Moonlight Madness In my new life on this hilltop, I am acutely aware of moonlight for some reason. That strikes me as particularly funny because when I bought the house in 2012 and was searching for just the right name for it (something I had done for my other vacation homes that I cared most about), I came up with the name Casa Moonstruck. That name was intended to bring the Hispanic nature of the…
Wildflowers What is the attraction of wildflowers? I have recently gotten it in my head that I want to plant some wildflower meadows on my property. I can’t really say what the genesis of the idea was other than I have always had an infatuation with wildflowers. I must not be the only one since when I went online I found many places to buy wildflower seeds. The site I chose had varieties that were…
Investment Advice The old saying is that advice is worth what you pay for it. I am guessing that other than a doctor, an investment professional gets asked for free advice more than anyone else. Lawyers may fit into that spectrum somewhere as well, but I’m guessing that if you could meter advice you would find aches and pains in the lead, closely followed by how to make or not lose money, with the query…
Going to Church No, I have not had a spiritual epiphany and reverted to being a good God-fearing Christian you all want me to be. As I have said many times, I do consider myself a good Christian already. I believe in Christian values (though my Jewish friends and Muslim friends,,,not to mention Buddhist and Hindu friends) would argue that the qualities that define goodness are more universal than those I choose to define as…
Masking as a Way of Life As we get to the short strokes on our household projects (the doors, the laundry room and the deck), the final steps involve painting. In the laundry room its all about waterfall blue on the walls, contrasting the white cabinets and sparkly white quartz countertops. The cabinet and drawer handles are a matching waterfall blue in frosted sea glass that Kim found on Etsy, one of her favorite online…
Discretion Shakespeare says in King Henry the Fourth through the likable, comic and slightly roguish character Sir John Falstaff that discretion is the better part of valor. What he means is that sheer acts of bravery are foolhardy and it is far better to be cautious, to show good judgment, to be reserved, to make responsible decisions. It can mean that shying away from battle is smarter and better than engaging. One could suggest that…
Tickling the Beast While I have a hard time saying it and as much as I consider myself an expert in the subject, I am retired. I have spent a year now preparing myself for being retired and think I have done some admirable work in positioning myself appropriately for my next stage of life, which I consider to be the retired state of being. We all understand that in a world with increased longevity…
Basalt and Pepper Ever since those delivery guys from the patio furniture store broke my lovely, but apparently delicate, fountain and I had to replace it with something else they had on their lot (less because they refused to refund my money and more because I was anxious to install my fountain), I have been less than thrilled with my garden fountain situation. I had a wandering fountain eye right from the start and occasionally…
Lunch With Marissa I feel a bit like I am over-telling the story, but nonetheless I want to describe my lunch yesterday with my new-found half-sister Marissa. To begin with, we agreed to meet in Pasadena, so that choice deserves some attention since it seems to govern a great deal of my travel decisions here in Southern California. My main driving objective when heading north is to avoid Los Angeles traffic at all costs. While…
Losing Friends I may have mentioned along the way that I have moved primary residence twenty-three times in my life. That averages to a tad more than two years in a residence. While that average appropriately characterizes my high level of movement over my life, the three longest stays in one place were nine years in the South Street Seaport (where I met Kim), seven years on Canterbury Road in Rockville Centre (where my two…