I know it’s hokey, and I know it’s not fine wine, and yet, I could not resist buying a bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau at a local wine shop a year ago in November of ‘24. In the ‘80s when stationed in Germany, the annual November release of Beaujolais Nouveau was something we looked for, and looked forward to.
Continue reading “Beaujolais Nouveau and New Beginnings”
My friend, Jennifer, and her husband have three children. She is a hair stylist and has her own shop. You can imagine her shock and horror when she received a work text saying, “… I hope you don’t recover from that surgery and it fucking kills you you fat fucking gay white bitch.”
Continue reading “Haters”
OK. Cath and I did a thing. We are in California and bought a camper van. It has been a lifelong dream, and we just pulled the trigger. Over the next couple of weeks, we will drive it 3,000 miles back to Virginia, hopefully the first of many adventures with it.
Continue reading “We Did a Thing”
Fifty-six years ago, from August 15-18, 1969, a three day festival celebrating Peace and Music took place at Max Yasgur’s farm in upstate New York. My friend Chuck, all of 19 at the time, drove there with three buddies, and experienced sex, drugs, and great Rock & Roll music at what came to be known as Woodstock.
Continue reading “Woodstock”
We West Point Whiskey Warriors gave it our best shot on the Bourbon Trail in Kentucky. By the numbers, there were fourteen of us ‘78ers, along with eight wives, from twelve states. We sampled at nine distilleries in four days, and had one helluva good time. Numbers of course don’t capture everything, or for that matter, much of anything.
Continue reading “Whiskey Warriors”
This write-up is from my friend, Clark Hall (no relation), a Vietnam Veteran. While the words are his, the lessons are for all of us —
60 years ago, on August 3, 1965, an “incident of war” occurred that foreshadowed the human, political and military disaster underscoring the lunacy of the Vietnam War.
Continue reading “Cam Ne”
Although the sky was robin egg blue, it was more a Miles Davis “Kind of Blue” day. It was too beautiful to be driving to a hospital, but that was my destination. It was a Sunday morning, with lite Sunday morning traffic. I was making my way from the Northern Neck to the outskirts of Richmond, Virginia
Continue reading “The Drive (Sunday Morning Coming Down)”
Cathy and I recently spent a wonderful weekend with friends at Rodanthe, NC on the Outer Banks. The area is beautiful and somewhat remote, a perfect getaway. Part of the town also has a small problem – beach houses occasionally wash into the ocean.
Continue reading “Weekend In Rodanthe”
It’s not a requirement to like your brothers-in-law, but it’s a good thing when it happens. I have been blessed with three GREAT brothers-in-law – Shawn, Don, and Jack. In my book, requirement one for any B-I-L is to love and care for your wife and family. All three do/did that and so much more.
Continue reading “Three Brothers (in Law)”
The coffee cup is old and has chips and a crack in it. It was a gift from my buddy Tim Stouffer in 1980 when he visited us in Germany, while returning from a trip to Russia. I think he bought it in a train station somewhere. Tim passed away a little over a year ago, and I’ve thought about whether I should continue using the mug, or put it on a shelf somewhere.
Continue reading “The Coffee Cup”
Live Life Exuberantly 