Author: Vic Socotra

Arrias: Winter in the Dismal Swamp

Author’s Note: Cold and gray here – winter in the Tidewater – the dogs are looking for warm spots… Cold and gray, a north wind blows, Dry leaves tumble across the yard, A line of gold marks the dawn, But brown and dead the sward. Turn my back to the wind, It’s cold, and hard […]

Gobble Gobble

We have finally arrived at a real, no-kidding national holiday! Yesterday had its moments, of course. On November 22nd, we celebrated: “Go for a Ride Day!” “Love Your Freckles Day!” “National Cranberry Relish Day!” We know what we are doing today, of course, since this is one of Those No-Kidding Nationals, the one instituted by […]

Bravo Foxtrot

It is finally here, like actually today! In our old military parlance, we would term it “Bravo Foxtrot.” We will use that instead of the public term for today, since it has been used already. “Black Friday” seems to have been going on for weeks! You may have experienced the disorientation, since today launches the […]

Arrias: Thanksgiving

If you ever get the chance to visit Plymouth Plantation, the re-creation of the town of Plymouth, circa 1631, that sits just outside of present Plymouth, Mass, I highly encourage it. It has been years since I have been but I remember going late in the year – a raw November day, the wind coming […]

Gremlin Gazette

1944-1945 This is a trial run for some of the sketches Dear Old Dad did while awaiting further transport at the end of the Really Big War, the Second one of them. You will note W. E. continued his fledgling self-training as an artist and tried to capture some of the people and events of […]

Turkey Travel

9,604 cancelled is one of the phrases being worked on this morning by senior officials. That is, Gentle Reader, scheduled jet flights by major carriers for which the Department of Transportation Security is responsible. Not the production of the jets themselves, that being a different sort of thing, mind you. Many of our citizens are […]

“Breaking News!”

From Socotra House LLC! This Just In! Tuesdays are really the first real contribution to the Weather Report sit-down session. That is where we pick the threads unfolding for their continuity across the end of the week. The goals is to collect the stories with the impact to actually affect the course of social and […]

Arrias: But the Trains Ran On Time

Author’s Note: This whole thing just makes my head feel like it’s about to explode….Arrias In 1942, a short while after the US landed in North Africa, several US soldiers were convicted of raping a local woman. They were tried and found guilty. The commanding general – George Patton, approved their sentence and had them […]

Make It a Thousand!

It was a Saturday was riddled with discontinuities. There was a disconcerting fact that floating up by the fire ring and we don’t know how to deal with it gracefully. Let’s get the whole troubling thing out of the way. The issue is about M’s this week, so let’s dispense with that business first. The […]

Weather Forecast: Holiday Lights Looming!

All right! Only a year to go until that election thing! We are trying to get organized, since there has been a flurry of the smaller holidays lately, the ones that serve to prepare us for the Big Ones. Like today- there are 15 special days for the 18th alone, including celebration of the Battle […]