The pictures are posted, the toasts have bee raised. The haunting sound of the highland pipes covered the retreat of hundreds of officers and Sailors from the grave site. Mac’s earthly remains were given over to the soil, and to the patient presence of his beloved Sara V., better known as Billie. There are a […]

(Mac chats with Elizabeth-with-a-Z, 2005). “What do you want me to do? Win World War Two again?” – Mac to Grandson, Outer Banks Shower’s Family Reunion Quote of the week, 2012. It has been a marvelous weekend, filled with camaraderie and family, and it was an honor to be part of the gathering of the […]

(Spring is here at Refuge Farm. All photos Socotra.) Is ten o’clock the neighborhood covenant on the discharge of shotguns? I glanced at my left wrist to check the time, but of course why wear a watch down on the farm? When I arced back through the kitchen with the little bits I needed for […]

It has been quite a week. Stark yet dreamlike. I made it to the office for a few hours yesterday, needing to ease back into things. It was such a lovely day and the cabin fever was intense that it was a relief to get back to the office environment. I had a scrap of […]

It hit ninety yesterday. I responded to the amazingly brief duration of the Spring- all of it apparently occurring during the period of my late confinement and greeted the summer in shorts and aloha shirt. I explored the bounds of what my body was going to permit. I found I could sit upright for hours […]

There may be something less interesting than one person’s encounter with the course of a bad case of flu. It doesn’t even interest me that much, and TMI about the matter does neither of us any favors. What does not destroy you, in my experience, anyway, does not necessarily make you stronger. I find it […]

Extended Family, Colleagues and Friends, With people getting ready to travel to Washington for Mac’s interment with full military honors at 1500 on Monday, 15 April, at Arlington National Cemetery, I thought I would get you an update on the schedule as I understand it. Usual practice is to muster at the Visitors Center at […]

(Elvis impersonators and other concerned citizens of Cyprus gather to support their government’s decision to confiscate private bank deposits. Photo Weekly Standard). Hey, I apologize. I have not been able to sit upright for a few days for any length of time, and consequently the production schedule slid to the right as rapidly as the […]

  (Washington DC in 1971, Mayday.) Old Jim established a beachhead at the Amen Corner and called me at the office to let me know that the bar was open for business. I glanced at the clock. I had another couple tasks to get through before I could shut things down, but I told him […]

(War Games on the Korean Peninsula. Image from the Patrick Cronan article “How This Starts” in Foreign Affairs magazine.) The internet ether is sizzling this morning. Several close friends checked in, mystified by what is happening on the Korean peninsula. It is predictable, actually normal in times of leadership transition, but the parallel changes in […]