(Soviet Forces withdraw from Afghanistan, 1989. Photo courtesy BBC.) Man, the word was depressing this morning. I have been doing a slow boil anyway since the revelations of the burning of some book at Bagram Air Base began to spread, and the subsequent murders of ISAF personnel by aggrieved Afghan soldiers. It was intolerable, if […]

This Spring Ahead nonsense with the clocks is kicking my butt. The computer is telling me it is past noon- and that is nonsense. Why do we not have the courage to leave the sun alone? Who is it in Congress that believe themselves as King Canute, waving not at the ocean in this case, […]

I am working on notes from my Happy Hour at Willow with Mac the other day. There are so many threads contained in the scrawled words that talking about them only leads to more questions and more stories. This harvest included some rumination on the love-styles of single servicemen and women overseas in the Greater […]

(HMS King George V- “Cagey Five”-  enters Apra Harbor, Guam, with sailors manning the rail in August, 1945. Photo National Archive 80- G- 328942) I was walking over to Willow when Old Jim called. I fished the phone out of my briefcase and answered- it was a District number, and I thought it might be […]

I am out the door shortly to head north for the placid little village of Shippensburg, where generations of Socotra lie at their rest under the central monument of the muse Hope, who drags an anchor. I intend to work with my Cousin and his plat of the plot to determine where Mom and Dad […]

(Iraqi tank graveyard in the desert near Al Jahrah, Kuwait. In 1991, during the first Gulf War, a million depleted uranium shells were fired at Iraqi forces, spreading radioactive dust for miles around. Such dust is known to  cause various forms of cancer and other serious illnesses among humans. Or so they say. Photo USAF.) […]

(Discount urn, special deal for two. This side of it shows where Socotra Island is, and where Socotra will wind up. Photo Socotra.) I was looking at the urn that came in the mail yesterday afternoon. Fine piece of work. Not the one currently occupied by half of mom and dad, but the one that […]

(Box of Mom and Dad and commingled cremains in the urn. Tribal bedspread by Ralph Lauren. Photo Socotra.) It was a weird day- not bad, just weird. It was so chill after being so delightful on Saturday, and the stacks of tax records are numbing. I throw things that look like they have tax implications […]

(Bill, Betty and the 2011 taxes. Photo Socotra.) I walked over to Willow on Friday, happy that it was Friday and the working week could get buried. There was a lot to be thankful about. The line of ominous weather did not arrive in Washington, though it savaged the mid-section of the country and killed […]

(The technologically advanced but technologically challenged Chevy Volt. Photo GM.) Some of the press is all over the Volt debacle this morning. General Motors reached another milestone when it announced late Friday that they were suspending production of the amazing Chevy Volt for five weeks due to lack of demand. The Volt is an attempt by GM to meet the administration’s pledge to put […]