The Texaco Station Mark looked over at Jeanne as they came to the bottom of Rt. 190 out of Death Valley. They had been driving for two hours since leaving their motel at Stovepipe Wells, which was the cheapest place they could find. They were told not to miss having breakfast at the Alabama Hills Cafe in Lone Pine. “You still want breakfast?” Mark asked? Jeanne nodded with a smile. Mark would have passed because…
The Bottom of the Earth At -282 feet below sea level, Death Valley is the lowest elevation in North America, That compares to the lowest in the world at the Dead Sea in Israel, which is -413 feet. If you want to count water-filled depressions, then Lake Baikal in Russia is about -1,200 feet at its deepest point. But then why ignore the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean at -36,000 feet? If Zabriskie Point…
Route 66 The magic of Route 66 is as simple as the American dream of hitting the road west. Historically, it went from Chicago to St. Louis to Oklahoma City to Albuquerque to Kingman to Las Angeles. Starting on the shores of Lake Michigan, it took you to the Pacific Coast in Santa Monica. It was a road to adventure and it was a road to escape. Some say salvation lies in the pavement and…
Albanian Shave & Haircut My father, who had minimal impact on my life due to his choice to be absent for most of it, gave me only one piece of meaningful advice. He told me to never let anyone other than an Italian cut my hair. I get it. Italians are often good at style and good at attention to detail. My only problem with Italians who make things is that they make them…
Trump Vodouisant Legend has it that in 1847 Dantor Erzulie, the Vodou goddess of beauty and love appeared on a tree in the waterfall and began to heal the sick and perform miracles. Catholic priests declared this sacrilege and ordered the tree cut down. Since then Erzulie has been “disguised or camouflaged” by locals as the Catholic Virgin of Miracles to placate the Catholic priests. It was then that the inhabitants of the poorest…
Rubber Chicken Last night was the annual Cornell Big Red Bash for the College of Business of Cornell. Kim and I attended this event at the cavernous setting of Guastavino’s, which is built into the base of the 59th Street Bridge. I’m not sure it is intended but partying under a bridge has a certain Three Billy Goats Gruff aspect to it. It conjures up images of Scandinavian trolls hiding under the bridge to…
The Tattersall of Life I’ll bet just about everyone has one or two Tattersall shirts in their wardrobe whether they know it or not. Tattersall is the pattern of plaid or check that is woven into the cloth such that there is a faint cross-hatch of color on a usually white background. The checks created are small (quarter inch or so) and there are most often alternating colors of the defining lines. Thus, you might…
The Seriousness of the Moment Jill gently pushed her way through the crowd, heading for the west exit from the ballroom. She just wanted to get to the elevators and then she knew it would be a quick trip home at this hour. Her job required her to come to these big functions at times and, truth be told, it probably also meant she was supposed to use the networking opportunity of 500 of her…
What Makes Me Sick When you get past sixty, health suddenly becomes a big issue regardless of your state of repair. It all makes sense and you don’t need a big imagination to figure out why. For the longest time when I was young I thought I would be lucky to make sixty. Now, at sixty-five I have a greatly revised point of view, but probably not for the reasons you suspect. I have always…
Napping on the Quaalude Sofa It’s been a long time since we’ve done this. I’ve only been with Kim for fourteen years, but I can honestly say that I haven’t done this since the ‘80’s, when it was all the rage. And then we did it more in the Hamptons than anywhere else. It’s nice to do it again and I have to be honest and say that it was not without some trepidation that…