(Big Mama’s beloved 1998 Dodge Stratus ES. Photo Brown Motors.) Editor’s note: I could barrage you with two stories this morning, but instead will uncharacteristically refrain. What follows is the latest chapter of the continuing adventure of the latest visit to Raven and Big Mama, residents of the Little Village By the Bay, and the […]

(Mac and the Lovely Bea at the Willow Bar. Photo Socotra.) Well, some of you expressed concern about the lack of a story yesterday. Many more were relieved to not have to hit the “delete” button. But Mac was mildly concerned, and he said so as I slid onto a bar stool next to him, […]

It seemed that all was well with the traveler‘s from Petoskey- the little village by the bay- and afar. The previous day had found Annook, Big Mama, Annook’s family and seven other displaced Alaskans gathered together at a family styled diner in Niagara on the Lake, in Canada. All had breakfast, then some went wine […]

(Klondike Kate, circa 1906 in Dawson. Photo Virtual History) While I was tapping my toes waiting for the Comcast guy to come last night, “between five and eight” I started to read a great history of the Klondike Gold Rush. It had been sitting on the shelf for a couple years, but my interest was […]

There are reasons for everything, as you long-suffering readers must know by now. The particular form that these disjointed narratives take was spawned in a sort of roman a clef format, through the simple necessity that once upon a time (code for “sea story”) there was an implacable Agency that determined it had the authority […]

(The rows of 9/11 graves at Arlington Cemetery, 29 May, 2011. The 9/11 Memorial to their loss is on the left. Photo Socotra.) This first warm holiday of this strange year had a lot of co-workers sliding early to the door last week. There is a tempest coming in the business space where we work, […]

(The Canadian Side of Niagara Falls. Photo Niagara Vacations.) The roar of V-twin engines woke me before dawn. Normally. I waded pensively through the lead story in the NY Times this morning on the challenge of the kids returning from Afghanistan. I remember painfully well what it was like. The first couple times were extraordinarily […]

  I was as alert as a Magpie this morning, up early, getting prepared. The big Harleys are in town for Rolling Thunder. Some are camped out at the assembly of God/Iglisia de Luz Verderada across Pershing Street. The morning air is punctuated with the roar of twin V engines. It is The Day, the […]

(Willow butter-poached lobster tail and lobster ravioli with creamy fennel gratin, savory & sherry sauce. Photo Socotra.) I was walking in the late afternoon sun and thinking I might just start sweating. The conflict between the pleasant diversions of Willow and the allure of the sparkling blue waters of the Big Pink Pool is going […]

(Anook’s day. Lucy image courtesy ABC and Charles Schultz.) Anook tried to find the birth certificate and/or the passport for Magpie – but failed.  The house is in chaos with the remodeling activity. Things that a year ago were in one place are now in new ones, locations of specific items requiring a geologist’s knowledge […]