Butter and Markets I am just finishing reading 48 essays on Free Markets for my ethics class. The assignment I gave was to discuss the pros and cons of free markets in the context of being a asylum-seeking immigrant from Central America. It has proven to be a fascinating exercise (at least for me, but I also think for the students) because it has forced them to consider the libertarian value of free market capitalism…
Done Trippin’ For some reason that I can’t completely explain other than to say that I can’t avoid taking responsibility for my own cumulative decisions, we are suddenly immersed in more trip planning than normal. We literally have things on the docket now for each of the next six months. This month is relatively easy because we are just going back to New York to spend time with the kids, the pretense being granddaughter Evelyn’s…
What Frustrates Me Being at peace is all about not sweating the small stuff. I see myself and many people with whom I interact getting frustrated very easily. Frustration seems like it is most often part of the “small stuff”. I just now typed the word “needlessly” to modify the word “frustrated” in the prior sentence and chose to delete it since it is judgmental to say what I or anyone else considers legitimately frustrating.…
Boredom at Sea Back in early 2019, what seems like two lifetimes ago, one for retirement and another for COVID, Kim and I went on a two-week cruise around New Zealand and Eastern Australia, including Tasmania. We had done a similar two-week cruise through the Baltics the year before, visiting nine countries, and had thoroughly enjoyed the experience. The bottom line on our Southern Hemisphere jaunt was that we found that we were more bored…
Back to Rock n’ Roll This story can and probably will be about two very distinct things. As you probably know by now, I write about whatever is going on in my life at the moment. Sometimes that’s about current events or something that is on my mind (or perhaps has been stewing in my head for some time) or perhaps something as mundane as my small little life of the moment. I do not…
Parsing the Day Today I went out early and took the string trimmer down to the lower hillside below the wildflower garden and weed-whacked myself into oblivion. Operating an electric power-pack string trimmer does not look like particularly hard work until you do it for a while. These tools are well constructed and properly balanced so that the handle is pretty much in the right spot so that its as easy as possible to make…
Movie of the Week Movies have been a big part of my life for over fifty years. They were my screen time in high school. They were big event gatherings in college. They were weekend entertainment getaways in my early adulthood. They were a videotaped passion to share with my kids on vacation at the beach house or the ski house. And now, in later adulthood, they are major relaxation fillers for an increasingly sedentary…
Emotional Outlet I can’t seem to stop tinkering with my gardens. It must go hand in hand with my jiggling leg syndrome. When you’re a kid they called it having ants in your pants. As an adult it’s called any number of things from nervous energy to OCD. What I have is far less difficult than an obsession and far less aggressive than a compulsion, but it is some sort of disorder nonetheless. Kim is…
Snakebite We live in rattlesnake country and May is rattlesnake month on this hilltop. Last year we had five rattlesnake incidents in May and then didn’t hear from the serpents again for the rest of the year. I’m guessing they were out there, but despite all my traipsing around the hillside every day, they seemed to stay away from me and to whatever extent they were on the property, we coexisted just fine. That is…
Beyond the Blue Horizon That song from Rain Man is repeating in my head for some reason this morning. The 1974 Lou Christie song has a twangy melody that feels somehow soothing. It’s lyrics are simple and its about how your life has only begun when you look out into the blue horizon and watch the rising sun. At this very moment, I am sitting in my office and looking east over my cactus knoll…