Darwin’s Galapagos

S. and I announced our intention to take a trip with each of our eight grandchildren without considering the considerable consequences.  Chief among these consequences is the curious choice of places on this planet that would be suitable for a multi-generational ten day outing and selected to visit.  It’s now lost in the mists of my declining memory whether our darling granddaughter Annabel suggested the Galapagos Islands or if I suggested that she might want to suggest the Galapagos.  In any case, in April of 2010 we found ourselves breathing the lofty airs of Quito, Ecuador and frolicking in the not so warm waters of the Humboldt Current surrounding the...

Goooooooal!!!!!

Only just now has enough time passed that I can post this long awaited piece on the World Cup 2010.  Well, it’s really not exactly about the World Cup, it’s more about soccer (football) in general.  How, you might ask, do I know that enough time has passed?  Easy….I no longer can remember who won.  Actually I did remember that the Netherlands was in the final match, but I couldn’t remember their opponent.  You, of course, remember that it was Spain who won by the typical score of one to nothing or one nil if you prefer the British articulation.  And that’s part of the story. There are dramatically opposing positions on the relevance of an activity that...

The Last Words

Those of you who know me well know that in the last several years I have developed what might be called a morbid interest in obituaries. Get it….morbid…..obituaries.  Sure you did.  But I have, and I’ve come by this interest honestly not morbidly.  Let me tell you why. Some time ago I was researching a piece that about military veterans of WWII.  This research uncovered the fact that soon the last veteran will have died.  As a result of that disconcerting bit of news, I started to look for obituaries of these veterans in the Dallas Morning News and the New York Times….the only two daily news publications that I can bear to read on a regular...

What Connects Us All

I’m always on somewhat shaky ground when I write about the natural world.  Even though I’ve posted before on such disparate topics as dragonflies,  pissants, skunks, monkeys, and, of course, birds, I’ve never tried to make anything coherent out of these separate natural elements.  Recently, however, I’ve begun to contemplate the meaning of it all.  By all, I mean how one bit relates to the other, and then another, and finally becomes a whole. Lately, S. and I have been rising early and spending time in the garden in the relative cool of the  summer morning.  It’s more or less mindless work.  Pulling weeds, picking whatever needs picking and talking about how...

Politics in the Extreme

I’ve known that Libertarianism existed as a political philosophy for some time, but I’ve chosen to ignore it.  I’ve known of Congressman Ron Paul (mainly because of a giant billboard on I30 that I pass on the way to my ranch), but I’ve chosen to ignore him also.  I now know of his son,  Rand Paul, the aspiring Senator from Kentucky, and his whacky statements about the Civil Right Act of 1964, and I now I just can’t ignore it any longer. I used to think that saying or being known for really far out ideas would get you excluded from consideration for high public office, now it seems it may be a prerequisite.  When Paul defeated Trey Greyson in the Republican...