You may not know that S. and I just completed a ten day journey in Burma (as the US State Department insists on calling it) or Myanmar (as the rest of the world calls it). I can’t quite figure out why we insist on using something as arcane as naming conventions as a means of conducting foreign policy…remember ISIL vs. ISIS in another area of the world. Back to our journey. The first question that comes to mind when one discovers our travel intentions, is “why in the devil would anyone want to go to Burma.” Let me tell you now there are no crisp answers. In part, I guess, it’s because we haven’t been here before, part because...
S. and I have just returned from traveling in Burma, now Myanmar, for the last ten days or so, and while recollections are still fresh, I hope to give you some of my observations about a country that has only recently opened to foreigners after fifty years of seclusion. This first piece deals with an aspect of their culture that is central to their life style and my inability to adapt it to my own use. The longyi (pronounced lawn-gee) is the foundation of the national costume of Burma. Roughly described it is a piece of cloth three and a half feet by six feet with the ends sewn together to form a wide tube. It is the same for men and women except for the...
I like Panama. I really do. Although I might not be willing to suffer Miami International Airport to get there again, I’m glad I went this one time. As you may know, this was one of our “Twelve Year Old Trips”. No, it’s not a trip we take every twelve years. It’s a trip we take when each of our grandchildren reach the age of twelve. It’s lost in history who came up with this idea, but it has been a really, really great one. Panama, at first glance, was not an ideal choice for such a trip, as it had little of the sizzle as some of it’s predecessor trips (Galapagos Islands, Paris, London). About all it had going...
I told you in Panama: The Beginnings that I would come back to the subject of the Canal for the bottom line. Ok, here it is. The bottom line that is. Wow! I saw it by being on it in a passenger ship transiting the system of locks. I saw it from a small outboard as we looked for monkeys and birds, and I saw it from the air as we flew back and forth to the highlands. It defines Panama more than the pyramids defines Egypt. It defines Panama more than the Great Wall defines China, and the Leaning Tower in Pisa and the Colosseum are mere dots on the culture of Italy compared to what the Canal is to Panama. There is no other country that is defined so much...
The word “Panama” is either a corruption of a Kuna (one of the indigenous peoples) word meaning “far away”, or a misnomer of the early Spanish explorers of a native village name meaning “many fish”. There you have it. That’s all you need to know that Panama has been and remains much of a mystery to most of us in the US of A. Of course, we know of the Panama Canal, and certainly we know Rod Carew. A few of us may even be able to call to mind the name Noriega without knowing exactly who he is or what he may have done to deserve our notice. When pressed, in Rorschach fashion, I would throw out Panama hat which, of...
My darling wife S. and I have just returned from a delightful, but tiring holiday in Europe which began with two days in Paris at our standby hotel, the Bristol. There’s almost nothing one can say that’s bad about Le Hotel Bristol except that the prices are so high, one can get a nosebleed just walking in the lobby. But I knew this before I got there. Also, let me say at the outset that I like french food, I like french wine, I like french women, I like french art. Heck, I’m pretty much an out and out francophile. I’ve struggled with french irregular verbs without ever mastering them for years. Even today, your average frenchman...
After 30 years in the world of big business, Gary “retired” to pursue long ignored interests. While continuing his involvement in the corporate world by serving as a director of several public companies, he has, among other things, traveled the world in pursuit of the perfect bird photograph, served national and local charities as a director and donor, developed a personal web site as a platform for his writing on subjects of personal interest, and, occasionally, taken time to smell the roses.
Gary and his wife Sandra, shuttle between their condo in Dallas and their farm in Fannin county, Texas where they indulge themselves in organic gardening, long walks and entertaining friends and family.
