Fridays With Willis

Maps: for the illiterate of you (Merriam- Webster’s 2nd definition specifically—: illiterate: showing or marked by a lack of acquaintance with the fundamentals of a particular field of knowledge). I’m confident that you, my reader, are an almost-daily user of a GPS, or its equivalent, in your vehicle. I want to acquaint you with a map.

Maps are more than position locators. Maps give perspective. For my purpose here, I refer to the Official Georgia State Map. This map not only shows the entire state, but also cities, towns, and tiny villages. Topography may be indicated on some maps but not on this particular Map. I love this particular map because it is a virtual library of Georgia information.

While the GPS gives you point-to-point direction, maps show you where you are. A while back the County changed my address. The GPS showed an old address. The map– just as old as that GPS—gave perspective and kept me from being lost–as in “Oh, so that’s where I need to go.” 

I’m sometimes called “A Map Nerd.” I am. Knowing a map also gives social connection. I often ask someone new, “Did you grow up here?” They may say, “No. I grew up in Montrose, GA. I’m able to say, “Oh, that’s near Dublin, in Laurens County!” That introductory greeting leads to a friendly conversation. It’s even better when I respond like, “Oh, do you know Daniel Yoder?” and they follow with “Yes, we were on the Soccer team together.” 

Reading and appreciating a map is an education on another level. Georgia is the largest state in land mass, east of the Mississippi River! Most people in Georgia move or have moved several times in their lifetime. Knowing the layout of the State, its cities, towns, and villages offers a ready reach for social acquaintance. When meeting someone new, you may not make instant connection but knowing something of their geographic location helps.

Oh. One other thing; the GPS won’t work when it cannot get a satellite signal. That happened to Jane and me near Lake Sinclair as we descended into those steep valleys. You can pick up a free copy of the current Georgia State Roadmap at any GDOT office, Georgia Welcome Center, or State Patrol Office. One other point; this map is huge, but sturdy. GPS offers route-value; maps offer many.

©Copyright Willis H. Moore 2026

My earliest memory of a May Day celebration, was at Deepstep Grammar School. The grades of 1-5 came up with the brilliant idea of celebrating with a “May Pole Dance.” A tall pole was placed on the playground with colored streamers attached at the top. We practiced for the celebration to be held later that week on, well, May Day. The idea was to create a colorful weave of the streamers as we students weaved in and out of each other’s path.

The idea was something akin to a strange amalgam of a Jewish wedding dance and a Square Dance Do-se-do. Ours didn’t even come close to a Maypole dance.! The teachers finally gave up after the streamers were knotted, destroyed, or wasted. (We students managed to hide our delight!) We still had the picnic, though.

According to The Old Farmers’ Almanac, May Day has an interesting and colorful history: As with many early holidays, May Day was rooted in agriculture. Springtime festivities filled with song and dance celebrated the sown fields starting to sprout. Cattle were driven to pasture, special bonfires were lit, and the doors of houses and livestock were decorated with yellow May flowers. In the Middle Ages, the Gaelic people celebrated the festival of Beltane, which means “Day of Fire.” People created large bonfires and danced at night to celebrate. 

May Day is not a national holiday, but according to Britannica, Labor Day, which is a national holiday, has its roots in May Day Celebrations, The Hay Market Affair in Chicago was a brutal event which initated International Workers’ Day ce;ebrated on May 1.  President Grover Cleveland, uneasy about the accociation with Spcoa;osts. moved the celebrationof workers to the first Monday in September, calling it Labor Day. It preserved a recogntion of workers while dodging the danger of rioting workers.

But I digress. According to Britannica, Maypole dances often occur on May 1. The Maypole dance,  which we unsuccessfully attempted at Deepstep Grammar school, is a ceremonial folk dance performed around a tall pole garlanded with greenery or flowers and often hung with ribbons that are woven into complex patterns by the dancers. Such dances are survivals of ancient dances around a living tree as part of spring rites to ensure fertility. Typically performed on May Day (May 1), they also occur at midsummer in Scandinavia and at other festivals elsewhere. 

©Copyright Willis H. Moore 2026

This is for those of you who woke up this morning saying, “At last! National Pigs-in-a-Blanket-Day has arrived!” For those of you poor, benighted readers, this is your day to titillate your tastebuds. Or not. I have known about Pigs-in-a-Blanket most of my adult life. It was made more widely known when Irma S. Rombauer published the 1957 issue of “The Joy of Cooking.”

This national day of celebration emerged in the mid 1990’s. It may have emerged about the time Y2K-2000 bludgeoned its malaise into the forefront — muting cultural comfort, interfering with this noble entry. Nobody knows. It is thought that the concept of Pigs-in-a-Blanket has been around in the US since the earliest settlers. The 1957 Betty Crocker Cookbook For Boys and Girls lists the recipe for it, but even that took another forty or so years to catch on. You can find Pigs-in-a-Blanket now in your local Publix supermarket.

Now Pigs-in-a-Blanket has its own National holiday, clearly not on the same scale as Memorial Day or Labor Day, but still, it is called, well, a “national holiday.” Go figure. And why not? With all the pain of politics, and civic chaos, we need a little levity. Food is a ready companion for almost any celebration. So there you have it. Have a Pigs-in-a-Blanket cooking contest; set up an eating contest for whoever eats the most Pigs-in-a-Blanket. Or as I bemoan, most citizens will just ignore it.

Yet and still, today’s holiday is a clever way to spend the day. Fun does not always need to be organized and advertised. While I was writing this, I took a break, sitting on the front porch. Above the chatter and chirping of birds, I heard laughter. Beyond the saplings in the edge of our yard, I saw neighbor children playing. They were having the time of their life! Joyfully, they played, not organized, but not with expensive, complex toys; just running, playing, and laughing.

National Pigs-in-a-Blanket Day does not call for parades, school holidays, or a flag on your porch. But it is playful. In an article in Psychology Today, Hara Estroff Marano wrote, Play appears to allow our brains to exercise their very flexibility, to maintain and even perhaps renew the neural connections that embody our human potential to adapt, to meet any possible set of environmental conditions. So have fun playing! Exercise your brain having fun! Carpe diem!

©Copyright Willis H. Moore 2026

On this day, April 17, 1970, there was great rejoicing, nationwide, as three American Apollo 13 astronauts splashed down safely in the Pacific Ocean. The success followed three and a half days of death-defying-drama. An onboard explosion had severely damaged the spacecraft. The three had to abort the mission — oxygen, navigation equipment, food, and spacecraft-to-Earth communication became severely limited. In great danger, they transferred into the re-entry capsule. Nationally, we held our breath.

Early this month, the nation held its breath again, as we awaited the launch of Artemis, destined to encircle, but not land on, the moon. It has been 50 years since the USA launched a moonshot. Staffing, experience, and, well, US interest in space travel had waned to almost nothing. Hence, as we awaited the “lift-off,” the few seconds of “hold” kinda gave onlookers a lurch. But then, the blast-off was spectacular!

There will be little if any grand celebration today. Baseball games, the weather, and graduation ceremonies will likely take the forefront in discussions and the news. Short-term memory is the nemesis of humanity. Part of that brief memory vapor may have a direct link to how deeply we resonate with an event, its humanity, its impact on ourselves, or the degree of compassion we have for the actors involved.

When the Children of Israel crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land, Joshua had them bring twelve stones from the riverbed. They piled the stones as a memorial. Joshua told them that down through the years, their children will see the stones and ask, “What do these stones mean?” This would give the elders a chance to teach their children about their deliverance from slavery in Egypt and how God guided them to deliverance.

©Copyright Willis H. Moore 2026

Fog can be dangerous. By definition, fog is vapor condensed to fine particles of water suspended in the lower atmosphere that differs from cloud only in being near the ground. In political speech, for example, fog is a state of confusion or bewilderment; something that confuses or obscures. In both definitions, the result can create disaster if not dealt with “in wisdom and clarity.”

Taking flying lessons, I learned to respect the meteorological definition. I remembered a tragedy near my college campus. A local businessman who owned an airplane, was showing the city to a college athlete. It was a late afternoon flight and lasted a bit too long. Fog settled in, and the pilot was not instrument-rated. Apparently, the pilot, seeing the lights of the four-lane highway thought it was the runway. Unfortunately, he crashed into a nearby pine thicket, and both the pilot and passenger were killed.

Foggy thinking can be dangerous also. There is a carpenter’s rule; “Measure twice. Cut once!” And long before OSHA’s familiar warnings, we remember well the ubiquitous admonition, “Safety First!” Do you remember the Johnny Nash song entitled, “I Can See Clearly Now”?

I can see clearly now, the rain is gone
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It’s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-shiny day
It’s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-shiny day

Clouds are just fog with altitude. All this aside, it is clear (pun intended) that clear planning and clear thinking are crucial to congenial living. Unfortunately, there is a profusion of foggy language as our state and national laws are used, abused, and confused, all too often. By flooding discussions with foggy language, peppered with high sounding terms, sinister promoters can have the sound of authority, with little or only sketchy content.

“Word salad,” is one way to describe a foggy speech, where the intent is to confuse or diffuse facts to the audience. Shakespear’s McBeth says it better in his soliloquy, after the death of Lady McBeth; he faced the meaninglessness of life. He said, life is “…full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

In the Bible, the Book of James (5:12) there is a strong admonition to keep your language out of the foggy range; speak with a simple “Yes” or “No,” or else you may fall under judgment.

©Copyright Willis H. Moore 2026

Everybody needs an Easter — “A time of renewal following a dreary or hard time in life.” (The Revised Willis Version) Merriam Webster defines Easter accurately, and more in line with what you were thinking, before reading my version: a Christian holiday celebrating Christ’s resurrection that is observed on the first Sunday following the first full moon on or after March 21^st. So there, you have the meteorological reason the date of Easter changes every year.

While Irving Berlin may not have been the catalyst causing the commercialization of Easter, his song, Easter Parade, certainly had a part:

In your Easter bonnet
With all the frills upon it
You’ll be the grandest lady in the Easter parade.
I’ll be all in clover
And when they look you over,
I’ll be the proudest fellow in the Easter parade.

In earlier times, ladies’ Easter bonnets were quite popular attire, especially at church. If you follow the cartoon, Curtis, you find a plethora of bonnet jokes his younger brother, Barry, cracks at church, much to the embarrassment of Curtis and their mother. (Their bonnets really are spectacular!). Even though “church attire” has changed dramatically, in many circles, the Easter dress remains colorful.

Easter Egg hunts are a staple for children. When I was a kid, real hen eggs, colored for the occasion, were carefully hidden for the hunt. Cousins, aunts, uncles, and in-laws usually gathered on Sunday after church, in a green, wooded glen, chosen earlier by Granddaddy, for the annual picnic and Easter Egg Hunt. It usually followed the one held on Saturday at the church. The family Easter Egg hunt remained crucial for us children.

Easter, in the Northern Hemisphere, is a dramatic time of renewal. Trees and shrubs, which for months seemed to be dead, blossom. Tiny green shoots pop up through the formerly cold soil, bringing bees, blossoms, and butterflies. The earth is astir with new life, brilliant with color and freshness. People who suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) can have light dispelling their disorder.

Easter for Christians the world over brings blessed hope. For the past six weeks, the call to self-denial has been a time to reflect on their call to follow Jesus. Self-denial is a spiritual discipline intentionally to draw one closer to God. Over those weeks of paying attention to the inner spirit, the groundwork is laid for newness in Christ joyfully to emerge.

©Copyright Willis H. Moore 2026

This weekend, mainstream Christians the world over, celebrate Palm Sunday — Catholics, Orthodox, Protestant, Anglican, Moravian, Reformed, and other congregations join the celebration. Palm Sunday begins Holy Week, which is sometimes called Passion Week. Each of the four Gospels tells the story of this Holy Event. Different branches of mainstream Christianity shape their observance of the day and week according to their culture and geography.

The core event of Palm Sunday is a joyous parade of the faithful, waving branches of palms or native trees. In the Gospel story, the followers not only waved palm branches but also laid them in Jesus’ pathway. Some followers also laid their garments on the ground as well. It was a joyful, exuberant parade cheering “The King of the Jews.”

Some churches, with the space to do so, include a real-live donkey in their Palm Sunday parade down the aisle — an effort to reenact that ancient procession. Some churches pin two palm pieces in the shape of the cross for worshippers to wear during worship.

Palm branches can also be saved for use next year — they are safely stored to maintain their shape for the beginning of Lent. The branches are then brought out for Ash Wednesday. Having become thoroughly dry by then, the branches are burned, and their ashes are used in the solemn Ash Wednesday worship service for “the imposition of the ashes.”

Palestine was under Roman domination. As often happens when cultures mingle, especially in wartime, practices of one culture migrate into that of another. In the Greco-Roman culture, palm branches were often used in victory marches and triumphal celebrations. The crowds following Jesus to Jerusalem, according to all four Gospels, were caught up in the exuberance of this celebrative event.

Celebrating Palm Sunday may be as varied as national anthems are. Although based on the Gospels’ recounting of the event, using palm branches is not possible everywhere. Fronds with shapes similar to palms can be used, sometimes surprising Western Christians who may interpret this deviation as odd or unexpected. 

Having lived much of my life in Southern Georgia, I’ve seen variations in celebrating Palm Sunday. The closest we ever came to seeing a palm branch at Deepstep was the Palmetto fronds from the Oconee River swamp. They served well and looked remarkably similar to the palm branches of Palestine. After all, we are really celebrating Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, not attempting to be botanically correct.

©Copyright Willis H. Moore 2026

Friday is famous for a fish fry during Lent. For the past several years, around five o’clock p.m. on Fridays in Lent, I joined the lineup of cars at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Tucker, GA. Patiently, I waited to pick up our family’s Friday fish fry. Their crew is as organized as a Ford assembly line. Knights of Columbus and Scouts promptly and precisely filled our dinner orders, come rain or shine. They do that every Friday during Lent.

Fish on Friday is a custom that has lost its religious significance for many people. Some families choose fish on Friday as a menu staple because they like fish. My natal family often had fish on Friday because my grandaddy usually got a delivery of fresh fish for his country store. Fish on Friday was convenient, not a religious practice.

For Catholics, eating fish on Friday is a spiritual discipline. Fish is not considered meat. Therefore, giving up meat is an act of self-denial. As part of the practice of fasting during Lent, a person denies themselves meat, eating fish instead to fulfill their personal sacrifice of giving up meat on Fridays. Certain people choose to fast to lose weight, but fasting by penitents during Lent is a specifically spiritual discipline.

The season of Lent, ending with Easter, has always been a time of new beginnings. The earth springs forth its new buds and blossoms. Christians seek to purge faults and failures and receive new life offered through the Holy Spirit.

This Friday will be deliciously different for me. At home, my new bride, Jane, my favorite culinarian, is preparing our own Lenten fish dinner. Not only do I look forward to our dining together, but this season of Lent is special for both of us; we are observing this holy season together for the first time.

To be clear, my fish on this Friday is not necessarily for spiritual purposes. It is mainly because I like fish, and Jane serves it up delightfully. Jesus certainly had some terse remarks about people who performed religious practices in public for show or bragged of their own piety displayed in plain sight. Jesus was clear that the point of spiritual disciplines is they help us develop an inner spirituality which has nothing to do with public notice.

©Copyright Willis H. Moore 2026

In the tragedy of Julius Caesar, Act I, Scene 2, a soothsayer makes his way to the crowd around Julius Caesar, a brutal dictator. His message to Caesar is “Beware the Ides of March.” It is an ominous statement that rings down through the ages, portending unhappy happenings. It is often quoted in anything from a casual “heads-up” or merry joke to a genuine threat.

According to Britannica, — “The term Ides derives from the Latin word iduare (Latin: “to divide”), with the full moon serving as the division point in the middle of each month. In the ancient Roman calendar, months were divided according to the lunar cycle into three groups of days. The Ides corresponded with the rise of the full moon in the middle of the month, …”

We could have a basket-full of reasons to be superstitious today. It is Friday, the 13th, a pinnacle in the hierarchy of superstitions. “The Ides of March” is just two days away. There was a full moon as I started writing this episode, and almost simultaneously, the USA invaded Iran (unprovoked). So There! Superstitious people can run the spectrum from high school athletes, always wearing a specific piece of apparel for good luck, to other people, compulsively performing certain rituals every day, without fail, to ensure certain outcomes.

Superstitions aren’t unhealthy and often exist because of a long-forgotten belief that was normative for the time, said Dr. Eric Storch, professor and vice chair of the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine. But there’s a point where being superstitious can become problematic.

Superstitions are basically innocuous and are enjoyed by countless people. Author Sarah Loudin Thomas, in Appalachianhistory.net, listed several of these harmless superstitions:

• Always leave a building through the same door you entered it.
• If you see a black cat crossing the road in front of you, draw an X in the air three times to avoid bad luck.
• When you harvest apples from a tree, leave at least one to keep the devil away.
• If you spill salt, throw a pinch over your left shoulder. Again, this keeps the devil away. 

The danger of latching onto a superstition, according to Dr. Storch, is when it begins to interfere with your life; then, you have a problem. Otherwise, enjoy Friday-the-thirteenth! Oh. And Beware the Ides of March!

©Copyright Willis H. Moore 2026

Sometimes it is OK to say, “Good Enough.” Alhough using that term is anathema in today’s culture, still there are times when “good enough” is, well, good enough. All vacations don’t have to be spectacular; a sports event does not need to be the best of the season, nor even the league. The best, the epitome, the pinnacle, need not be a constant goal, or standard. Sometimes, good enough has more staying power than exaggerated expressions of accomplishment.

Excellence, precision, and accuracy in performance or accomplishment do have their place. They should not be cheapened or managed shabbily. Yet numerous aspects of life need only benign or casual attention. As an example, your family spent the day with the grandparents. The kids played in the creek behind the barn; lunch under the old oak tree was sumptuous, and the trip home continued way past bedtime. So, you let the kids skip their bath tonight. It might be a less-than-perfect end to the day, but it is good enough.

Good enough~? Absolutely! This Puppy is Good Enough!

Many people live tightly wound lives, virtually overachiever lives — risking health, and often harming relationships. They may not think of themselves as overachievers, but their personality traits say otherwise. You may have overachiever tendencies — perfectionism and exacting standards, a relentless drive for success, difficulty with your life-work balance, fear of failure or inadequacy lurking beneath the surface, or, even more visible, you may tend to take on excessive responsibilities.

To focus on perfection or getting it right has its place in various endeavors: finance, engineering, and anywhere that facts and accuracy are essential. But in other human endeavors and relationships, precision, perfection, or persnickety people can create more problems than they solve. In such endeavors, good sense can offer the salve of “good enough.” In a little league game or a school play, good enough may mean your kid at least got to play or when playing golf with a friend, at least you enjoy the time outdoors together.

Are you too focused on getting the lawn border micro-shaped? Are the plants in the window box perfectly balanced? Do picture frames slightly skewed drive you nuts? Chill; sometimes good enough is, well, good enough. Yes, it is. Especially when your child or spouse wants or needs your attention. Balanced priorities exceed perfection. Sometimes “good enough” can improve your life.

©Copyright Willis H. Moore 2026