(Hall of Mirrors, Versailles) It was a relief to do a little spook work this morning. It was either that or examine the prospects of General Motors and Chrysler going out of business before New Years, now that those idiots in the Senate have denied them short-term loans. What are they thinking? Do they […]

(Forrestal Building)   It is raining in Arlington, cold black pelting rain, and it saps the energy I need to get to the office. I dragged myself out of the rack anyway, since there are workmen coming early- they swear- to fix the closet doors.   They seemed to be energetic enough to actually do […]

  In a strange way, the Continuing Crisis is providing a pleasant divergence from what I think is real life. I know there is a difference. There must be.   The professional life, with its enforced cool analysis, has provided a stoic balcony from which to witness the chaos of the world. The training and discipline has […]

  (Marshal Zukov’s Statue in Red Square) The earth is slowing down- you have felt it, too, I suspect. The astronomers are going to have to add a “leap” second to the next year, 2009, I think, to accommodate the dramatic decline in the rotational speed of the planet.   I started feeling it last […]

Red Star It is bitter cold for a Virginia December. The poor Redskins froze their butts off up in Baltimore, losing to the Ravens in the moist cold air that embraced the harbor. So did the visiting Cowboys to the west, who had to leave the moderate climes of North Dallas to shiver at the […]

 (USS Arizona, Dec 7th, 1941, AP File Photo)  It is the 7th of December, and it should never pass without mention. I actually think of it every day, just like I did when I took the ferry from the naval base to go to work, gliding by the hulk of the Arizona on the way. Since then, I purchased […]

(the Gateway)  I suspect the week was long because of the lingering consequences of the drive. I would directly attribute it to the long tall black coffee I purchased at the Gateway, the rest plaza at the at the top of the long hill the sweeps down- or up- from below the great falls of […]

(The revolt)   It is not odd that I find myself a Decemberist this morning, You and I share that by the inexorable turning of the globe and the progress of the planet around the sun. The chill darkness cloaks us, and our social adaptation is to conduct a series of parties and festivities to […]

(Grandma’s City Chicken)   The rain was the Marine’s benediction, softening the soil.   With the ceremony was done, we maneuvered the vehicles out of the narrow roads in the city of the dead and got back on the highway. We formed a little caravan and drove up the road to the old Catholic cemetery […]

  Postage stamp of ‘The Thousand Yard Stare’    The road snaked up the low hills that overlook Bellaire. Steep at times, the asphalt was cracked and narrow driveways led off from the curves into little houses perched perilously on the slope. Most of the cars seemed to be operable to some degree, and I […]