by admin | Nov 27, 2007 |
It’s good to start at a low point, because, ipso facto, everything after that has to be up. And we started from a really low point. The flight wasn’t too bad. Delta hit on one out of three. The service was slightly north of tolerable, the food was atrocious, and the environment (seats et al) were abysmal. Worse, I was thinking of my son’s forecast when I saw the three rows in front of us occupied by three octagenarian couples obviously bound for a cruise. I thought, “Ohmagod, what if they and their fellow travelers are our shipmates for the next eight days. Now, understand, I’m not an age discriminator. Hells bells, I’m pretty far round the bend...
by admin | May 19, 2007 |
These words uttered by General Douglas McArthur as he left Corregidor for Australia in 1941 shaped his place in history as well as the strategy of the Pacific Command and his own behavior for the next three years. It also pretty much sums up what most Americans know about the Republic of the Philippines today. I first visited Manila almost exactly twenty years ago as I was surveying possible new locations to plant the my company’s flag in Asia. My mind was pretty much made up as I left the doors of the worst airport I’d seen in Asia and entered what Dante might have called the gates of hell. It surely had the same climatic conditions, and the sights,...
by admin | Apr 15, 2007 |
S. decided without much discussion that another morning of birding was out of the question for her. The downtown shops were a powerful morning attraction, and knowing that we had the afternoon booked for birding at the Fennessey Ranch was the clincher. S. dropped me at the docks to join Capt. T and his boat the Skimmer about daybreak. I was lugging all my gear, and he and his first mate were prepping the boat. In a quiet moment before the rest of the group arrived, I chatted with him, asking how long he’d been doing this, and he quickly surmised that I really meant why are you doing this? He presented himself as an outgoing, well educated, aggressive...
by admin | Mar 10, 2007 |
One notices things living in the country. The weather that we only tolerate in the city demands focused attention every day of every season. The sound of the wind is amplified as is the songs of the birds, whirring of insects, and the nightly calls of the coyotes. The night sky isn’t polluted by the wash of city lights and the brightness of the moon and stars is startling in it’s intensity. And in springtime, everything is more so. The sunrise urges us to start the day sooner with more of a bounce in our step and the sounds of the day starting are nature’s own symphony. I awoke earlier than usual this morning to a modest ground fog being chased by the...
