Author: Vic Socotra

Super Real

They had the funeral service for Prince Philip this morning, broadcast from Windsor Castle in the UK. It was a nice day, a bit chill, but sunny and bright. His bride, the Queen, appeared solemn, mourning the loss of her partner of 73 years. A tear ran down my cheek when a small choir sang […]

Supreme Court Numbers

Like many these days, I was curious about the new proposals to change the number of Justices who serve on the Supreme Court. There is a Presidential Commission, established by Presidential Executive Order, and legislation hovering in the House of Representatives. At first blush, it seems consistent with Franklin Roosevelt’s 1937 attempt to re-structure the […]

Life & Island Times: Then and Now

Editor’s Note: There is a lot flying around this morning. It used to be Tax Day, but not now under emergency rule. The Supreme Court is the next issue in the reform of America into something the Editorial Board does not quite recognize. The timing of it all is curious, perhaps because we were used […]

Moderna and Eid al-Fitr

Author’s Note: A bonus edition of The Daily. It is intended to support Public Health Emergency Response. At this moment in time, it is No Big Deal. – Vic It was an interesting morning here. There was some mild apprehension in the air. I needn’t go into the “why” for that. Yesterday’s panic was the […]

Clean Sweep

Our Earth continues its wobble into the season of warmth. In between passing showers here in Virginia’s Piedmont, the news lapped at the greening property line. There is renewed trouble in Minneapolis, another indication of seasonal changing temperatures. This one is interesting only in its horrific banality that sweeps all before it. Up North, a […]

Weather Report: Say “Ouch!” If It Hurts

An interesting day in the country. Looming close is an adventure that caused a vivid dream in the early hours as dawn was gathering its strength to flood the fields with light green light. Frank and Phil arrived without fanfare yesterday to administer the First Cut to the pastures and hack at the ornamental bushes […]

Sounds of Spring

The Spring continues to unfold here in the country. It is a slow, inexorable process and one that enlivens the senses. Sound is one of the things that accompanies it. The Hydrangea bush that embraces the back porch seems a magnet of attractive to several honeybees, members of the hives kept on the fields next […]

Bathed in Spring

Gray and chill yesterday. The Lady in Red informed us soberly that the indomitable Canadian jet stream had strayed south again, the northern cool air colliding with our Piedmont semi-tropical moisture. Rain again in the hours of darkness, but the morning dawned bright and welcoming. Word from the meteorological staff was that it would be […]

Old News

We started into a discussion of some old institutions founded in the wake of old scandals the other day. The Editorial Staff was reluctant at first, since it was old news on a gray day that displayed the earth’s reluctance to commit full-blown to Spring. The Staff is committed to the season, though, and the […]

Marlow’s: After the Whirlwind

Editor’s Note: Marlow returns this morning with ironic flourish as the world considers the passing of the longest-serving consort to the British Monarch. At 99 years of age, Philip was a presence across my life, born the same day (though three decades sooner) on a table-top on the island of Corfu. The Royal family has […]