Last weekend, my high school graduating class celebrated its 50+1 anniversary. (Our actual 50th anniversary was 2020, but was postponed due to the Virus of Unknown Origin). Due to a conflict, I was unable to fly back to St. Louis…

The beach was disappearing. Not literally, of course;  it was only the incoming tide that rose and covered much of what had been a wide open beach a few hours earlier. I had come down to the beach for a…

With so much going on around us,  I decided to use a single post to gather my thoughts. First, the elephant in the room is the collapse of the American empire in Afghanistan. This was always going to happen, as…

The rest of the country, at least out West, is broiling with drought and wildfires – so why was I cold this morning? After dropping off our dog Henry for one of his twice-weekly play dates at Furry Farms doggie…

I first visited Yellowstone National Park (YNP) in early October 1975, when I was training at the Naval Nuclear Prototype facility that was  50 miles west of Idaho Falls. I qualified there to operate nuclear power plants on submarines. That…

This Memorial Day I’ve decided to post a photograph I have of the young men from The Hill, the Italian area of south St. Louis where I grew up, who were killed in World War II. Their last names are…

Most people, if they have any self-awareness, take time at life’s transitions to reflect on their experiences and those with whom they shared those experiences. As they get to the point in life where the days ahead are much, much…

Yesterday, Orvis posted the above letter on its Fly Fishing Page on Facebook. There were over  1,500 posts in response. From a very rough count, I estimate that anti-Orvis posts were running about three to one over those thanking Orvis…

And, of course, the other pandemic is that of mass shootings in the United States. After the last year of shutdowns, social isolation, and fear of the COVID-19 virus, there were no mass shootings in public places in 2020; mass…

Andy Rooney is credited with saying that “life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes.” There is a good deal of truth in that statement whether he said it…