Since I bothered to write about my edema problem a few days ago, I thought a quick update might be in order. My sister, Barbara is already concerned enough to have called and texted me and I suspect I am just a step away from having nursing home materials sent to me by her. It’s nice to have people be concerned about your well-being, but I will remind everyone that most of us overthink our…
Yes, Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys died at age 82 after a life of brilliant song writing and multiple bouts with drug abuse and mental illness. Brian Wilson was absolutely brilliant – one of the true geniuses of popular music. He was the creative mastermind behind The Beach Boys’ sound, writing and arranging those incredible harmonies and melodies that defined the California sound of the ’60s. His work on Pet Sounds (Rolling Stone considers…
This feels like an unusual week for me. It’s probably most unusual because it’s a transition week for us, just getting back to our normal hilltop life. First of all, it’s early June, which means that we have an overabundance of June Gloom in the morning. That’s the marine layer that comes in from the ocean and creates a fog layer up here that burns off somewhere between 10am and early afternoon, depending on how…
I’ve heard the term dropsy for many years, but like so many things you hear, unless you have a reason for figuring out what it means, you tend to ignore it. So I ignored dropsy, figuring it was something akin to the vapors or vertigo and it certainly didn’t affect me. Well, now I have learned that dropsy is an old medical term for what we now call edema – the abnormal accumulation of fluid…
The expression “beating a dead horse” has its origins in the mid-19th century. The expression “beating a dead horse” (or “flogging a dead horse” in British English) dates back to a time when the phrase is said to have been popularized by English politician John Bright. In March 1859, during a House of Commons debate about parliamentary reform, Lord Elcho remarked that Bright had not been satisfied with his “winter campaign” and that Bright had…
Right now I’m sitting in the foyer of Sage Hall on the Cornell campus. Sage Hall holds a lot of meaning for me for several reasons. To begin with I was part of the Advisory Council of the business school that decided that the business school should be relocated from Mallot Hall, where I went to the school, to Sage Hall, which is at the center of the Cornell campus. Sage Hall at Cornell University…
When I was in school 50+ years ago, we all adhered to the notion that Ithaca was the second least sunny city in America behind Seattle. We all acknowledged that Ithaca was lovely in the summer, but most of us were busy elsewhere during that glorious season. So, to most of us, being in Ithaca meant we hunkered down to our studies and expected nothing of the weather to contribute to our enjoyment of life.…
Today is our day in Brooklyn. We stopped here to see our two granddaughters and my daughter Carolyn and husband John. They live a short walk from our hotel in Red Hook, so after breakfast in the hotel dining room, we headed over with a small suitcase of laundry in tow to do. It was like the prodigal son returning home from college with his dirty laundry, only this time it was the prodigal father…
We are heading into the last few days of our trip. We’ve made the crossing without incident and will spend a day in Brooklyn to see the granddaughters and daughter Carolyn and John. We’ve booked a local hotel within walking distance from their duplex and will launch our roadtrip to Ithaca on Thursday. I’m going up for my 50th undergraduate reunion and will spend several days communing with all my college friends. The inner circle…
The archipelago of Malta has one last surprise for us…the north island of Gozo. Gozo is the second-largest island in the Maltese archipelago, located in the Mediterranean Sea about 5 kilometers northwest of the main island of Malta. It’s known for its rural charm, dramatic landscapes, and rich history. The island is characterized by rolling hills, terraced fields, limestone cliffs, and beautiful bays. It’s more rural and less developed by nature than Malta, giving it…