(Kathie Van Den Brink Meek, Jan 15, 1956 – Oct 19 2010. Photo Meek.) The gathering the other night at Willow could have gone any direction, north or south. There was reason for great sadness, and there was reason for satisfaction at twenty-five years of survival for The Professionals in an uncertain world. In the […]

(Church Spire of The Church of the Brethren, 22 October 2010, viewed from the balcony of Big Pink. Photo Socotra.) It was one of those days. You know the ones, so much significant activity that only the alcohol at the end permitted any clarity, and that, in turn, made the morning after so damned complicated. […]

(Fall leaves at Refuge Farm.)   I am a little disjointed this morning, though you probably can’t tell the difference. There is apparently a fellow named John hurtling south from New Jersey in a truck, intent on purchasing my 2003 Harley Night Train. I don’t want to get rid of it, but hey, I have […]

(USS Des Moines, CA-134, in rising gale. Oil on canvas.) Peter is a real pro, and the heart of the spirit of Willow’s bar. He snuck up in his unflappable way and filled my tulip glass to the precise level for easy listening to Mac’s story of lunch with Marshall Josef Broz Tito, Emperor of […]

(The White Palace, Belgrade, Serbia. Photo AP) I looked down at my notes on Willow’s rich wood bar. The happy hour wine made me mellow, and Mac’s stories were washing over me, not sepia toned at all, but real, as if no time had passed at all.   “The PARPRO issue was part of what […]

(First Supreme Commander, Allied Forces Europe Dwight Eisenhower in his office in Paris, 1951. US Army photo.) Monday is a fine day to stop at Willow after work, and I had a lot of questions for Mac. He enjoys the $5 bar menu and a ginger ale or two, and h is hungrier now that […]

(Convair B-36 Peacemaker, 1949. Official Air Force picture.) “The Bomb got us all home,” said Mac. “It saved us the hundreds of thousands of casualties, American and Japanese, that would have come if we had executed Operation OLYMPIC. That is certain. But once the bomb was used, the genie was out of the bottle.” Mac […]

(Bethesda Naval Hospital. Official Navy Photo.) “Maybe he was, and maybe he wasn’t,” said Mac, shaking his head. “And maybe he did and maybe he was pushed out that window. You know that British classified records were just released a couple years ago that indicate Menachem Begin’s Irgun Gang in Palestine had a serious plot […]

(Main Navy and Munitions, Washington, DC. Official navy Photo) The rescue of the Chilean miners seemed to be going like clockwork, and the whole thing was a marvel. It appeared they would all be out of the hole by midnight. Peter glided by the cocktail nook and topped up my glass. Mac sipped on his […]

We were at Willow, naturally, but I was not at the bar talking to the Mikes and Ray. Sabrina was taking good care of us, and this was a Mac interview. We were over in the conversation nook in the front corner of the restaurant. There was a lot to talk about as usual, when […]