(Former Brazilian leader Bolsonsaro, left, and current president Lula, right, in a delightful juxtaposition of their positions on the Spectrum). When your Pundit Class, as represented by the Writer’s Section at Socotra House, an independent assortment of Salty world travelers, is reduced to reading the AP account of what is happening in Brazil, you know […]

Well, we looked around but saw no alternatives. There was a proposal to use an image of a sunlit country road curving through green gentle hills, growing in Spring. Maybe with balloons on the margins. We have a great day ahead and are in good shape, all things considered. There is some natural inclination to […]

(The pie was quite real when it popped out of the oven). It took 15 ballots to confirm things, but we are in general but closely divided unity. One segment is our group on the hill west of the District and the one downtown where they capitalize The Hill. One segment of the Writer’s Section […]

It is always a bit of a shock to see the big machine come fully alive after the holidays. We all knew it was coming but the abrupt nature of the change is dramatic. There is- or was- some uncertainty about who was going to determine the tempo of events coming out of the New […]

Splash got up early this morning and was barking directions at an assortment of independent contractors in a variety of costumes. This holiday is finally showing signs of passage. There are birds of several species, Maids and Lords, an assortment of rings in precious metal and two stoic milk-cows. He has dealt nicely with The […]

We here on the balcony at Big Pink are still having issues with what year we are in. There is general agreement, of course, but our index fingers still have issues. Not so with those eleven pipers down in the parking lot, who are piping away like crazy. They frightened the leaping Lords and the […]

They say when you are over the hill you pick up speed. Maybe that is true. Certainly, the visibility improves as you roll over the crest. Some of us are over the great divide of the Holidays. Kevin McCarthy is not, at least until noon when the new Congress is sworn in. One of the […]

You might be done with it, the holiday part, anyway. Up here in DC they don’t go back to work until tomorrow. The position of those who intend to utilize the Twelve Days of Christmas for relaxed social norms is firm. The second day of the calendar year is also utilized to permit holiday casual libation regardless of […]

(Earnie Hemingway, second from left, celebrates the New Year with pal Gary Cooper in the year some of us were born, 1951. They are moving gradually forward in that line in Cuba at Havana’s Club Floridita. Things would transition to occur suddenly once they got a table inside). Just a quick note this morning, since […]

The Letter-Writer’s Manual For Every Occasion By E. A. Foley We wrote about stacks of stuff yesterday, since one of those stacks turned up a long-ago letter, neatly written in precise cursive script. A pal saw it and marveled at the craftsmanship in that social discipline, one that many shared nearly a hundred years ago. […]