(The Great House at Stratford Hall. A place out of time, falling forward into a future we cannot know. Yet. Photo Stratford.) I did not fall out of bed with much enthusiasm, looking owlishly at the clock. I had to be on the Northern Neck by ten or so for the funeral, and I dressed […]

We were talking about Guam and slowly lowering the levels of the liquids in the glasses in front of us. Mac had a golden Bell’s Lager, from Kalamazoo, Michigan, and I was working on a pale white wine from  South Africa that Kevin the Sommelier had picked out as the Happy hour loss-leader. We may […]

It was a great day for weather and a mixed day for my personal interaction with the First Amendment. We had low eighties and sun in Arlington, and people were literally floating along the sidewalks with goofy grins, welcoming the coming warmth. I had to take the Bluesmobile to the repair shop yesterday to have […]

  (Science Project.)   I thank God that I am retired, and have the liberty to pursue my own delusions and not those of others. I got a request to comment on the Navy’s commitment to bio-fuels, demonstrated recently by a demonstration on a decommissioned Spruance-class destroyer, the ex-Paul F. Foster (EDD-964).   The ship […]

(Knox Henry, WW II Veteran, is notified he is the new mayor of Athens, TN. 1946. Photo AP) I was shaking my head over the news this morning. Apparently the Taliban Wing of the Republican Party triumphed in the party primaries in two of our more eccentric States. More power to them; Mitt still took […]

(Scene from Kandahar. Photo Gulf news.) “… and the last thing I’ll stand for is ideas to get the better of me! I know that rubbish from 1918…, fraternity, equality, freedo, beauty and dignity! You gotta use the right bait to hook ’em. And then, you’re right in the middle of a parley and they […]

(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 […]