10 June 1951 I am sixty-two this morning. I thank Big Mama for that: it was Sunday in Detroit, and early, and as was the case in those days, they shooed Raven away and told him to go get a cup of coffee and a slice of pie. Raven told me many years later it […]

(You may know James Ewell Brown- “J.E.B.” Stuart by his portrait as a fiercely bearded warrior. This one shows his other side.) Trust me, I have been all over the map this morning on matters of real national urgency. There is something so banal and yet completely sinister going on in Your Nation’s Capital that […]

“Though some mass extinctions happen quickly, most take hundreds of thousands of years. So how would we know whether one was happening right now? The simple answer is that we can’t know for sure. What we do know for certain, however, is that mass extinctions have decimated our planet on a regular basis throughout its […]

(Album cover of the most widely sold record in history: Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon.) You might be under a rock, and if so, I apologize for turning it over. Things are much more comforting in the dark sometimes, which is where we were until the latest pair of revelations hit. The twin […]

(Group of officers of the 837th Squadron, 487th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force at RAF Lavenham, Sussex, England. Uncle Dick is third from left, back row.) I would have written about D-Day this morning, 69 years ago. I normally tip my service cap to the memory of Uncle Dick, the bomber pilot, who launched in […]

I am contemplating a long road trip to the Front Range to attend a family funeral. It is the only time we get together these days, and worth it. I do not want to book a flight, though, since they might put me on one of the new Dreamliners, sitting on top of the newly-enhanced […]

It was a night for the ages at Willow, following a day of drama and emotion. I don’t know if the battle at the Coral Sea was more significant than we commonly remember here. It was that tactical draw between the US Navy and the rampaging and unchecked Navy of the Empire of the Sun. […]

(Animation Domination cartoon master Seth Macfraland. Photo Fox) So, the monsoon came after I got back to the Beltway from the farm. So far, so good. I made the best of things in the pre-dawn and listened to the rain and reviewed the continuing crisis in Syria, which has now spread full-blown to quasi-Europe and […]

It is hot, sultry and sunny, filled with the roar of the cicadas and the mirth of 7-year-old Sasha, the Russian Princess. But let me get to that in a minute. It was a relief to get away from the traffic and commotion of the Imperial City. It was jammed at the usual place, the […]

(Jon-without, Jerry the Barrister, Vic and Heather’s hand. That is Tracey O’Grady’s special in the foreground- a very large sandwich. Photo Jamie) It was the last Friday of the month, and people flocked to Willow as soon as they could get away from their offices. Tracey was doing her Buffalo Wild Wings Theme special of […]