A Fortnight of Sunlight Twenty years ago, Peter Mayle and his wife spent a year “retiring” from their overcast British lifestyle (he had been a British Mad Man) by buying and renovating a house in Provence. He was already a writer, but his best-selling book A Year in Provence established him at a late stage in life (his 60’s) as a prominent and popular writer. I both loved the book and loved the whole romantic…
This Little Piggy Stayed Home Today, like most days, I called up Jeff to see what was going on in his life. I am in the habit of calling Jeff every day for several reasons. First of all, he’s one of the few men of my age that I know around here, second, he is generally my go-to guy for stuff around the house because he knows the house and he is generally a font…
As the World Turns Richard Haass, the President of the Council on Foreign Relations, the highly respected organization and policy think tank, has held that position for the past dozen years. He has now written a book called The World: A Brief Introduction. This book is described as a primer on the global era we live in from COVID-19 to terrorism and gives us a basic understanding of the dynamics that have in the past…
The Muthah I watched the movie The Finest Hours about the greatest small-boat rescue ever executed in the history of the U.S. Coast Guard. Like most good stories, this film has a primary conflict of man against the sea (one of the oldest and most primordial tales), but it has several other secondary conflicts that add texture and interest that keep the viewer engaged while the next primary conflict scene gets set-up. Think about that…
Another Pleasant Valley Sunday I don’t mind outing myself as a Monkees fan. In the 60’s everybody my age was a Monkees fan. And then for thirty years or so I had to secretly hanker for a little Daydream Believer not to mention Another Pleasant Valley Sunday . Now that both Davy Jones and Peter Tork are dearly departed, only Mike Nesmith and Mickey Dolenz are left and between the two they have over 150…
Family-in-Law I have what I consider to be a strange relationship with most of my family. I am not so egotistical as to think my relationships of this kind are any more or less strange than most peoples’ but I am blessed/cursed by a willingness to write about it in an open and hopefully honest way. Trust me, I am well aware that at this moment in this story, every one of my family members…
World Gone Mad This Sunday morning I am feeling ill at ease more so than normal, even for this new normal in the time of Coronavirus. I would point to three specific things that are troubling me. Yes, I am watching MSNBC while I update myself this morning and yes, I know that has a liberal bent to it, but I am a thinking person who can filter things that seem logical, things that seem…
Ghost Writing More than two years ago a friend of mine sent me the first fifty pages of a manuscript that he had “written” than chronicled his career and life. He had put together some 230 pages of thoughts and notes in somewhat random order and had hired a ghost writer to help him bring it all together as a book that would be both readable and compelling. He sent it to me to read…
Narrowing the Gap Filling gaps is an important part of healing. As I think about the world, writ large, as they say, I think about all the things that need healing right now. I feel compelled to address one of those gaps that I believe is getting more and more obvious and, as such, needs the fresh light of day in hopes that awareness helps to narrow the gap. Anyone who spends a moment looking…
The Northern Star Polaris or Alpha Ursae Minoris, the brightest star in the Ursa Minor constellation, is the name of the celestial body which we have come to know as the North Star or Pole Star. As such it enjoys the “pole” position at the axis of the heavens. To some it seems to be the center of the universe since all the other stars appear to rotate around it. Of course this is just…