We are supposed to soar in temperature all the way to the mid-40s today, which is a good thing, since I have to venture out to the wilds of Fairfax County this morning. The roads are passible, but the relative warmth is going to make everything soupy and salty by early afternoon. I packed up […]

I am uncertain about making the bed this morning. Normally, it is an element of faith, that once out of the embrace of the eiderdown, it is the grown up thing to put it back in good order, sheets folded down on top, covers tight as a drum, and the pillows stacked just so. I […]

(A detail from the painting “Charge of the Light Brigade” by James Edwin McConnell). OK- another crap shoot. The metro guys are saying it will start in the darkness, and freezing rain to wintery mix to some significant snow- maybe a foot of it on top of the ice by the time dazed Washington attempts […]

Before Lent, anyway. Then Tracy is going to roll out the Fish Fridays in honor of the season. In the meantime, most of the usual suspects showed up for locally raised, humanely slaughtered, slow-cooked and thinly sliced beef on Kate Jansen’s home-made Kemmelweck rolls, topped with deep-fried olives and with horseradish, caramelized onions, sour cream […]

(Canadian navvies in the green dark forest building the railroad that spanned a continent. Photo Wikpedia). It is a chill but delightful day in Your Nation’s Capital. I was moderately pleased about yesterday’s outing- I got some positive feedback on the analysis of the “97% of Doctors Who Smoke, Smoke Camels” methodology of the Global […]

(Image copyright M. Ramos). It is snowing again this morning. A little heavier version of what happened yesterday, which made the sixth or seventh “significant” snow in DC this winter cycle. We all know about the Polar Vortex weather pattern that has driven colder and snowier airmasses across the midsection of America. We used to […]

(Jim and Jeff, an associate from the building and real estate world. Photos Socotra). Home again, home again. Funny- it doesn’t feel that way. It is snowing outside. Sticking, too, at least to the grassy areas. My very wise cousin wrote me about vacations yesterday. Her Dad the Famous Bomber Pilot had a maxim about […]

(Panzer parked at the Refuge Farm gate, unscathed after 2,500 miles. Well, in this universe, anyway. Photo Socotra). Life is grand, but I have to say this seems like a dream. Friday, I was reading the iPad on the screen porch listening to the traffic rumbling up and down White Street, shorts and flip-flops, wondering […]

Morning in the Keys and Michael let me down- his last chance this trip- since the truck at the corner of White and Truman was closed for second time when I needed him. Instead of a tasty breakfast sandwich, I had to settle for filling up the tank on the Panzer and got some cash […]

(Image of artist Sanchez, at the Sanchez Corner at the Green Parrot Bar. Photo Socotra). I understood from Debbie, the sturdy and personable blonde morning bartender at The Bull that the muralist would be around in the morning to touch up his masterwork- the gigantic mural at the end of the downstairs bar featuring sailors […]