Alone in the Vastness I have written these words many times since 1995, which was when I acquired my Rikelme painting of a lone tree standing on the Pampas of Patagonia. The painting is called Solo en la Imensidad (Alone in the. Vastness), and I have always admired the sentiment of the lone and solid tree standing by itself and giving life to a small ecosystem around it. There is nobility in that tree and…
Out of Reach In the process of building my Hobbit House, I had decided to farm out the stucco work, originally to Handy Brad, who has done some stucco work around the place, and more recently to one of a couple guys who answered Handy Brad’s ad on the Next Door app. That seemed to both Handy Brad and me as the sensible thing to do since Stucco may not be that hard to do,…
The Tempest and the Tinsmith I guess I haven’t yet really figured out the seasons here on this hillside. Back east there was a higher degree of familiarity about what February, March or April meant when it came to the events of nature. It would be hard to say that there is more variability out here, but I guess I would say that the stability of the weather out here makes what little variability we…
A Birthday for the Ages I have been saying I am 68 years old for the better part of the year. I am not sure why I do that, but I always declare my age as the next birthday I am expecting. I have never been afraid of aging, though I probably should be. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t feel a full share of aches and pains, even though I…
Trust as a Four Letter Word We have a convention in this country that only partially or barely exists in many other countries. We buy life insurance. Initially, it is sold to us (note that I say sold TO us as opposed to bought BY us or sought out BY us) as a responsible way for us breadwinners to ease our guilt with the dependence we have created for our families on our income earning…
Getting Pickled I am writing this story on Sunday night, knowing that it will publish on Wednesday morning. That timing is relevant since when most people read this, Kim and I will be off getting pickled. Couples in retirement have many different ways of operating. In general I think it is fair to say that most couples try to balance individual activities with couples activities. It’s really not good to operate like working couples who…
Words and Pictures I have stumbled on a movie tonight that has happened at a moment when I have realized that after being ahead of myself on these stories for a dry long time, I have run the kettle dry. I just published a story for tomorrow morning and have to get a jump on Saturday’s story and then Sunday’s, etcetera, etcetera. How unusual that I should stumble on this particular movie staring Clive Owen…
Back on the Hilltop We flew in from Florida yesterday and I cannot express how good it felt to get back home. I know that especially as we age, we become more inclined to being homebodies, but in addition to that and being around all my “stuff” (as the great George Carlin would say), I have also genuinely come to love the climate and environs of our San Diego hilltop. I have spent my life…
Life As I Know It It is the morning of January 6, 2022, so I am both keeping an eye on the news for any important developments, but at the same time I do not want to engross myself in the ongoing and continuous rehashing of the January 6th Insurrection that took place a year ago today. It is less that I don’t want to hear it or want to somehow ignore it, but rather…
The Chateaux of My Mind This morning I am waking up in a lovely French Chateaux on a small tributary of the Loire River. I expect to see a riverboat with wine country tourists lounging on its deck coming past any minute. No, wait, why is there an egret high-stepping through the mangrove roots, they don’t have mangroves in France. Oh yeah, this particular Chateaux is not in the Loire Valley. I am on John’s…