James Derkits

It's not officially summer according to the position of the earth on our orbit around the sun. We're a little less than a month away from that. However, according to the energy level of people around me, it's summertime! Schools are headed for break, enthusiasm about anything planned around the church is being voted down in absentia. I get it. This has been quite a busy year. I feel it, too. I'm one of the people who is certainly showing signs of summer. And I'm not going to resist it. I know there are some big things coming up this fall that will require a lot of energy and attention. (And planning before we get there.) It's time for a fallow field (although I may pull some of these beastly sticker-burrs that have come up since the rain.)  As I get ready to downshift, I am going to refocus my creative energy a bit this summer, too. I really love writing these weekly blogs, but for the next few months, I'm aiming for monthly. I have a music project th...

If you've been down by the Port Aransas beach pier lately, you've seen those wonderful "Village People" bollards. It started with one bollard that grew "hair." Grass grew through the bollard and sprouted off the top, looking like a tuft of hair. That was all the inspiration that was needed. Soon discarded sunglasses and a visor were added. Then gloves and Mardi Gras beads. The lonely soldier was finally joined by two others, and eventually a fourth appeared. They make me smile every time I drive by. Each bollard character is unique, like the characters we meet in Port Aransas. That's one example of spontaneous art I recommend checking out, but take a walk down the beach on any day and you are likely to find pieces of driftwood erected in a miniature Stone Henge, or perhaps in the shape of a small chapel. More common are the drawings or writings in the sand. Not long after our Holy Week Labyrinth walk, when I carved a labyrinth, or prayer path near ma...

I haven't seen as much of Laura lately. She's taken on a second job. Actually, she just finished it! Her first half-Ironman Triathlon , but probably not her last, so I guess the "second job" continues. Ok, so it isn't technically a second job, but it takes an amazing amount of work to prepare to swim, bike, and run those distances. She competed in Galveston, and finished strong. It was amazing to witness her dedication to the training, and to marvel at the distances she would go in a day: "I'll be right back after I swim a mile and bike 20 miles." "Ok, I'll be sitting on the sofa." ...Actually with all her training it was hard me to sit still. I started running more seriously again, and got inspired sign up to run a marathon in November. I've done two half-marathons in the past two years and I think I'm ready to step it up a bit. I'm not the only one Laura has inspired. She is already signing up other 70.3 triathletes, and...