A distant moan, a growl, the treetops shake, A rafter of turkeys wander out of the trees, Pecking through the grass, feathers ruffled in the breeze, Dawn approaches, the Dismal Swamp awakes. The deer disappear, under the still-green leaf, Fat they’ve all grown through summer’s dog days, Soon trees’ will be dressed in a multi-hued […]

There is a great scene in “the Raiders of the Lost Ark” in which Indiana Jones jumps on a horse to chase the Nazis in their big Mercedes Benz touring car, and he is asked: “What are you going to do?” Jones answers, in his insouciant, devil-may-care style: “I don’t know, I’m making this up […]

There have been a number of articles of late that have made the case that the only thing we can all do now in Ukraine is to back the Ukrainians all the way to victory. The basics of the argument are: The war has involved so much violence on both sides that neither side has […]

What if the train were late? That thought occurred to me as I drove out of Washington DC the other day headed south, and saw the ever-spreading metropolitan area of Washington that now reaches down and through Fredericksburg, Virginia. In a short stream of consciousness moment I imagined myself trying to take the train from […]

Author’s Note: My Muse arrived with the hummingbirds this morning…Arrias In the Dismal Swamp on a summer morn, The air is thick and warm, Like a blanket is lies over the wood, Will the afternoon bring a summer storm… The air is still, not a leaf does stir, Not a peep or a rasp or […]

Franklin Roosevelt, when Assistant Secretary of the Navy in the Wilson cabinet, remarked to a friend that: “it would be wonderful to be a war President.” That thought has probably crossed the mind of many a politician who sees himself as a great leader. The war in Ukraine has been grinding on now for almost […]

Author’s Note: 64 here and rain – looks like rain and thunder all day… My Muse is laughing at the weather guessers… – Arrias August Treetops rustle in the dark, A light rain begins to fall, A hint of cool in the air, Doesn’t feel like summer at all. It’s still early August, But the […]

15 years or so ago Robert Redford made a movie – Lions for Lambs – which attempted to ask some hard questions about the War onTerror. It received mixed reviews, wasn’t seen by a lot of folks, and arguably missed the mark – the difficult mark – of entertaining while getting people to think about […]

Author’s Note: My Muse reminds me, amidst all the frenetic handwringing – it’s summer in the Dismal Swamp, which means it’s hot and wet… – Arrias Dismal Swamp Summer The air is warm, thick and wet, In a soggy blanket all is cloaked, Just a minute outside the door And my shirt is completely soaked. […]

What is that by the door? Porter will investigate! Her head goes down for a closer look, She’s in quite an excited state! Suddenly it moves – Porter jumps! All four feet off the ground, Then down she comes, her head goes down, But she doesn’t make a sound! Another blink, it moved again, Porter […]