Michael Shay's Hummingbirdminds

A reminder for my brother Tommy Shay's Paddle Out this Saturday, April 4: Join us at the Hartford Approach in Daytona Beach at 1:00 PM a...

Postcard, probably early 1960s, of downtown Moses Lake, Wash. Elmer's, my father's favorite Chinese/American restaurant, is shown on...

Didn't know anything about Jackie Summers until I read his "Field Notes for Cracking an Empire" on a Facebook repost. Common-...

Tommy Shay and his dog Duke In Memoriam: Tommy Shay  Thomas Gerard Shay (“Tommy”), age 65, passed away peacefully after a short illness on C...

Wichita, 1962. I read Tom Swift and Hardy Boys books in bed with my Boy Scout flashlight. It was after the parents’ call for “lights out” an...

There was no wedding, but one hell of a reception. Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025. My niece Bryce celebrates her wedding to Zak. They eloped and g...

Ann Patchett's novel "The Dutch House" was a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. First place went to Colson White...

A big lobster walked down our street last night. He/She/It accompanied kids dressed as characters from kiddie shows I don't watch becaus...

My father, 21, standing out in a field in France, February 1945. He writes a caption to the photo: “I hadn’t had a haircut in three months. ...

How do I tell my grown-ass children about the life and times of JFK? How I was nine when he was elected and 13 when he was assassinated? Tha...

I salute the turkey oak tree in my backyard. It's a tough little oak. I was looking out the sliding glass door a few weeks ago and saw...

I began to write this Word Back column as Memorial Day weekend began. I was making fun of what America has become in 2025 but forgot about w...

Reading contemporary fiction has many rewards. First, you get a whopping good story. Second, when the writer knows their stuff, you feel...

A fine day for a baptism.  Our daughter Annie arrived with Chris and I f or the Salty Church’s annual New Year’s Day full-immersion baptism....

A friend once asked me to name my favorite writers. It's a long, long list, but I gave him the top five: Joseph Heller, Kurt Vonnegut, G...

I am caught between two worlds. In one, I am at the beach or in a park or lunching with friends at Inlet Harbor. In the other, I tense u...

Aug. 18 was the last time I posted to my blog on my PC at my Cheyenne writing desk. Chris and I moved out of our house in Cheyenne on Aug. 2...

WELCOME TO 7,220 FEET. That's a huge sign on UW's War Memorial Stadium. It's meant to psyche-out teams visiting from lower altit...

All Saints Day, the day after Halloween, the day the nuns set us free from Catholic school only to corral us later in church for mass of...

After watching Oppenheimer with my daughter Annie Storm clouds on the Wyoming horizon looked like giant mushrooms. No surprise as movie s...