, we were amateur tour guides to friends checking out our new home in Arizona and wanting to see the...
It’s a dry heat
Maybe we didn’t think it through when we decided to take a vacation finally and booked a few days at a rental house near Tubac. I looked at the weather map before we left and saw Thursday’s projected high was 108 degrees. It may be a dry heat, but that’s still pretty...
Love for our elders
The thought of people taking the time to write letters to other people they don’t know for the sole reason of brightening their day makes me happy. I enjoy a good random act of kindness, but I wouldn’t have even heard of an organization called “Love For Our Elders” if...