That sentiment was expressed as an urban planning tool that showed up a split-generation ago. It held that modern living should be oriented toward neighborhoods that hold everything necessary within a fifteen-minute walk, or a scooter ride. They had commenced putting three-and-four story vertical additions on some of the little Cape Cod houses purchased for […]

This is Red Square as it was in late summer of 1998, the last time any of us were there in person. We are running it this morning with a sense of loss, since we are 13 time zones away from Pyongyang, North Korea. We were playing with some of the images from the trip […]

That was the difference between this bed and the one back home. Not a theory. Not a metaphor. Just arithmetic. In Fairfax, the Trillium would be quiet now. Thermostat cycling. Coffee not yet made. The day still folded neatly ahead of itself. Here, the day had already been opened, inspected, and set in motion before […]

We got a got a note from a shipmate in Japan about the time we were wrestling the new bookcase in next to the recliner Miles has been using in an attempt to get the new year started in proper fashion. That is normally in keeping with the oriental signs of the Zodiac for all […]

Should Old Acquaintance be forgot, and never thought upon; The flames of Love extinguished, and fully past and gone: Is thy sweet Heart now grown so cold, that loving Breast of thine; That thou canst never once reflect On Old long syne. CHORUS: On Old long syne my Jo, On Old long syne, That thou […]

Miles was back this morning, determined not to let the last day of this bedraggled year slip away without at least a brush of irony and a wave in the rear-view. It may explain why the entertainment channels that had occupied the big screen at the end of the Conference Room at Socotra House were […]

We were going to run a story analyzing the changes in America across the Gens crowding the Conference Table. The kids in GenZ are acting up a bit. The two Gen Alpha gals are crying at the moment and their view seems to have spread to the Boomers when they are awake. Splash had the […]

This happened at Tracy O’Grady’s fabulous Willow Restaurant in Arlington’s Balston neighborhood a dozen years ago. Vic had it as first person, so that is why it reads a little funny: Old Jim called me as I was trying to get topics outlined for some uplifting pre-holiday thoughts. The phone was buried in my back-back, […]

If Section Leader Miles hadn’t been down with that accursed Long Covid thing, none of this would have happened. The Big Screen at the end of the Conference Room had apparently been left on an entertainment channel from 10:47 yesterday morning until something approaching 8:00 p.m. No news. No crawl. No emergencies. Just raw, unapologetic […]

Miles is down hard this morning. He made it to the last weekend of the year, but whatever that contagious thing is going around has hit him hard, sapping his energy and leaving him hacking fluid out of what is left of his lungs. He did not roll out of his rack with the gray […]