Poems, Stories, Videos/Images,  and Books

We all have a window we look out from. Some times we meander. This website is intended to serve as a hearth, a park, a gathering place whether you are here alone or with one or more others.  Stay awhile, and please do not be a stranger!

Ron Sokol, longtime newspaper columnist, blogger and author, welcomes any and all civilized as well as creative comments and remarks from you.

Videos/Images

Spirit

The lamppost asks:   "Do you see the dog as well?"

Beetball

Beethoven and baseball collide!

Retrieval

Somewhere over the rainbow

Vin Scully

Trees

"Is man a tree of the field?"
Deutoronomy 22:1

Vaya!

She has risen

Surf

It's 2 am somewhere!

Missing

I miss my dog

Landscapes

Seek and play ball

Shepherd

Books

These musical instruments are very much alive, and share their experiences with us, their ups and downs, their interaction with the world. Open the pages here to dine with tuba and trombone. Meet the violin who is going to soon be gifted to a true master. A piccolo who becomes a stand-up comedienne, no less. The flute held in the one hand of a war vet. Don't miss the harp as she laments her wild and inspired owner who insists on playing in the midst of a construction site. This is the fifth in the Kindred series which started with the well known remark that applies so well here: "Oh do not ask what it is, let us go and make our visit..."

This is the fourth in the Kindred series, preceded by Kindred Stories, Kindred Mischief, and Kindred Angels. 

Ron Sokol did not ask to have friends who are lamp posts. They reached out to him. He resisted. They persisted. They kept at him. Finally, it was time, it became time, to share some of the stories with you. Please note, though, that any resemblance of a lamp post to anyone or anything known, existing, living or otherwise, is purely coincidental. The same cannot quite be said about Ron.

The third in the Kindred series finds two angels selected to come to Earth to observe, learn, evaluate, interact, and then report back to God so that life on this planet with all these creatures and things, and all the stuff always going on, might well improve. Now, if the two angels thought this was going to be a fun excursion, they were a bit optimistic. Follow Leonard and Ellen (who goes by "L"), and who don't get along all that well at any given time, as they pay a visit to earth, explore a lot of nooks and crannies, before returning home to give their big report.

What’s the point of always being intelligent, or sophisticated, or really anything but silly? Mischief is a good thing. Zaniness is its own reward. And drawing, even if you can’t even connect the dots, you can emote. Emoting is a good thing. It’s all good. Really! Hey, put that baseball bat down. Wait a second, did you say “Don’t”? Oh nooooo! That’s the worst thing you could say!!!!

Do not ask what is it. Let us go and make our visit. This is an invitation to Kindred Stories. From moonlight surfing to images in a window, from the lamppost that beckons to ivy that insists it has great understanding, from the piano player singing in the middle of the world to the lighthouse that helps us to get home, or does it? No one can live without a heart, although some try to. Welcome. Let me introduce you to someone you may know. Someone you may know well, possibly you.

This whole thing about dogs don’t live all that long, but we know to cherish the time we have with them anyway... Wait a second. This is about a trial lawyer. If he can get his way to dog heaven, there is no doubt he will convince them to return his dog to earth. He is on a mission, the grief is just way too much, and it is as simple as that! Well...isnt it?