Author: Vic Socotra

Wrapping Up

(Vic is shown here wearing the shirt that commemorates his impending 65th year of continuous, successful, sustained respiration on the planet Earth. It reads even more ominous than it sounds. It is a gift from a Black Labrador Retriever, discerning literary critic and Patriot). We jump around a little like Ricochet Rabbit here at The […]

Balalaika

This is a season with two anniversaries that are so significant and profound as to mention them before we do anything else. First is the one that is tantalizingly close but impossibly far away. We all knew someone growing up who had been there when Ike’s Armada steamed across the Channel to disgorge their cargo […]

Men Who Talk With Trees Part II

Life and Island Times – June 5 2016 Men Who Talk With Trees Part II This morning your scribe sat down to read what he had found the previous evening. In a 2002 story Jeff Klinkenberg of the St Petersburg Times connected the dots of two tree addicts in the Keys that Marlow knew (Nick […]

Men Who Talk With Trees Part I

Life and Island Times – June 4 2016 Men Who Talk With Trees Part I During the island fires two years ago, Marlow’s yard was awash in fire ash. The orange red residue was piling up and staining everything in sight, including W’s much beloved German sports car. Something had to be done. Upon consultation […]

The Goddess of Storms

Life and Island Times – June 6 2016 The Goddess of Storms Taino depiction of Guabancex: the Goddess of Storms Guabancex was a goddess of the native Tainos of the Caribbean islands long before Columbus arrived and Spanish colonization began. She was known as the “one whose fury destroys everything.” Taino idols depicting her revealed […]

Time Traveling

I was on a mission from God. Or somebody after The Blonde telephoned me from the Lake. I had called Jon-Without and Heather to see if they wanted to join me for a cross-country adventure to find the Original Willow Bar, but Heather explained that she was trapped at a wedding in Cape May with […]

Lost and Found

(The Blonde took this shot yesterday at a restaurant called “the Cove” at Lake Anna. I am headed there now). OK- time to take a deep breath. We got the boys back from their cruise, celebrated the heroes of the Battle of Midway on the anniversary of the first day of that fight, and am […]

With the Golden Pelicans at Midway

As you know, I did a series of articles on the commemorative events scheduled for the Battle of Midway Week, 04-07 June. Having written them was almost as good as having actually done them, so I sort of forgot about them. It is appropriate that am writing now 74 years from the exact time the […]

Homecoming

02 June 2016 Editor’s Note: Every Fly Off is the same, and all are different. My fighter buddy Bronco sent me this one, from his time as an F/A-18 Hornet Skipper, which sums it up nicely: “Ah, Channel Fever. I remember it so well. I know you might discuss fly-off next, so here’s my story […]

What Was He Looking For

Life and Island Times – 02 June 2016 What Was He Looking For Yesterday was one of those days. He had climbed to the top of that day’s ladder only to discover it was against the wrong wall. It wasn’t that it involved climbing a high mountain or running through a battlefield. Those times were […]