From Refuge Farm, we are watching America having a train wreck. It is a curious thing that features some of the political theater that often accompanies change, particularly if it is change many people do not desire. There are things going on that challenge conventional wisdom. For Boomers, it is problematic. As kids, we saw […]

The seasons changed yesterday a little before tea-time. There was recognition of the change of season as we slide toward the bright panoply of color and celebration of the passing of the warm season, and the prospects of fresh northern air. There a momentary burst of activity on The Farm, not so much for the […]

(Winky’s plush Philippine rattan cruisebox quarters have not survived the years since 1980, his last embarked and underway period on the Best Damn Carrier in the Fleet. For now, Ship’s Company personnel have reserved a special berthing arrangement in the legendary Ship’s Library in order for Winky to be rapidly accessible to answer emerging questions […]

USS Midway (CV-41) is prepared to accept the return of LTJG Winky, USN-Ret., after forty years on The Beach. He felt the need to serve again. He will arrive on the bet damn carrier in the Navy tomorrow! Copyright 2021 Vic Socotra photos Pat Alderman www.vicsocotra.com

As you may have heard, I am attempting to leave my happy home up in Arlington. The Condo went on the market a couple weeks ago, and one of the Dirty Dozen denizens wrote to tell me what is happening in our happy neighborhood. These photos are from one of her walks in the neighborhood. […]

(The view from my place at Big Pink. She Who Prefers Anonymity is still there, in her unit, but the Dirty Dozen is in the process of timed withdrawal from a changing place). I was talking to an old pal from Big Pink, a happy residence for nearly twenty years on the edge of the […]

The Sunday editorial meeting has certain characteristics common to each week: some excesses of exuberance that follow the conclusion of a full week of laying about the fire ring, thinking creative thoughts. The accumulated wreckage of shipping containers, coffee grounds, assorted cans, trash and soggy papers went to the Dumpster, which was thankfully done smoldering […]

The morning meeting had all the usual issues of the editorial process colliding with the dull sensibilities of a Saturday morning. Loma was blurry, for predictable reasons after starting his weekend at Belmont Farms Happy-Hour to Hip-Flask celebration. Rocket was anything but explosive in his limp approach to the matter since he rode along to […]