Author: Vic Socotra

Foot Traffic (Entrance to Arlington Hall at right. Underpass entrance is dead ahead) Strong (and unusual) morning thunderstorms shook of the day, big time. They snarled in crimson on the radar weather displayed on the computer, and the sound of them advancing through the open balcony door, chewing up the commute, helped me time their […]

Emily and Lamar

(Emily and Lamar, 5th Floor)   There was a buzz rising around the pool in the later afternoon sun. It actually was sunny, for the first time in a week, and Mary Margaret and Mandy were quite agitated.   Mandy is new to Big Pink, so of course she doesn’t feel the loss. She is […]

Termites

  (Termite Damage to Interior Walls)   I had to get a termite inspection the other day- or, better phrased, had to have someone else get one. It was on a piece of property I have been eying, and the Terminex People have to guarantee that there are no insects ceaselessly gnawing away at the […]

Laundry Bandit

It has been the strangest weather. I thought about the thousands who waited in the rain, sixty-five years ago this morning for a break in the clouds to travel across the English Channel. They got their break, and saved the world.   I am just hoping for some quality pool time, a break in the […]

The Other Cheek

I don’t know quite what to make of it, do you?   This is so strange. Terra incognita. The President is in Cairo, and it was the major policy speech the President has been talking about since the endless campaign. It has come, and passed, and if you listened to the whole thing you heard all […]

Five Guys

(President Obama Visits the Five Guys on South Capitol Street- Getty Photo)    It was a thrill when we heard about the President’s first public burger run. He went to Ray’s Hell Burger in Arlington a couple weeks back with the Smokin’ Joe, the Vice President, and I understand he picked up the tab.   […]

Cyberspace at the Italian Place

(The Italian Place at Seven Corners)   It is going to be news later this morning, but it was old hat yesterday at the Italian Place.   The fight has been going on in the shadows since before 9/11, and it is not going to be resolved any time soon.   I remember when the […]

WAR

(Red Wing with Octopus) No, I am not talking about the War on I-94. That was settled reasonably enough with a deflected goal off a Red Wings skate and sent the Blackhawks back to Chi-Town in Game Five.   I feel a little guilty about caring. I mean, re-match of the Wings versus Penguins for […]

Jenny

(Mrs Ng Muk Kah- Telegraph Photo) Jenny died back in February of this year, the 19th, to be precise. It would have been pleasant in Hong Kong then, not oppressively humid and hot like it is later in the season. It is curious in this world of instantaneous communication that it should have taken so […]

WalkOns

(Stones at Arlington, just inside the Fort Myer Gate)   For whatever reason- I assume it was not enhanced security due to the North Korean nuclear test and those pesky rocket launches- they locked down Arlington Cemetery on Memorial Day morning.   The North has taken the pretext away about satellites and all that nonsense. […]