Time for serendipity during journeys is always good. Sometimes one experiences some of the best things during serendipitous, spur-of-the-moment stops along the way. Such unexpected occasions are especially important for writers. Such was my experience during a recent trek my wife, youngest daughter, her husband, and I took to the Southwest. No cars sat in the parking lot in front of the plastered-and-whitewashed visitor’s center, which sat forlornly on the flat prairie. A sig

Sometimes one gets bogged down in routine. We get up (tired); go about doing the same daily tasks; eat our meals at the same time, often the same menu week after week; do the regular routine chores, following the same pattern or schedule; and then go to bed (tired), sleep, and then get up to start it all over again the next morning. But occasionally a few unexpected, non-routine events come along, disrupting that hum-drum routine and bringing a bright spot to the otherwise gr