Future v. Past We are rolling up to the big presidential debate on Tuesday night. I have never thought that this debate would happen. In fact, I have $10 riding on the notion that there would be no debate because Trump would no-show. At this point I think the odds of that outcome have fallen to below 50%, but I wouldn’t throw away my bet ticket just yet. I have been watching what the various…
Life in Reverse My friend Tom is on the road north and will, within a month or so, land back at his starting place in Australia. He is the son of two Czechoslovak parents who left the country as the Communists took over with Soviet assistance in 1948. They left with their two young sons via Italy and eventually landed in Perth, Australia in a refugee camp. It was there that Tom was born into…
Back in the Oven We are currently experiencing a late season heat wave. The Excessive Heat Warning sign is posted and it looks as though today is the first of what is expected to be a four-day streak where this hilltop high temperature is expected to exceed 100 degrees. It says it’s 101 right now. Someone finally published a temperature map that seems to confirm what I have always known since moving out here. On…
The Picture of My Youth In a few hours from now, my old friend from high school, Tom Wohlmut will arrive for a two day stay with his wife Brenda as they make their way west from Santa Fe, heading for their new life in Australia. Tom is one of two friends I can say I have retained from my youth and I have many fond memories of our times together in Rome during our…
Turning Thirty Today is my youngest son’s birthday. He was born in 1995, so he is technically turning twenty nine today, but as we all know, that means he is starting his thirtieth year. I don’t know how much of a milestone that feels like to him, but it feels a bit like a milestone to me. Thomas was born in the middle of the decade of endless possibilities to me. I started the Nineties…
A Labor of Love Today is Labor Day, which has been a national holiday since 1894. Even though it falls 2-3 weeks before the formal calendar transition from summer to fall, America always considers it the end of summer and the start of “back-to-school” season. It’s one of these times when everyone seems focused on their business before the holidays kick in at the end of November. Strangely enough, the hardest working folks in my…
Apple Pie Today we are taking a mini roadtrip to Julian. Julian is a small alpine village set up in the Volcan Mountains, just southwest of the Pinyon Ridge where the Anza-Borrego Desert lives. It’s north of the Laguna Mountains which were the famous barrier to the railroad access to San Diego from the east. One of the things I like most about this area is the vast diversity of geography that exists and Julian…
Deadly Encounter I have just heard on the radio and read in Time Magazine about the West Nile and EEE (Eastern Equine Encephalitic) viruses. It seems that in the Northeast, centered in Eastern Massachusetts, there has been an outbreak of these viruses that has caused some not-insignificant public health concerns. We are headed to Nova Scotia and the surrounding provinces in a few weeks and our friends Mike and Melisa are heading into new England…
Catching a Break It has been a very warm week here on the hilltop. Notice that I am saying warm and not hot. Because it has been dry, the warmth of the day has felt good and not bad or oppressive. Nonetheless, when I stopped by to see our friends Faraj and Yasuko yesterday, two people who seem always on the go and usually outside in the garden, they were hunkered in the house with…
The Art of Disparagement When you disparage someone, you are making false and injurious statements about something. Usually it refers to comments made about a business or product rather than a person directly. Directing such false and injurious comments against a person is called defamation and most often takes the form of libel (written or visual) or slander (spoken or audible). All of this specificity is intended to get to the bottom of the comments…