Category: DailySocotra

Adventures in Publishing

(This was the first attempt at documenting a neat little adventure in Washington, DC. The watercolor is by a good friend and by permission). We enjoyed the warmest temperature of this day right at dawn. The darkness blended with departing night in petulant clouds hanging low over the west wing of Big Pink. There were […]

Stage Six and Some Deep Smoke

Visitors march past Yoshino cherry blossoms near the Tidal Basin on Thursday, March 23, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard) Memorandum for the Director, Naval Intelligence The Pentagon, Washington, D.C. “May I take this opportunity of commending your officer for his efforts in this matter; without the knowledge of the French language, he was able […]

Weather Report: Bank Runs and Presidential Politics

Third day of Spring? OK. We are prepared to deal with it. The Banks? Some of them seem to be failing. It isn’t the Fall of the West, or at least not exactly. China’s President Xi is visiting Moscow to establish a new global order. It is curiously inverted from the one we used to […]

Living and Dining

(The decor? Joel owned the place for nearly twenty years. He used it as the executive suite for his business, suitable for hosting guests for as many days as the business took. He is a Texan by birth, and the place exudes a certain ‘oughties look. In fact, it looks a little like the Willow […]

Stage Five

We slacked on the critical Meteorologic update. Fervent apologies. Stage Five went down on Saturday. There is a distinct pale-pinkish blush of bloom around the Tidal Basin. It lends a pale blooming cherubic and sanguine flush. Full-bloom may have been affected in duration, but the local weather-guesser claims we hit Stage Six on Thursday and […]

The Ruth’s Café Collision Derby

07 April 1979 The Ruth’s Café Collision Derby1979 Abroad on Japan’s Kanto Plain Editor’s Note: On this morning in the pre-Spring of 2023, the President of China is talking to the Czar of Russia about how to effectively end the American Century. Accordingly, we thought this little slice of life would show how some people […]

Fire Never Peaks Not Fade Away

Momma told her 1st how it’s gonna be She gave her burn-out love to me I wanna live all night-n-day Life lites not fade away My lites’re bigger than a Cadillac’s They shine brightest when I’m home-driving back Since my love for life’s gotta be real Loving feeling for life not fade away Momma done […]

Shanghai Princess

(Shanghai metered child ride, 1998. Photo Socotra) There was some controversy about the image this morning. We were going for something that conveys whimsy. There had been a brief discussion about her when it surfaced. It had been in an old directory buried two or three levels down in the little box that serves our […]

Life & Island Times: Ten Little Bank Runs

Author’s note: Yesterday, the piece on slithering wrote itself. Morning events now portend a dark magic most humans alive today have never seen. -Marlow Screenshot 2023-03-17 at 12.33.02 PM.jpgTen little investment banksStanding in a lineOne stood lookin’ at another one’s credit line Then there were nine Nine wild assed investment chiefsTheir hearts all full of […]

Dawn Launch: Sea of Japan

We have been rolling around with the debris of two moves back up from The Farm in rural Culpeper County to the urban amenities of Arlington on the banks of the Potomac. Some assorted memories surfaced in the process. This was one of them: The somewhat ungainly gray turbo-prop aircraft in the foreground is shown […]