(Phases of the Moon)     “THE wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees,     The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,     The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,     And the highwayman came riding—                       Riding—riding—     The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.”                                                 – Alfred Noyes […]

(The White House Press Briefing Room in better days- Photo Truman Library)   I fell asleep by the pool in the lowering light. When I awoke, the kids were playing a full contact game of “Marco Polo.” You know the one, and it is impossible to get away from it in the summer.   It […]

  (Metro Rail Crash 22 June 2009. Photo by Kristinashan)   We knew it was going to get worse when we turned it off to watch the re-run of he Vampire series on HBO. You can trust that part of things, that the story will get worse before it gets better.   There were six […]

(Orbital Mechanics)   They called the daylight assault on the Normandy Beaches The Longest Day in the cool movie based on the Cornelius Ryan book with the stunning international cast released back in 1962.   The movie, if you recall, was shot in black and white, just like real life.   It must have been […]

  (Little Traverse Bay at Sunset)   Walt Whitman may have it best, since this is a bittersweet time. There are other voices, of course, but I rely on Walt for a lot. For those of you that have passed this way before, you know, and those who have not will know soon enough. I […]

   (The Hilt of a Pappenheimer Blade)   Make no mistake, there are still some classically trained people out there, and not everyone has drunk of the Kool-Aid of what passes for popular culture these days.   I was minded of the transience of that when I returned to the daily crossword puzzle on a […]

(Naval Cutlass) Gentle readers, I am traveling today, and will leave the story of the lovely handmaiden of Rowan for tomorrow.   Today’s saga will come to you in an authentic voice of my Cajun associate, Boats, who has a little more time on his hands these days, due to his status as a Dinosaur, […]

(Cadet with President Bush 2006; Midshipmen in formation, graduation 2006) (U.S.Naval Academy)   I got a note from a pal I respect yesterday, which is not to say that I have pals that I don’t, but this is an association that goes back a long way. He gently called me out. Not in a bad […]

(Bloody Mary, the way the Major Liked it)   It is an interesting time, to be sure. The Senate just gave tobacco to the Food and Drug administration, which is a long way around the rose bush from the King of England four hundred years ago saying the brown rich weed from the New World […]

(Naval Officer Sword Hilt)   There is an e-mail going around reporting the arch outrage of the local Conservative rag, the Washington Times, when it was discovered that the Midshipmen at the Naval Academy graduation were asked- ordered- to leave their dress swords in their lockers when they came to the ceremony at Annapolis.   […]