Once I visited a military museum at Saumur in France, housed in a castle there. Its main collection was of saddles—every example of whatever man has fashioned to seat himself on a horse was on display, from almost all the armies in the world, old and new, north and south, east and west. I was […]
At Duke’s Nicholas School of Environmental Science, researchers blow CO2 through stands of trees to determine the positive effect—if any—of global warming. Thus far, it isn’t conclusive that there is a benefit from any increase in carbon dioxide—a theoretical boon for trees. Some experts speculated that tree health would be the only silver lining of […]
The floating Savior heard the pleas. Cool weather arrived Friday afternoon like a soothing daydream—a bit of Lompoc right here in the heart of Pennsylvania’s Delaware Valley.After the shipping lanes from Great Britain and France were blockaded by the Germans in WWI, the US horticultural seed industry (vegetable, flower and herb seed) struggled to find […]
Most books have some measure of relevance, but the “greats” – the resonant ones – reflect a lifetime. One has to read heavily and strenuously in both classics and contemporaries in order to find the gold. Like Madame Bovary haunted by the crippled idiot, and Anna Karenina spooked by the vision of the railroad worker’s […]
After a few beers, I decided to write a self-indulgent blog entry. I like escape movies, so long as they’re mindless. But I’m afraid James Bond has become a serious “art film” subject. Thank God for Jaguar Paw. First, the “new” Bond flick. Although Daniel Craig is a welcome replacement for Pierce Brosnan, who was […]
In 2001, I suffered a touch football accident, falling over a bluff next to the lawn where we were playing, cracking my ribs and puncturing my left lung. After catching a pass, I landed on the ball with one of the ends pointed to my chest, so the ribs shattered rather than broke; fragments were […]
Over the past decade, an enormous, extraordinary botanic garden was carved just off the Atlantic Ocean shoreline of Maine’s central coast. Dedicated, risk-taking locals (full-time residents) as well as summer people took on the project when a luxury housing development fell through and the beautiful location became available. With 228 acres on a bluff above […]
Fiona Apple Roberts Blossom Jeb Bush (Governor of Florida) James Cotton Blossom Dearie George “Buck” Flower Robert Plant Penelope Tree In Memoriam: Allan Bloom Jack Lemon Waverly Root
Several years ago I saw an exhibition of Aztec art at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. Having lived in Central America, I looked forward to seeing both familiar objects as well as new ones. But the show far exceeded my expectations. The Mexican government staged a lavish and unprecedented display of unimaginably high […]
The past few days have provided the Northeast US with the kind of magically perfect weather rarely found elsewhere. Costa Rica has a similar climate from late January to early March, when the vegetation is lush from the previous months of torrential rain, but the air is bone dry and the sun shines hard from […]
