An interesting day in the country. Looming close is an adventure that caused a vivid dream in the early hours as dawn was gathering its strength to flood the fields with light green light. Frank and Phil arrived without fanfare yesterday to administer the First Cut to the pastures and hack at the ornamental bushes […]

The Spring continues to unfold here in the country. It is a slow, inexorable process and one that enlivens the senses. Sound is one of the things that accompanies it. The Hydrangea bush that embraces the back porch seems a magnet of attractive to several honeybees, members of the hives kept on the fields next […]

Gray and chill yesterday. The Lady in Red informed us soberly that the indomitable Canadian jet stream had strayed south again, the northern cool air colliding with our Piedmont semi-tropical moisture. Rain again in the hours of darkness, but the morning dawned bright and welcoming. Word from the meteorological staff was that it would be […]

We started into a discussion of some old institutions founded in the wake of old scandals the other day. The Editorial Staff was reluctant at first, since it was old news on a gray day that displayed the earth’s reluctance to commit full-blown to Spring. The Staff is committed to the season, though, and the […]

Ah, the week of pleasant warming weather has ringed the pastures with soft tones of brilliant pink blossoms. Refreshing color as the gray of the winter is bathed in new growth and glory. There is other stuff going on, of course. Much of our limited attention is invited to the ongoing crisis on the Southern […]

Lions and lambs here this morning in Virginia’s gentle rolling country, shouting “Green!” Or something colorful, if only a rising buzzing chorus of life and joy. Out back, the carpenter and honey-bees frolic around the outbuildings, back to work after the slumber of winter. There is some seasonal tension, of course. We await the awakening […]

(Mt. Kilimanjaro, an accommodating item in a vista seen from an old rail car from someone else’s empire on an endless plain. Seen while headed for Nairobi, a city not yet known, from the bounds of a vast and seemingly endless pale blue sea). This year of artificial endings has been fascinating. I think we […]

This account of the decision to home-port a USN aircraft carrier is from Naval Intelligence legend John Niemeyer, a national treasure. He relieved me in VF-151 in mid-1980, and did a memorable job as a Midway officer. He liked the Japan experience of the Overseas Family Residency Program (OFRP) a little better than most. He […]

The wayward jet Stream has wandered north again, after caressing us with chill embrace the last few days. This morning, we can feel a breath of warmth and life and living once more. It is a holy day for some, celebrating something primal and good. I am not going to take the easy way out […]

OK, there is plenty to talk about this afternoon, but the spin on everything these days makes me tired. The monthly Editorial Meeting on the First was unsettled and confused. No one knew quite what to make of the vehicle assault on the Senate entrance to the Capitol. Then the EPA notification came up that […]