(This is the prototype for solar energy farms of the future that can produce electric power except when there are clouds or when the sun goes down. When operating, the individual mirrors focus intense heat on the tower array, which boils water to produce energy. It also shreds birds in midair and can blind pilots, […]

(Mom in Miami, 1960) To all the mothers out there, the very best wishes for a day filled with little luxuries, and the adoration of your children. Perhaps brunch? Certainly a respite from the cares of raising the next generation. Mom has been gone now since January of 2012. That first Mother’s Day without her […]

Sorry-got off on the Cold War this morning with the usual suspects. Maybe it was part of the informal celebration of Soviet Victory Day yesterday at Willow- the one that commemorated the final victory over Nazi Germany by he Red Army. We started with some thoughts about the Boko Haram, the militants who kidnapped almost […]

I have been a traveling man most of my professional life. Mostly the unpleasant bag-dragging sort of travel in which you never really get to unpack, and wind up humping the luggage through elevators of varying reliability to cabs of uncertain hygiene to oppressive air portals of embarkation. Remember the stunning invocation of luggage with […]

I got one in the inbound this morning that caused me to sit up straight and sputter in my coffee. I was hung over- I don’t know what happened with the Happy Hour White on Tuesday, but I got a vague case of dyspepsia, and came home early. It was the Lovely Jamie’s last trip […]

Boats wrote me this morning to beat me up, saying: “I am a bit bewildered by your basic attitude towards pasturage. You’re paying thousands for, and hundreds in maintenance coasts for basically a mechanical small sheep or goat herd.” “To the non-urban mind, pasturage is not a big lawn, but a productive asset.” “You can […]

(Whatever was happening here- possibly the departure of Famous Bomber Pilot Dick and his entourage from West Webster, NY- apparently left Grandma cold. There are many many better pictures, but this one is a study in ambiguity. Left to right, Rocky, Dick, Burr, Marshall, Grandma, Jim, Vic, Rhoda, Betty and Ted. Check the car. Dick […]

(“First Flight” Painting by artist Bill Northup courtesy the F8 Crusader Association.) I am waking this Cinco de Mayo at the Farm. I was scanning slides last night, half watching the television and half lost in a reverie. I like the soft pace of a Sunday night here, and the human-scale problems of attempting to […]

I missed the last two editions (87th and 88th) of the Virginia Gold Cup, the celebrated steeplechase held at Great Meadow near the village of The Plains in the piedmont horse country. I had my reasons. Two years ago I was up in Michigan, trying to clear out my parent’s house in preparation for its […]

(USS Gerald R. Ford in an artist’s rendering. Cool ship. Image courtesy Popular Mechanics). I have been watching the slow progress on the construction of the Navy’s newest aircraft carrier with a great deal of professional interest. There are some amazing technical innovations being incorporated into the design of the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) […]