(Mrs. Lot, Big Pink unit #608, surveys the salt and ice mound that covers her 2009 Prius) I am writing a cookbook, though you might not know it if you have to wade through this stuff every day. It is a real problem; the books about Rex, Naval Intelligence, Civil War Battlefields and the cookbook […]

(The Farm in Winter. The drift in front is across the driveway, waist-high and hard-pack icy from the County plows) I was going to give you a really tasty recipe for Shrimp Helene this morning, but this president’s Day I slept through the night and right past the alarm. That is sort of remarkable, considering […]

(Ruins of the Führerbunker at the Wolf’s Lair near Ketrzyn, Poland) I am sick and tired of food, and writing about it; I am weary of the house and nearly everything I can see within it; I despise the white concrete covering that cloaks the streets and sidewalks and is piled up higher than my […]

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  (Couscous with Spinach, Pine Nuts and Munster Cheese) I knew they were going to do it. The Feds are opening a couple hours late, planning on leaving early, and assigning a “liberal unscheduled leave” policy to those who really cannot get out of their subdivisions all across the region.   The government is a […]

(Buck up. The snow has stopped falling. Have some Noodle Chili. You will feel better). It is a different world out there today. Some of the drifts have piled up on top of the plowed snow, and stretch flat and level across the tops of the cars that were not dug out after Round One […]

  The isobars were all crammed together on the weather map, and that is not a good thing. They say we are going to get gale-force winds whipping the snow sideways and obscuring the church across the street from Big Pink.   The sound whistles on the sharp edges of the balconies and scours the […]

The County appears to have given up, but we remain indomitable.   Well, sort of indomitable. Jinny’s flight was cancelled at seven this morning and the cancellations are cascading. She managed to re-book on an earlier plane, but now it is asses-and-elbows to get to the airport or she is going to be stuck with […]

(The View from Tunnel Eight, 0800 Saturday, 06 February 2010. Photo by Socotra) The alarm did not go off. I wondered about that in the grayness. A curiosity. I did not know what to make of it, but I am sleeping in the guest bedroom to give Jinny some privacy, and I don’t have complete […]

Going Home Someone leaned over and said, “You live here. You must have gone to a lot of these things.” I nodded. The organist was warming up at the front of the Old Chapel at Fort Myer. “A dozen?” the man asked. I smiled enigmatically. “I wish it were just a dozen.” Death Junior told […]