Left Coast Guy is one of my better pals, and I noticed to my surprise the other day that we have known each other for almost 35 years. He has a serenity in his thought process that I often envy, and a gentle manner even when he is applying careful critical thinking to the issues […]

(Captain Harry Wales of 662 Squadron, 3RD Regiment, Royal Air Force) I am sitting at the laptop with my face in the rictus of a smile (the skin on my face is still burned from the tailgate at College Park on Saturday) thinking about it all. Game Day was an all-day drunken debauch, and then […]

It is game day Saturday, Maryland vs. U-Conn, and what I knew was going to happen after the insane week of proposal writing, happened.   I fell asleep shortly after eight- a pleasant thing- but not so pleasant when my eyes popped open at one-thirty. I was wide awake and could not get back to […]

I am a little smaller this morning, not so pumped up. We deliver a proposal to the Government this morning, first thing, and as I write the boxes that contain the binders are waiting in Gaithersburg to be driven down to Ballston for further transport and delivery to Joint Base Bolling-Anacostia.   Aside from the […]

(Jubilant jihadi celebrates at the US Consulate in Benghazi. Photo Reuters).   I am listening to an NPR fund drive, streaming live from a city where I don’t live, and the jolly money-raisers comment wryly that they cannot stand the political advertising on every other media link, and that only public radio can provide the […]

(Viewing the 9/11 Memorial from the perspective of LCDR Otis “Vince” Tolbert’s grave. Photo Socotra, 9/11/12).   I waited until the actual minute of the impact that Flight 77 hit the building had passed. Then I gathered my crap together for the day and drove over to Ft Myer, which nestles around the west side […]

(Dignitaries from some other observation of this day. Tish and Jim are to the left. Photo DIA).   I have been feeling weird all summer. I was taking down the Christmas lights this morning- don’t ask- and it suddenly struck me. Wow, I thought, the reception on Saturday night was a thing of great pride […]

(Pool Furniture piled up after the first winds of Autumn swept through Big Pink. Photo Socotra)   The water was wonderful. The vastness of the Big Pink pool retained the heat of summer, even as the tornados of the changing season swept through yesterday, hurling the light furniture up against the fence. It was chaotic […]

    (Early revelers occupy the Amen Corner at Willow. All Photos Socotra).   There was an opportunity to meet the new in-laws Friday evening, and I wanted to do something special to mark the occasion. I contracted with Kate Jansen, baker extraordinaire, to do one of her famous cakes. That is how I came to […]

(Brock Yates fills up the Ferrari Daytona piloted by racing legend Dan Gurney on the Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophey Dash, 1975. Photo Car and Driver Magazine.) If you think I am going to talk about the convention, you would be wrong. I am being resolute in my opposition to encouraging any of the candidates. […]