Mobilizing the Retreat This morning we enjoyed a life event. Charlotte and Evelyn planned and orchestrated a wedding of their two new stuffed kittens, Brownie and Coconut. I’m not sure what occasioned the event, but it was a full orchestration set up on the deck replete with bride and groom seating for friends, a stuffed croissant officiating, a red carpet of red towels, wedding music, a wedding cake and a full ceremony with ring-bearers. I…
When a Home Becomes a House Little by little I am removing personal effects from my house in Ithaca. My intention is to leave intact and fully serviceable for people who want to stay here over the next four months to wallow in the memories of Ithaca summers past. This house has Ben a magnet for all the detritus of family life for us over the past twenty-five years. Whenever we are given an odd…
Traveling to the Middle East Over my working years, I travelled extensively in the Middle East. It began in the late 80s, thirty-five years ago, when I went through the region to work on disposing of my bank’s $4B of Latin American sovereign debt. In some ways, it was the petrodollar surge of OPIC and the Middle East that had created the Latin American debt crisis of that age since those petrodollars, which morphed into…
The Day Before the Day Before I have always been an impatient person. If I am supposed to be somewhere at nine o’clock, I am generally there by 8:45 at the latest. I always prefer a morning flight to an afternoon flight because I would rather relax after arriving someplace than try to relax before heading out. While I generally think that promptness and timeliness is a virtue, I will admit that I take it…
Mens Rea We have now watched seven of the presumed eight public hearings of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capital. These hearings have been startling to most of us. I would like to think they were required watching for every voting-age citizen of the United States, but America doesn’t do that sort of thing. We prize our individual liberty too dearly to ever mandate something so specific.…
The Prince and the Pea You all know the story of the princess and the pea. It’s about this young princess that is so very delicate that she must be given a bed that has an extra soft mattress in order to be able to sleep at night. She tells this to her prince and while he wants to believe she is a real princess, his queen mother wants proof so she decides to put…
A Trip to the Shore From my hilltop I can see forty miles of Pacific Ocean. That shoreline from Oceanside down to San Diego or even from Oceanside north along Camp Pendleton to Dana Point is arguably some of the nicest stretches of beach in the world. There is something about the beach in Southern California that is integral to the way of life. For us, while we occasionally take a ride over to the…
Revising My Life Today I spent the day sorting through all my personal effects here in Ithaca. I want to get this all done in two days so that I can avoid inflicting my triage activities on my daughter and granddaughters. I want them to throughly enjoy their last stay at this house and not be burdened by having to be constantly reminded that we are moving on. Nothing disturbs our dog Betty more than…
Summertime and the Living is Breezy It’s been an unusually nice summer weather pattern here in Ithaca the past fortnight. Some days get up into the 80’s and feel a bit hot in the afternoon, but most days have been in the mid 70s and start and end cool. Yesterday, my big event for the day was to be a barbecue in the early evening with several friends from my University involvement days. The granddaughters…
Deanship My friend Gary spent many years as a Provost of a number of Universities. The Provost is the chief operating or administrative officer of the university and is basically charged with the running of the business of the university. The President of the university is the top leader of a university, butt his job is far less administrative and far more about the primary mission of fundraising and making bigger picture mission or policy…