Sol's Random Stories

Walking about for no reason, feeling unworried, carefree, Sandor quietly approached the old monk with a certain unnamed caution, as well as the customary reverence. You couldn't know what to expect with strangers.  "Good evening, father, the air is cooler now, today was so very hot and dry." The monk just nodded back slow and steady, like a long, practiced breath. Sandor sat down beside him on the tree bench, waiting, deciding not to speak again, at least for the moment.  A certain stillness came between them as if time itself had come to a pause, then the monk raised his head. His strong but soft, high toned voice broke the silent air, "So, you are just passing thru, you will leave tomorrow, bound for home. Yes, cooler tonight." Sandor was wide-eyed stunned and speechless. Okay, he thought, not looking for any parlor tricks or spiritual directions, however he was puzzled about how his personal plans were guessed so easily. But, before he could think, the old mo...

Trees, one thing about them, they are always doing things we don't see. Every tree is an entire world of activity and purpose. There is one particular phenomenon seen with many like species, or even among different species, called canopy shyness, or canopy disengagement. Among some groups of trees, they do not touch each other, instead forming a clever canopy with channel-like gaps.  This process has been studied for decades now, but scientists still don't agree about why this may happen. Some tree experts think it's a sort of social distancing, contracting disease may be prevented, or any parasitical danger, it would isolate its spread. Or, trees communicate amongst themselves via channels beyond our mortal experience, trees self-declaring their respective canopy boundaries.  Looking like machine-cut jigsaw puzzles, these special trees leave a certain respect between them as if by mutually realized design that only underscores how trees affect each other in grand and natur...

Maybe it's all just a refractory illusion, wholly based on eye structures and their functions. But, was there a first color my new brain registered, or noticed before others? Was it my mom's hazel eyes, or the first bright blue in a blanket? Was it the midwife's red hair, or maybe something on the wall, in a picture, an orange sunset across a clear lake?  When my new eyes fully opened, first focusing on objects and such, what color became my lucky hue, or, is it even meant that we could know, always favoring a certain color yet not recalling why? Do spirits or souls have their own colors? Now we're assuming upon even more assumptions, a double handful of rainbow.

Part 1 Very first memory, taking sips from a small glass, my father would mix some sweet kosher wine with water, probably on a holiday like Passover. The sharp kick of alcohol, even that miniscule amount, and the warmth down the throat, spreading inside. First few times it was consumed in quantity, and I actually got drunk, then pretty sick, was with some Cold Duck. Don't recall how we ever got a couple of bottles, with my old friend David, I think we were fifteen or so at the time. It wasn't easy, slowly draining a bottle of this bubbly crap while trying to play double solitaire in my mom's garage, the taste of it became more tolerable.  But, after a few times waking up feeling like morning meatloaf roadkill, you tell yourself it's just not worth it, but then you forget that fairly quickly. Perspectives can change at different ages, like old memories, they evolve. Fast-forward a few years later, after little interest in the subject, I re-united with alcohol in a whole ...

What can be gleaned from a quick look at the world's oldest tree? The Great Basin Bristlecone Pine (Pinus longaeva) has been deemed the oldest tree in existence, reaching an astonishing age of over 5,000 years!  These uniquely hardy, slow-growing trees can reach a height of 50 feet, with a trunk diameter of 154 inches. This tree endures in the harshest environment and toughest terrain. Super cold temperatures, petrifying winds, conditions that obliterate most life around them, these trees are also mythical in their ability to resist a horde of natural enemies and predators, elements, fires, or floods. These oldest species are found in California, Utah, and Nevada, in the White and Inyo Mountains. The world's oldest tree has a brilliant root system. It's mostly composed of highly branched, shallow roots, while a few large, branching roots provide structural support. If we humans, individually or collectively, could have such luck with longevity, I'd like to think the few...

Understand, cats themselves do not buy into the whole nine lives thing. That's obviously a human invention, and some cats might say not original. Cats are so universally more savvy than their human folks, it's nearly awkward. Cats have to dumb down to get our attention. My doggie does something very similar, but the over-eager wagging tail gives it away too soon. Cats read the room a whole lot better. They understand right away who the can openers are, the only-strokers, and especially those ignoring humans who can intrigue some curious cats to sheer distraction. Understand, in the cat world, we're always their toy of the moment, lucky gratitude expected. One of the very best things about cats is how these heavenly critters really don't always need us, and have their own independence of wild spirit. In a world that often needs us too much, cats remind us we're just not all that.

Two brothers, twins in their twenties, prepared their respective horses- coincidentally also twins- for the week-long trip ahead of them. One brother would journey thru the desert to a town that held an annual crops auction, to secure a price for their family farm harvest of corn. While the other twin went an opposite direction, thru some forest and meadows to their uncle's farm, to help bring in their wheat crop, as the uncle was still recovering from a bad illness.  After several days of travel, the brother in the desert noticed his horse was breathing hard, slowing down, although they had plenty of water and feed. Something was very wrong, so the two found some shade by a hillside, and the horse could rest up. But, things got worse very quickly. The horse soon was on its side, very obviously convulsing, in deep distress. There was no one in sight to help them, and the brother could only wait. Two hundred miles away, the other twin was nearing their uncle's farm. Suddenly, hi...

Do we really know what we know? How certain can we be, with so much mystery, so much yet undiscovered?  We typically call reality four dimensional— length, width, depth— and, one dimension of time. Yet, there is the intriguing possibility that more dimensions exist. According to string theory, one of the leading physics models, the universe may include up to ten dimensions!  Then, why do humans only experience four dimensions? Scientists theorize that the other dimensions are simply too small and fleeting for detection. But, no one knows yet, new clues are rare. The vastly undiscovered still eclipses all our collected knowledge combined. Yet, how can we explain the following? Do dimensions have secret doors? Is reality fluid and/or porous in nature? Harvey and Beth tried for a whole year, but pregnancy remained illusive. Then, it finally happened! The next eight months passed routinely, and their new baby was expected in two weeks. Nearly two years passed, the couple was so ha...

Well, I'm okay now, it was an hour ago. But earlier, while walking my dog, I was nearly injured. By a chunk of pizza. I'll explain. We're headed back up my block, hound and I, going back home, when I hear above me some very noisy drama.  Flying about in a group of five, seagulls, some tussle going on between them as they zoomed around, loudly squawking. Couldn't tell what was happening, I only thought, hey, you're all a couple of miles from the coast, short flight for them.  Then suddenly, a big thud thru palm fronds above, only a couple of feet from us by the curb, we walked over to look. Yup, no doubt. Heavy crust, pepperoni, about a half slice. That's what narrowly missed beaming us? Apparently, one of the birds had it, wasn't sharing, gravity took over.  Close call, could have been bad. Would have been the silliest injury ever. Serendipity comes in the oddest forms.