Key West has one of the most colorful and layered histories of any American city, shaped by geography, smugglers, wreckers, and artists alike. The island was originally inhabited by the Calusa people, who called it “Cayo Hueso” (Island of Bones) — likely a reference to skeletal remains they left there. Spanish explorers encountered the island in the early 16th century, and the name was eventually anglicized to “Key West.” Spain ceded Florida to the United…
I have a classic “moth to the flame” personality. Being irresistibly drawn to something — or someone — that is ultimately dangerous or destructive seems to be in my DNA. The attraction is so powerful that I cannot help myself, even when the outcome is potentially or predictably bad. The armchair shrinks in the audience will say that this implies self-destructive tendencies that forces me to operate through compulsion more than it’s about trickery by…
Both Kim and I have had bariatric surgery. I had a lap-band installed around my upper stomach to restrict my intake of food. It was installed in 2006 and has been operating in that capacity for almost twenty years. Technically, the device was designed to be adjusted regularly with a saline inlet portal, but I quickly determined that fine tuning is not necessary for me and that the absolute restriction did a good job of…
Today we are planning to go to SeaWorld here in San Diego. We’ve now lived here more than six years and owned this hilltop for fourteen years, which means we have been here long enough to have tried almost every attraction in the area. That said, I have not been to SeaWorld since I came here in 1990 for a father/son roadtrip with my oldest son Roger. I had recently separated from Roger’s mother and…
I have often spoken of my love for National Geographic magazine. This has less to do with the memory of the yellow-bordered magazines arriving on our doorstep (I just got my latest issue in the mail yesterday), and more about my childhood fascination with antiquities and anthropology, an obsession which stays with me to this day. When we think of the modern challenges in the publishing industry, we find people (like my slightly older friend…
Yesterday we spent the day seeing all there was to see in Death Valley. We started my backtracking 18 miles to a place called Dante’s view. This is the peak of a ridge that defines to the east, the formal Death Valley configuration. Looking down from this high spot, required us to walk up along, sloping hillside, culminating out of viewing area with all the normal models and placards showing us what we were looking…
During the day, I sometimes hear phrases that catch my attention. That happened yesterday while watching a special about the life and times of Linda Ronstadt. I don’t even remember the context, but when she said in an interview, “sometimes I wish I didn’t”, it stuck with me. Linda got Parkinson’s somewhere along the way and it affected her ability to sing. She last performed on stage in 2009, when she was 63. She was…
Riding a motorcycle through the desert during the winter does interesting things to one’s mind. You think about the strangest things. That’s especially so when you decide that it’s not as interesting to listen to music through your Bluetooth helmet, but rather to take in yet another book on tape. Lately I have very much gotten into listening to one book after another, mostly because of the time I spend each day on my treadmill…
The Hidden Meadows Garden Club decided to take advantage of the San Diego Zoo Safari Park’s program of making admission free for Seniors in February. Timing of the trip could not have been better because the San Pasqual Valley facility was in all its glory yesterday, starting with a cool morning that got progressively warmer as the day went on. I am hesitant to name the attendees since, by definition, that puts them all in…
Have I ever mentioned how much I like The Economist as a publication? Back in my days on Wall Street, I used to think The Economist was too highfaluting for regular usefulness. It seemed to delve into the esoteric aspects of geopolitics and global economic issues that seemed less than fully connected to the practicum that mostly interested me. That has all changed dramatically for me in retirement. I now read the publication religiously, but…