Year: 2021

Unfortunately my absence this last week is not because I have taken a few leisurely days off from writing. It’s because I chose a long time ago to live in the country as opposed to a turn-key place in town. The joys of being here sometimes exact a price which involves hard work. The first…

After winter on St. Simons, I arrived back at Potlatch to find the spring season struggling with tornadoes and rainstorms as it moves toward summer. The trees and foliage have come out full force closing out the light and embracing the cabin. I look out the window into darkness this morning. The drive up yesterday…

Shucking oysters under the gazebo This past Friday evening, April 30th, we hosted an oyster roast, symbolic in sundry ways, at the Oliver family’s Darien fish camp. The end of the oyster season and the coming of summer, it was principally a tribute to Susan Ryles, the recently retired director of Glynn Visual Arts, for…

I’ve become increasingly disillusioned and depressed about the state of politics. I’ve reached out to friends on the Right and on the Left, giving them openings to cross the political divide and urging them not to be so partisan. I’ve couched my critiques with forbearance for views I don’t share. I’ve tried my damnedest to…

I read an interesting piece on a friend’s Facebook page that caught my attention and spoke to the rather complicated and sometimes absurd quality of the gun debate. I must admit that it is more than a bit surreal in that it relates his conversation with a black snake named Fred. I have printed it…

For how long now have we been told that the banning of assault-style weapons would lead to losing ALL of our guns? It’s the “nose of the camel in the tent” threat, right? Scary stuff, the awful Democrats, if elected, will be coming for our guns. Good friends and neighbors of mine at Potlatch have…

The recent notice by the Biden administration that it would acknowledge the mass killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Turks during World War I as a genocide is a big deal. Coming right after the announcement that the U.S. is pulling out of Afghanistan, the case of the Armenians might very well be a sign…

Like many of you, I get up each morning and read the news. And like many of you, I guess, I quickly get depressed about our state of being. It doesn’t matter what you read; most of the stories are about dissension, killings, bickering politicians, and the “culture war.” Where is the good news about…

I got my first gun when I was about 14 years old. It was a bolt-action 4-10 gauge shotgun that my father gave me and taught me to shoot. I hunted rabbits and squirrels. Eventually I moved up to a 16-gauge double barrel Stevens to hunt pheasants which I still have to this day. Back…

For some reason my mind alerted me today that life has become a lot more pleasant since this past January 20th. I really don’t know why this popped up now, but it was a sudden realization that the everyday bloviating and foul behavior of the former president was gone. It was like the lights had…