Category: non-fiction
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My Premonitions?
“If we learn nothing else from this tragedy, we learn that life is short and there is no time for hate.” ~~Sandy Dahl, wife of United Flight 93 pilot, Jason Dahl [Split images. Photo: New York Times.] The memory of that Tuesday morning is still very clear in my mind. That crisp autumn-like day when…
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The Curse Of The Uninformed
Our lives are universally shortened by our ignorance. ~~Herbert Spencer, Principles of Biology, 1867 [DNA Double Helix. Photo credit: National Human Genome Project. Art: Darryl Leja.] Your blogger is back. It’s a mildly-warm late August afternoon here on the Upper West Side. I just completed my first attempt at Wordle (did it in 4 !).…
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Heart of Glass
Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass. ~~Anton Chekhov [Our glass horse from Murano, Italy. Photo is mine.] Sometime in the ancient distant foggy and shadowy history of human existence, someone discovered how to make glass. This is thought to have occurred around 4,000 years ago.…
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My AI Birthday Wish to My Son
Sometimes when I need a miracle, I look into my son’s eyes, and realize I’ve already created one. –Anon What follows is an AI generated birthday wish for my son, Brian. I fed suggestions into ChatGBT that included Ireland and his future projects. I have edited it slightly to eliminate places in Ireland he has…
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Last Thoughts From The Cathedral Crypt
[One of the many small chapels in the crypt of Canterbury Cathedral. Photo is mine] I’m sitting with Mariam in a small chapel in the crypt of this amazing Cathedral. There are several reasons why I’m sitting here on a small very hard wooden chair. One is that the temperature is probably close to 65º…
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It’s The End, But It’s Far From Over
I wish, I wish, I wish in vain I wish, I wish I was a youth again But a youth again I can never be Till apples grow on an ivy tree. ~~”Love Is Pleasing” The Dubliners [The Bridge of Sighs, Venice. Photo is mine] I didn’t think I could do it. I worried that…
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A Field Guide To English Hand Signals Whilst Encountering Oncoming Vehicles On Country Lanes
[A typical country lane in Dorset, England. Note the lay-by on the right. Photo is mine] THE ROADWAYS OF ENGLAND The very first thing you need to know about British driving is that they drive on the left side of the road.! This knowledge can help to keep a casual road trip through Devonshire from…
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Weather Most Foul: What We Saw/What We Didn’t
[The six to ten foot waves of the Adriatic Sea taken through the sea-splashed window of our stateroom aboard the Windstar’s “WindSurf”. Photo is mine] Here I am sitting in a room of the Welcome Hotel on the Boulevard Saint-Germain in the 6th Arrondissement of Paris about to write a blog post on Milan, Italy.…
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Como: Love, Clooney, Tragedy And Death
[Piazza Mazzini, Como. From our hotel window. Photo is mine] Beautiful, even on rainy days. ~ ~ Anon. Part One: Como & Beyond If you found this post by finding “Como” and are expecting to hear a YouTube video of Perry Como singing “It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas”, I’m very sorry. You’re…
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Rome: Antiquity, Beauty & Faith
Men did not love Rome because she was great. She was great because they had loved her. ~ ~ G. K. Chesterton [One of the iconoclastic images in the world. The Colosseum of Rome. What is not so famous is the construction equipment in the foreground. Photo is mine.] Part One: The City As A…
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