How do people feel when the leaders of government become rich while in office? Even if there is not direct theft of funds, there's the understandable suspicion that corrupt use of influence and power has

The first time I did a walk through in my new house, about two years ago, I took a tumble off the back deck. I miscalculated the distance between the deck's steps, lost my footing, and went flying. My

In recent days I've been remembering my Uncle Al. News reports about bombings in the Caribbean brought those memories back. When I was very young Uncle Al would visit my family. I thought he was scary,

Today I went with a friend to the Center for Advanced Medicine, RJ Zuckerberg Cancer Center. My friend was being prepared for a highly specialized cancer treatment call SBRT: stereotactic body radiotherapy.

Hobby? How about passion? I was already in my sixties, with my existential clock ticking loudly, when I realized my time on earth was short. I had spent most of my life, including my childhood, with the

Achlys threw his hands up in despair. "I will never leave this place," he lamented. "I am my father's son, his father's grandson. We have been blacksmiths in the village for as long as our

When I arrived at Aunt Gladys' house I had the clothes on my back, and nothing more. She made a bed up for me and my sister Dawn in the living room. We didn't see my mother, or go home again, for three

It finally happened. COVID caught up with me. I know I must be the last person on the planet to get this virus, but then I've been very careful. Having COVID in a multi-resident household can be complicated.

Aldouse Huxley, drawing by Eric Pape, 1929. Public domain About a week ago I stumbled across a radio rendition of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. I was intrigued because Huxley himself was narrating the

I played poker this weekend with my family. This is not a game I played as a child. Back then, the only card game I knew was War, which doesn't require any skill at all. Poker, on the other hand, is all

300W Portable Power Station There is supposed to be a nor'easter coming through here today, lasting until Tuesday. Predictions are for coastal flooding, high winds, heavy rain. Ever since hurricane Sandy

The auction house, Christies, recently held an auction of AI Art. On their website, in describing AI 'art', they posted this sentence: "AI art has emerged as a phenomenon in which artificial intelligence

The first time I heard a U. S. president referred to as fascist was when Richard Nixon was president. The same charge has been leveled more recently against the current U. S. president, Donald Trump. This

When I first moved into what we called L...house, in 1954, a field sloped down from the front and back yards. At the bottom of the field was a stream and beyond the stream a large hill that filled the

On September 10, 2025, Charlie Kirk was assassinated. I wish I had not watched the video that showed the murder. I watched it because I wanted to know if everything that was written about the event was

It's been a while since I contributed pictures to LIL, the LMAC Image Gallery. A couple of weeks ago I posted a blog about my cat, and it occurred to me that many impressive pictures were not included

The figure in the movie twirled on its head, executed a flip and landed neatly on its feet. That figure was my daughter. I was watching a film at the Museum of Natural History in New York City. My daughter

Members of Ethiopian Nobility as Prisoners of War, Italian Invasion of Ethiopia, 1938 ZeMenelik. CC 4.0 license. Churchill was tolerant of the rise of fascism, and was indifferent to Mussolini's invasion

When I wake up in the morning, it's not to an alarm clock, or the rising sun. I wake up to a howl. Here is the howler: This cat was rescued from the street about 16 years ago. I think if he had been left

Recently my son visited his cousin, my nephew, in North Carolina. Last year parts of western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee were devastated by Hurricane Helene. Roads were washed out. These included