(Reducing the leaves and field debris of fall. Photo courtesy Farmette Report.)   I woke thinking of the soil before first light. The tomatoes and sweet basil that came from the garden next door were on my mind, and I am resolved to plant my own the next growing season down here in rustic peaceful […]

(Jon-no-H and Bud. Photo Socotra.)   Let’s see: I have vowed not to write about politics, the implications of climate change, the brutality of the meat industry and the internal conflict about its products, the conduct of the rogue national security state in the 1960s and anything that may subject my gentle readers to the […]

(The official Arlington County “I voted” decal. Photo Martin Kalfatovic).   Frabjous Day, Caloo, Calay!   I promised I would get to Big Smoke this morning, and the adventures of the rogue Spooks, but I have heard that he is in rocky health, and there is no point in roiling those waters that go back […]

(Thomas Polgar (far right) takes command of the CIA station in Saigon, January 1972. At left is former Station Chief Ted Shackley, heading back to a new assignment in Washington. In the middle is General Creighton Abrams, head of the Military Assistance Command Vietnam). The re-entry thing after the trip has been a challenge. I […]

(Edwin Wilson in retirement. Photo courtesy the Wilson family.) I got a note from Mac that there were some stories to be told this morning. I will stop by his place this afternoon to hear more, and in preparation I looked up the obit for Edwin Wilson, and did a version of it for the […]

(The rear exposure of the spectacular re-modeling of Raven and Big Mama’s house in the Little Village by the Bay). It is the usual time and I am up doing the usual thing. It would seem like the last five days did not happen in the same space-time continuum in which I find myself lodged; […]

I was scanning the electronic pages of the NY Times this morning and found a gem. If I were of a mind, I might take offense at the scrap of Papyrus that quotes Jesus as mentioning his wife. The Times was all over it: “This Sept. 5, 2012 photo released by Harvard University shows a […]

Left Coast Guy is one of my better pals, and I noticed to my surprise the other day that we have known each other for almost 35 years. He has a serenity in his thought process that I often envy, and a gentle manner even when he is applying careful critical thinking to the issues […]

(Captain Harry Wales of 662 Squadron, 3RD Regiment, Royal Air Force) I am sitting at the laptop with my face in the rictus of a smile (the skin on my face is still burned from the tailgate at College Park on Saturday) thinking about it all. Game Day was an all-day drunken debauch, and then […]

It is game day Saturday, Maryland vs. U-Conn, and what I knew was going to happen after the insane week of proposal writing, happened.   I fell asleep shortly after eight- a pleasant thing- but not so pleasant when my eyes popped open at one-thirty. I was wide awake and could not get back to […]