Who could be more American than Andy Williams? He sang the theme song from Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Moon River, in 1962 and then never looked back until it was eventual put into the Librsry of Congress a few years ago as a hallmark of Americana. At the height of his success, in 1966, Williams wrote the theme song for another great movie that I’ve written about, Doctor Zhivago. That song was called Somewhere My Love…
There is an old expression about the perfect and the good that states that “Perfect is the enemy of good” or in its original French form, “Le mieux est l’ennemi du bien.” This is attributed to Voltaire and his famous quote has an interesting origin and meaning. He actually attributed this saying to “a wise Italian” in his moral poem “La Bégueule” (1772), where he wrote: “Dans ses écrits, un sage Italien Dit que le…
For some reason, we engaged in a conversation today about religion. And during the course of that discussion, we determined (with the help of Google) that Catholicism constitutes about 20% of American Christianity, which represents about 46% in total of the religious affiliation of the American population. At the end of WWII, about 80% of Americans identified as members of a Christian faith and only 13% of Americans were unaffiliated with one religion or another.…
Ablutions are ritual washing or cleansing practices, typically performed as part of religious ceremonies or personal hygiene routines. The term comes from the Latin word “ablutio,” meaning “a washing away.” The purpose of ablutions generally relates to spiritual purification, preparing oneself for prayer or worship, or marking transitions between states of ritual purity and impurity. In modern usage, “ablutions” can also refer more generally to the act of washing oneself, particularly in British English. When…
I ran the Global Private Banking business of Bankers Trust for most of the 1990’s. At the time, I was quite dogmatic about NOT using my own operation as my money manager. It just seemed too close for comfort given that my personal financial information would be in a system that was accessible by many of the people that worked for me. But when I left that job at the end of the Millennium, I…
I have often felt that one of my weaknesses was that I care too much. That sounds like someone in a job interview saying their biggest weakness is that they work too hard. There is no room for humility in the statement, and yet I’m not so sure that people admire caring people so very much. The people who seem to be most liked are those that are happy-go-lucky and always have a cheery disposition.…
Yesterday we took a drive out into the Anza Borrego Desert. We went by way of the Safari Park, the ranch town of Ramona and the kitschy s d storied alpine village of Julian. It is a ride we have taken many times before, but never get tired of. There seems always to be a blend of great stories of past visits and new experiences along the way to make for future stories. We usually…
Back in 2015 we all went to Italy and I rented a villa in the northern outskirts of Rome. Having spent my formative high school years in Rome, it seemed like a fun thing to do that summer since my youngest son Thomas was studying in Rome for the summer. We did what we had done a number of times and at other locations, which was to rent a large villa that could accommodate 15…
A Funny thing happened on the way into 2025. We were promised by candidate and president-elect Trump that he would immediately bring the wars in Gaza and Ukraine to a brisk end. It’s been almost 90 days since the inauguration and whatever ceasefire existed in Gaza has been overtaken by events and resulted in Israel continuing to execute attacks on Gaza’s Palestinian community. As for Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the man who Trump has called a…
As most of you already know, a 5.2 magnitude earthquake struck south of Julian, a quaint alpine town on the border of the Anza Borrego desert and the apple pie capital of the west, on Monday. It was the strongest earthquake to hit San Diego County since 2010. I bought our hilltop in early 2012. The history of San Diego Earthquakes is more significant than I realized, dating back centuries, though it experiences fewer major…