Sleeping In Sleep is the great restorative. Nature tells us that regular and prolonged periods of rest are important for the wellbeing of the body and mind. And yet who among us has not struggled with sleep? For one, Betty never seems to have a problem. I estimate that she sleeps about ten hours at night since she nods off before us and then pretty much stays down for the duration, with only a rare…
Falling Uphill For months now I have gone up and down the back hill without incident. I am always careful, but parts of the hill are steep and all of it is rocky. What makes it even tougher is that there are parts of the turf that seems to have no substance beneath it. I can’t tell if that is due to gofers or just dryness that has dried out and aerated the earth. I…
The Rug Merchant A few days ago, I got a call from a guy who called himself Tobin. He asked if I remembered him from when we were in Turkey and had bought rugs from him. It seems he is here in Southern California with a truck full of rugs (actually, I have learned that it’s three containers full from which he refills his rugs). He wanted to come over and show us his wares…
A Valuation of Old Town We just had a quick visit from NYC friends Steven and Leslie. I know both from my Bankers Trust days of yore. Steven was a colleague who was a controller and then a CFO of several businesses I ran. Leslie was a central Human Resources professional. We have stayed in touch over the years and, indeed, Steven and I have worked together on other private company ventures. We go back…
Thunder and Lightning In 1972, Chi Coltrane, released her first, and probably her greatest hit called Thunder and Lightning. It is a simple song in terms of the lyrics and about the only thing it says is that “you’re in control”, and who knows what that means except perhaps that no one can control thunder and lightning and it is the ultimate uncontrollable state of nature. We all know that thunder comes from lightning, but…
The Movies I was once introduced to Ron Howard, Opie from The Andy Griffith Show of my youth and the filmmaker of greatest repute of my adult life. His directorial credits include Hillbillies Elegy, The DaVinci Code, Frost/Nixon (Nominated Best Director and Best Picture), Cinderella Man, A Beautiful Mind (Winner Best Director and Best Picture), Apollo 13, Backdraft, Parenthood and Cocoon. There are few people, other than perhaps Rob Reiner, Meathead from All in the…
Growing Up COVID When I was growing up I was influenced most by two wars. First there was WWII with it’s amazing sea-based battles. The visual images of dive bombers and Kamikazes buzzing like flies around battleships and aircraft carriers were vivid in my minds eye to the point of being the subject of many of my childhood drawing efforts. As for the ground battles in Europe, the landings at Anzio and Normandy were only…
EVolution It’s been a while since I’ve written about my Tesla and I think it’s about time for an update on my driving evolution in the land of the EV. I have now crossed the threshold of 10,000 miles on my Tesla X odometer after only about 60 months of ownership. That averages to about 170 miles/month, but since all but the last 18 months were spent in absentia, it would be more accurate to…
Native American Summer Last year I wrote about Indian Autumn in November. I realize that if the Cleveland baseball organization and the Washington DC football organization can change their names and the Kansas City Chiefs can get rid of their war-painted mascot (presumably as an inevitable first step towards changing their politically incorrect name), then I can change my reference for this time of year. Cleveland now has the Guardians and DC has the Washington…
Our Pieces of Peace Kim and I differ greatly in some ways and are very much alike in others. If I had to define the demarcation, I would say that we differ in the things that motivate our souls, but are very much alike in the things that motivate our hearts. Let me explain that a bit. I am choosing to define soul as that which most defines how we choose to spend our time…