Author: Vic Socotra

Presidents Day

The only disagreement on the Balcony this morning was about the “apostrophe.” Do we include it in the title, or just go with the general devolution of language with universal meaning? Today is a case in point. It used to be about one, then two Chief Executives. Then, it evolved into a term describing an […]

Matters of Equity

It was early, but it isn’t now. Let’s get the definition thing out of the way, shall we? Merriam-Webster is an acceptable dictionary to many folks. It defines the word “equity” as “justice according to natural law or right; specifically: freedom from bias or favoritism.” We apparently are going to achieve this by imposing bias […]

RBFDs: The Roads, Rails and Bridges

Editor’s Note: There is a lot of news this morning. The Federal government apparently woke up and realized the situation in East Palestine, Ohio, might be a RBFD. The Chief of the EPA showed up on Friday to “examine” the consequences of the “train wreck” or disaster, take your pick. The little town and State […]

Life & Island Times: Fleurs Printanières Dans l’Empire

Fleurs Printanières Dans l’Empire We were sitting out in W’s garden with happy hour drink in hand as the work week’s final sunset approached amongst some very early blooming vines and flowers. See sampling above! -Marlow Copyright 2023 My Aisle Seat www.vicsocotra.com

Charlie and Karen Save the World

We joke about the weather in this time of transition. We have fairly decent forecasting and nothing that happens here should be particularly surprising. Today is likely to be a reversal of the mild temperatures as the front rolls through, dropping rain first and then an abrupt 30-degree decline in the temp to something slightly […]

Mud Season on the Rivers

(The Weekly Forecast contains news from two large river systems adjusting to Spring. One is just a mile or so east on Rt. 50. The other is across an ocean where the fresh water rejoins the salty seas. Here, we heard that McPherson Square, the little park in front of the Army-Navy Club, has become […]

The Closed

(This is a 1979 encounter between one of our VF-151 F4J Phantom jets with one of the Soviet four-engine heavy bombers. It was part of an otherwise busy military day at sea in the either the North Pacific or Sea of Japan, we forget which. We liked this one, taken by another squadron crew stepped […]

Life & Island Times: Detour, Day 11

May 2001 Detour Version 1.0 Day 11 “The Seed Collector of Oatman” Based upon a dirt biker’s advice during a Day 10 gas stop in Flagstaff, we continued from Kingman via Oatman en route Needles California as a prestage to crossing the Mojave desert on I40. We left Kingman at 0700 without breakfast as we […]

A Day Worth Celebrating

We took Valentines Day a little easy this season. I procured red roses a week or so ago, and a quite delightful new ceramic vase suitable for attractive term coffee storage has appeared. So, external holidy aspects are complete, and it seems appropriate to concentrate on the essence of the day itself. It is busy, […]

Life & Island Times: Detour Day 10

May 2001 Detour Version 1.0 Day 10 “Whoa” -English translations of German and French tourists’ reactions to the Grand Canyon Trip’s third and final breakfast waitress at Mike & Rhonda’s won the roadtrip’s snappy comeback award to Steve’s daily waitress/server baiting. We’ll really miss THE PLACE, the food and its folks. We entered the Grand […]