(War Games on the Korean Peninsula. Image from the Patrick Cronan article “How This Starts” in Foreign Affairs magazine.) The internet ether is sizzling this morning. Several close friends checked in, mystified by what is happening on the Korean peninsula. It is predictable, actually normal in times of leadership transition, but the parallel changes in […]

(A freshly shorn Vic listens in amazement to Danny’s tale while Jon-Without talks to Australia. Photo Old Jim). Sequestration has not been implemented yet, and the system is already dysfunctional in anticipation of possible pain. Heck, I will give it real pain, since the inability to make any decisions actually is a decision of a […]

(It is just about time for patio seating at Willow. We are raring to go.) The crowd was pretty thin at the office on April Fool’s Day, and for a perfectly good reason. The First Pitch was being thrown on Opening Day at Nationals Park, and more than 45,000 Washingtonians figured that a blustery day […]

It may be April Fools Day, but I am not feeling particularly foolish this morning. I finally got to the Culpeper Clarion-Bugle in my brown chair late yesterday afternoon. It was a good day, all things considered, and I shared Easter dinner with Old Jim, Chanteuse Mary and Jon-Without at Willow, open on Sunday for […]

(A period lithograph of the Boston Tea Party. The Crown’s response to the riot provoked much activity by the Committees of Correspondence in the several Colonies. Something similar is now happening on the Internet by concerned citizens). I am sitting next to the window in the living room at Big Pink. I have been typing […]

(The familiar Crown Victoria was one of the cruisers waiting for me outside of Culpeper yesterday. The other one was a new-issue Taurus Interceptors like this one. Image Christopher Ihara, courtesy of Virginia State Police). So, it was a Good Friday. I did not get to you yesterday because I was responding to a lot […]

(The snow this week made the line for SCOTUS tickets an interesting experience. Image courtesy NY Times). Things are getting better. I walked a couple miles yesterday- the session with the VA doctor early in the week galvanized me to get out and start trudging, regardless of the lingering chill of winter. It was a […]

(The new million-dollar bus stop at Walter Reed Boulevard and Columbia Pike in South Arlington. Only half was for construction- the rest was management overhead. Photo Arlington County.) I have several friends who are passionate about their gardens, and they have taken the time to write me extensively about selection of plants, herbs, and defensive […]

It is officially Spring, so of course the morning is completely screwed up. Yesterday, I was thinking about green shoots, and snow peas and hot peppers and the growing season to come. I will have an account of some of the pithier suggestions for avoiding green-horn mistakes in the garden, maybe tomorrow. It was fun […]

(Biscuit the Wonder Spaniel expresses her thoughts about a sunny Culpeper day. Photo Socotra.) I have not listened to anyone speaking on the radio since Friday. It has been tunes, tunes, and more tunes: lyrical ones, cynical ones, wistful ones. It is always a welcome change to pass outside the concrete barrier of the Beltway […]