Normally I get up with great discipline to read and write in an iterative manner manner, consulting with the Overseas radio and the New York Times. to you. I stayed up too late, as you know, but arose right on time at 0442. I ground the coffee and turned on the switch, thinking I might […]

I am starting off slow this morning. The New York Times e-version did not show up in my inbox , and although I have been up for more than an hour already, I have accomplished precisely nothing. I had a glitch copying files from my archive to the hard drive on the new computer. Between […]

Senator Kerry has won the Wisconsin Primary, though apparently cross-over Republicans gave Senator John Edwards a strong second place. Howard Dean’s last stand came in a distant third. He refuses to give up, or so he says publicly.  Edwards was only 6% back, which is either a win or another loss. I will have to […]

The affairs of humankind turn on ponderous hinges. We are a disorganized lot, and fate has a lot of inertia. Mine did this morning. I awoke to the knowledge that the three-day weekend commemorating the Dead Presidents was over, and the mind-numbing series of meetings on the new contract were going to begin in a […]

I slept late because the sun does not beat down on the windows here in the Sea-Cabin as it does in the Route 50 side of Big Pink. I have taken to calling the Sea Cabin because it is as small as a stateroom on a warship, and I look out on the swimming pool. […]

The oldest public school in the United States, the Boston Public Latin School, was founded today in the Year of Our Lord 1635. It was a day still locked in the heart of dark winter in New England, the summer months away. The stern Fathers of the day must have figured it was a good […]

Christopher Marquis wrote from the Imperial City on the Potomac yesterday: “As the Haitian crisis deepens, with violence flaring and President Jean-Bertrand Aristide locked in an impasse with his opponents, the Bush administration has placed itself in the unusual position of saying it may accept the ouster of a democratic government.” There is nothing unusual […]

It is a good day for Senator John Kerry. He won big in the Virginia primary. I thought about voting yesterday. It is a novel feeling, being able to declare a party affiliation after so many years of rigorous non-partisanship. But I think the Democratic Party has pretty much sorted itself out for the race […]

I spent the day assembling the Murphy Bed. I think I am probably only a month away from completion, and have resigned myself to sleeping on the floor amid the parts. But there is room for optimism. I have heat and light and the whole of a Sunday to fritter away. I took the elevator […]

I ordered Chinese after Sam the Shutter guy finally got done with the job last night. Sam has a sandy chort beard and intense blue eyes. He is a perfectionist. I wondered about offering him beer while he was trying to complete the installation of the Plantation shutters on the big glass windows. But he […]