The Great Divide I have been fascinated by the idea that there is a line one can draw down the continent that demarcates what is known as the hydrological divide of the Americas. That means simply that to the east of that line all the water flows east and to the west of it, all the water flows west. This line extends all the way from the Bering Strait down to the Straits of Magellan.…
And Tango Makes Three This morning I heard a very heart-warming story on the radio. It’s the story of a book banning. Apparently, a few years ago at the Central Park Zoo, there were these two chinstrap penguins that got particularly friendly and started living together, making a nest together. Their names were Roy and Silo. There was nothing terribly unusual about that except that they were both males. The zookeepers saw no harm in…
Nature’s Clock There are certain aspects of nature that we all take for granted. We are all accustomed to the sun rising every day and setting at the end of that day. We have systematized the celestial processes so that we publish reports on when sunrise and sunset will occur. We do the same thing when it comes to the moon and the cycles of the moon and the tides along with it. Seasons are…
It Doesn’t Get Better Literally, as I wrote this title, I realized that these words can move in many different ways. But I decided to stick with it because I am of two minds this morning anyway. I will start with the negative and move towards the positive. I had a real toss and turn night last night and I wish I could attribute it just to my sciatica and lower back discomfort that I…
A Voice In The Wilderness Our copy of The Hidden Meadows News was in our mailbox when we got home and it was hard not to notice that Kim’s profile in the local gazette has risen to quite a noticeable level. She and her activities represent 3 out of the 8 pages of editorial coverage in our community and she is pictured 4 times. She was given credit for her “respected” co-leadership of the Garden…
Tear Jerkers I just watched two movies while flying cross-country. The first was on the flight from Norfolk to Atlanta and the second I just finished as we are heading into San Diego. The first one was called Hard Miles with Matthew Modine. It tells the story of a teacher and his four juvenile delinquent students who are taking a therapeutic bicycle trip to the Grand Canyon. The pathos runs thick between the struggles of…
Life’s a Beach The Supreme Court has been very busy as it comes to the end of its term. Most of today’s attention has gone to the decisions regarding the obstruction of justice ruling regarding the January 6 insurrection, and about the overturn of the Chevron case which effectively guts the ability of agencies to operate in the manner in which they have in the past. But there’s always a silver lining and today’s silver…
Mid-Atlantic Madness Neither Kim nor I are big Social media users any more though I do watch Instagram to keep up white the next generation and we all tend to use Snapchat for a family chat group and photo vehicle. We call it Marin Madness and its pretty much restricted to the kids, their spouses and us. I’ve gone so far as to steal that sentiment and call my games area on the property Moonstruck…
The Popeye in Me Why the hell did Popeye ever become so famous? Why did the depression era audiences of the comic strips of King Features become so drawn to a one-eyed sailor during the interregnum of two world wars? I have a far easier time grasping the appeal of Bettle Bailey or Blondie, the other King Features favorites, than I do Popeye. He seems, with his Steamboat Willy-like ensemble of Brutus, Wimpy and Olive…
The Summer Solstice A few days ago we had a quaint reminder of days gone by when life was simple and summers were about listening to music in the park and catching fireflies. Quick, what was your first job as a kid? Some might say mowing a lawn, For me it was caddying at the Poland Spring Golf Course in lovely Poland Spring, Maine. We lived there from January, 1966 until August, 1968. Those years…