We have to tell ourselves every day that this is as temporary as the removeable gilding on the oval office. Dear friends,  You’ve probably noted that I’ve gone on a little hiatus in my writing.  I’ve been thinking.  I now feel duty bound to write something about the slop bucket of recent actions by the current President of the United States and the assembled clown car of sycophants that he has hired to carry his train and tell us that his naked ass is fully clothed.  But wher

The author, daughter Megan Lefaivre, Harper Rose, Carolyn Hunt, Governor Jim Hunt (longest serving in NC history) Governor Jim Hunt passed away yesterday at the age of 88. His family released the following statement: He was a beloved husband, father, grandfather, and public servant, whose life and work touched so many across our state. We are thankful for the prayers and support for our family during this time. Hayden and I welcomed Jim and Carolyn Hunt into our Raleigh home

A splash of red in the winter white of a Colonial Christmas I’m not a Lent guy. I understand the traditions of using up the supplies to make pancakes on Shrove Tuesday or “Fat” Tuesday for those who overdo it.  I typically attend Ash Wednesday services and accept the imposition of ashes as a sign of repentance. But as for fasting and abstinence, thanks anyway. Reminding me that I am dust and to dust I shall return is depressing enough. But as for Advent, I am all in. Now it a

One of the many things for which I was thankful last week is that the American public seem to be catching on. Two prominent campaign promises remain unfulfilled. Food prices are still sky high, and the Epstein files are still not released. To that we can add continuing to do Russia’s bidding in the War in Ukraine, invading our cities with storm troopers to arrest our hard-working neighbors, hiring inexperienced prosecutors to indict political enemies without cause, desecratin

Predictably, it seems that history is about to repeat itself.  It is August 15, 2032, and the forecast is bleak.  In the last 72 hours a category 5 hurricane of increasing strength has formed and is aimed directly at Miami, Florida.  Hurricane Melania is the sixth named storm of the 2032 hurricane season and like Andrew forty years before, this one looks like a history maker for southern Florida.  The memory care team at Mar-a-Lago is debating whether to inform the former Pre

It was in the mid-1990's that I came face to face with the wealth gap. I was walking down the gas pier on Peter Island in the British Virgin Islands. I had arrived via dinghy from our moored Hylas 55; a Taiwanese-built sailboat designed for serious bluewater cruising. We had chartered the boat out of St. Thomas and were doing two weeks of island hopping. In short, I was feeling rich, famous, and very full of myself. The gas dock was dominated that morning by a 135-foot yacht,

I am quietly enjoying the summer stew engulfing the White House. Watching Bondi, Bongino, Patel, and Blanche take turns diving into the...

Beautiful Swimmers, a nonfiction book by William W. Warner  won the 1977 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction.  It is about Maryland’s...

Thank you USA Today and Schoolhouse Rock It is rare that I sit down without a precise plan on what I am about to write. All I know is...

If you’ve played the game, you know what I mean. “A good walk spoiled”. “There must be less expensive ways to drive yourself crazy”. “Let the self-loathing begin”. I first swung a hickory stick that had belonged to my Uncle Fred. Dad, who never played the game, bought me some yellow wiffle practice balls and I banged them around the back yard. But without opportunity or family encouragement, baseball, basketball, and touch football occupied my youth. In college, I took a swin

For those of you old enough to remember, that was a catchphrase from the opening titles of the old TV series Fantasy Island . It ran from...

“Excusez-moi, s’il vous plait”    Such a simple, though powerful phrase. This moment of humble deference, spoken to someone who may...

Someday, I feel certain that our grandchildren will be asked this question in their high school civics class. “When referring to American...

Webster Dictionary: Overreach; to defeat (oneself) by seeking to do or gain too much.   We saw the first signs of it earlier this week....

So, let me factually summarize the first 50 days of Trump 2.0 His irrational economic policies have tanked the stock market. His promised...

Yes, this blog was and is intended to be non-political. But it is like saying that you never intended to be a fireman when one night you...

So long in coming;  Its arrival delayed by Love.  Careful, daily, precise, repetitive Love.  Observed and followed by nervous trainees. ...

Well, I fell down yesterday. I’d like to tell you that it was a unique experience with no duplicate in recent memory. That would be a...

During the administration of President George W. Bush, Hayden famously went into self-protection mode. She stopped watching televised...

In the midst of the joyful anticipation on this crisp September afternoon, I don’t remember who first noticed, but word spread quickly....