Parker Owens

It’s a fantastic find found in the bottom of a box of books we took from my Mom’s house two years ago. My brother just unearthed it. Thanks for reading these! Xo P

It’s a great treasure. Now to see if my sibs ever agree on the translations.

Thank you for reading these, and for your thoughts. Maybe someday some descendant will find my poetry too.

Prelude I can hear their voices echoing out of faint ink and brittle pages yellowed with age and forgot by greater events; yet they speak in clear vernal accents of once green love that was and will be. Poem Did you think that with your passing over your words would find their rest beneath the sod, lost like last autumn’s leaves; that they’d decompose, decay and moulder beneath the hard packed pathways w

You are weaving so many strands Of love together: Bailey’s story as it begins to twine with Harlan’s; Rayne and Huck; Rayne and Elias; Elias and Orson; Orson and Joseph; Jeremy and Mason. The Camp is the loom on which this beautiful tapestry is woven. Elias needs Orson differently now, but the young artist still needs him. Perhaps Orson will recognize this. Thank you for a beautiful chapter.

N’than, I weep for you. He’s found a good man in Smeeth, an honest (!) ship’s chandler, and yet he goes alone to pursue his affairs without him. I really enjoyed this chapter, even so, as you show us this world through his innocent eyes. I sincerely hope he may be yet rescued.

When is Brad coming to speak to my graduates? Please? You’ve wrapped up another great story. I hope to see Agent Kennedy again another day in the future.

Harlan is such a complex character, one with so many facets. Ruthless, criminal, caring, compassionate: which is the face we see next? His fragmented brokenness seems indeed far more subtle and dangerous than Bailey’s. Perhaps it is Bailey who is the stronger one to help Harlan mend and change.

You’re right: the simple act of sweeping a floor lets me be present to the real world and less connected to a future universe of anxiety. Thank you!

Thank you for reading this. Our chores can be both internally useful and externally important. I feel best when the mind is not focused on the self.

I can feel the defiance vibrating in every line. I like it.

You’re right that chores seem to ground me to important realities in a world which seems unreal. Thanks for reading this.

Sometimes I zone out doing chores. Sometimes I sing or whistle doing dishes. Lately, I’ve felt more thoughtful and, as you say, meditative. Thank you for reading!

These days seem ordered by the chores which delineate the days. Lately, I have felt something more than myself in sweeping, cleaning and washing. Thanks for reading this one. xxoo

Simplicity How does my cleaning this pot please the order of things? Does the act of making its stainless steel spotless, scrubbing faithfully, align the stars? When I restore the shine to its copper bottom, and hang it with its gleaming peers, do the spheres sing in greater harmony? Yet it is in simple chores, mopping the kitchen floor or making lunch, perhaps, that with Copernican clarity I recall no suns, no galaxie

I’m glad you chose to join. Glad to make your acquaintance.

I was cheering Harlan on. He knew just how to get the message across. Pastor Rogers is now very, very afraid. That’s both good and bad - good for Rayne and Huck, who might actually get a chance to heal their lives and connection, yet very risky, too. What might happen when the Pastor gets past his fear and starts wondering who would want him to stop preaching about his views on sexuality? Might he not make a connection to Huck, and thence to Rayne? And if he finds a way to cover his financial tracks, the tables might be turned. Of course, Pastor might resign abruptly, and take another post far away, only to start spreading the virus of hatred someplace else. Or he might search his soul and change. Now that would shock his flock. Great bonus chapter! Thank you!

What a remarkable world and story. I’m hooked! I want to know more.

As Harlan worked on gathering information on the pastor and Huck, I wondered what the pastor was up to with Huck, or if he was planning something worse still. Something tells me Harlan might need to act. In the meantime, it’s so good to see a friendship take root between him and Bailey, and to see Rayne get support from Elias. What a wonderful and intriguing chapter.

Happy Birthday, Thorn!

Your words echo the uncertainty and fear I feel these days, each one so much like the last. Yet I know light will one day prevail over the fog I now experience, and maybe we’ll discover we’ve been together all along. That’s my hope. xxoo

Once again, you presented a very enjoyable chapter, letting us experience days and events very few can even dream of. Brad has been getting a lapel-grabbing hard sell on moving to Everhope, and it’s fun watching his resistance erode. And why shouldn’t he move? He will be an awesome caretaker.

I enjoyed this story! I love how colorfully the scenes and characters are drawn. Dan and Arthur are off to adventure. Mallow should go along too, if only to herd Dan and Arthur.

It’s awesome to see how you contrast the capable, fearless Harlan with his nervous and anxious alter ego. In the same chapter, you contrast the tentative, wounded Bailey of earlier chapters with a confident civil engineer. I really enjoyed how you developed both characters.

Not even for lunch?