Since this is now officially the Christmas season, I’m repeating my Santa Claus story as my holiday contribution — Thanks, Santa I guess I shouldn’t complain. I live in a nice house on a street with nice houses. I think our house is the nicest, two stories with a pool in back and a
I have a ginkgo tree in my front yard. It was not my doing; it came with the house. If you’re not familiar with this type, it’s sometimes referred to as the maidenhair tree. The only surviving species in the division Ginkgophyta, it goes back at least 270 million years (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginkgo_biloba). The probable reason there is
What is the most difficult language to learn? Based on my personal experience, I would vote for Thai. And that personal experience came in the military. Every generation seems to have a war; mine was Vietnam. Fortunately, I got in on the tail end, when “Vietnamization” was in full swing. I spent little time in-country,
Don’t you just hate a story that begins, “You’ve probably heard this before.” ? Well, that’s what we’re dealing with here. This is my version of a story we used to tell around the campfire when I was a boy scout. I posted it on a writing website several years ago, and the comments I
It seemed like a good idea at the time. Studying the map for the August 21 total solar eclipse, I realize I was only about 300 miles from the path of totality (where the moon’s shadow completely covers the sun), or about a half day’s drive. I’d never seen a total eclipse before, so I
For some reason, I can’t import any of my photos into this article. Photos are on my Facebook page. Several weeks after I’d signed up for my Africa trip, the travel agency called me. “Would you like to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro?” I thought that sounded like a real adventure. At my age, this would
In my last post, I mentioned traveling to Kenya as a kind of homage to all the great runners who have come from that region. Not only did I get to see some iconic wildlife up close and personal, but I supported girls’ education by participating in the Amazing Maasai Marathon (http://www.marathontours.com/races/amazing-maasai-marathon-333). The Maasai tribe
I’ve just returned from an amazing trip to Kenya and Tanzania, which I will write about in the upcoming weeks. I describe this trip as amazing because it was both ambitious and exotic, visiting places most people never see. This is a shame because these people have proud cultures stretching back thousands of years, and
Recently I saw a picture on social media of a friend eating fish in some exotic local. Except it was a complete, whole, entirely intact fish. I had a similar experience in Greece a few years ago. Our tour group was taken to this quaint seaside cafe for lunch, and the plate set before me
In preparing for another major trip overseas this summer, I thought back to November 2012, when I was in Athens, Greece. This was a marathon trip, paying homage to where it all started by running on the Olympic course from the Plains of Marathon to the Olympic Stadium in the heart of Athens. Athens was