(Argentinian players are scrumming or something in this action shot from ESPN). Old Jim summed it up pretty eloquently last night at the bar as the mind-numbing match between two incredibly talented defensive teams from the Argentine and Holland battled to an inconclusive nil-nil tie in extended time. Then they picked a couple guys and […]

So the Germans shocked the Boys from Brazil yesterday afternoon. It was nothing short of astonishing. I had turned the match on at Big Pink, finishing off a decent swim under clear but hazy skies. Kulik the lifeguard was bummed- he had no way to watch the match, and once I left there was no […]

Will Brazil go ugly early? Will they attempt to foul their way into the finals over the methodical Germans? Based on the ugly way they have advanced before their adulating fans, the answer is probably yet. Will I go out to watch the game? Stay in? Why on earth do I care? Is it that […]

It might have been the best weekend of the year- maybe one of the best 4th of July Weekends in a long time. The humidity was down, temperatures were mild, and I turned off the air conditioning at the farm and threw the windows open to the inviting sounds of the birds, occasional gunfire from […]

It is just about high summer at the farm, and the encroaching vegetation is peeping through the fences and the weeds are coming up in the gravel driveway and the white stone Zen garden in the front yard. Well, it had been a Zen garden. Now the white is getting mostly covered by ratty green. […]

  Actually, all the fireworks were at the bountiful dinner table set up next to the garden and just up the slope from the range, and the new grapevines and the now-productive hives. Natasha called just after I got tired of pulling weeds in the front yard. The rain from Hurricane Arthur had softened the […]

(The detective was driving a military-style vehicle like this Toyota FJ Cruiser off-road SUV. I didn’t pay much attention until I realized I was looking down the bore of a professional grade digital Single Lens Reflex camera with a telephoto lens and he started taking pictures of me. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?) I am working on […]

It is Independence Day tomorrow- we have a hurricane, first of the season, coming up the coast. Only the Outer Banks of North Carolina should get spanked, and we are hoping all we get is some rain, but preparations still have to be made. That is what hung up the story yesterday- I had a […]

I follow all the news about Detroit with a sort of grim fascination about what is next for the hapless city. An alert pal sent me a blub from the LA Times about the next disaster: Detroit is violating the human rights of residents by cutting off their water service because they have not paid […]

I should put a question mark on that title. I am speaking of course about the highest court in the land, not the best girl band in Motown’s storied history. It was an interesting weekend. A lot of pool time, and some most triumphant weather. I ran across a lot more of the story of […]