History, Plain Speaking, Truth, Uncategorized

William and Kate: Wanna Post Photos of You and Your Kids? Go for it!

I am totally in your ballpark! But, first, you need to decide: Are you after "authorised" long-lasting images that will follow your son (the future king) into eternity?  Or is every photo just a "one-off," the "best amateur sort of shit that could be accomplished at the time by even a person like me with… Continue reading William and Kate: Wanna Post Photos of You and Your Kids? Go for it!

Book Review, Family, Family Matters, Plain Speaking, Truth, Uncategorized

On Family Memories and the Meaning of “Gift”

Several months ago, I wrote a "very preliminary" book review of John Blashford-Snell’s From Utmost East to Utmost West: My Life of Exploration and Adventure.   Happily, someone took me up on the challenge to read the entire book and write the actual whole thing, and the result is this post on the Ricochet main feed.  (Worth… Continue reading On Family Memories and the Meaning of “Gift”

Family, Funny Links, Love, Uncategorized

Champis, The Sheep Herding Rabbit, And Maudie Nichols

The best part of this little video may be the utterly useless Border Collie, who I think might be stuffed. I first "met" Champis the Sheepherding Rabbit over a decade ago, online.  What can I say?  People send me these sorts of things all the time.  I pass them on whenever I can. The audio… Continue reading Champis, The Sheep Herding Rabbit, And Maudie Nichols

Uncategorized

Buyer’s Remorse: Hasta La Vista Boris!

https://youtu.be/zwugzdU1G-0 I don’t watch many Arnold Schwarzenegger movies.  Unlike a lot of people, I’ve never been much of a fan, either in his Mr. Universe, his entertainment, or his political, careers. And I really only recognize two quotes from his movies.  One is “Hasta La Vista (See ya’ Later), Baby.”  (Voted #76 in the American Film Institute’s… Continue reading Buyer’s Remorse: Hasta La Vista Boris!

Book Club, Culture, Education, Family, Farming, Love, Uncategorized

Blessings from the Great Beyond: The Machine That Thinks Like a Man

A few months ago, I was invited, by someone I've known slightly online for a number of years, to join a book club.  Rather trepidatiously, I agreed, with the stipulation that I couldn't be much involved for several weeks due to some personal commitments around the same time as their weekly online meetings, commitments which… Continue reading Blessings from the Great Beyond: The Machine That Thinks Like a Man

Uncategorized

Portrait of a Woman: According to a Pole

Wisława Szymborska, who was born in 1923, was a Pole, a reformed socialist, and an extraordinary poet who (very deservedly) won the 1996 Nobel Prize for Literature.  The citation read, in part, that she composed “poetry that with ironic precision allows the historical and biological context to come to light in fragments of human reality.”… Continue reading Portrait of a Woman: According to a Pole

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A “Fully-Documented” Alien Dares to Comment on “A Great American Novel”

Almost 60 years ago, somewhere early in 1964 to be exact, my family and I were living in a crummy little apartment building on Babcock Street in Brookline, Massachusetts.  We'd been in the USA for only a few months, having arrived three weeks before JFK was shot.  I was in the fourth grade, attending Edward… Continue reading A “Fully-Documented” Alien Dares to Comment on “A Great American Novel”

Farming, Humor, Politics, Uncategorized

Cluckservative?

Surely you remember the word?  It was coined a few years ago to define establishment Republicans who--according to those more edgy--had failed themselves, their constituents, and their country, and were headed--following the 2016 election of Donald Trump--into oblivion. Well, almost. The word was CUCK-servative.  What Lewis Carroll would have called a "portmanteau" word, derived from… Continue reading Cluckservative?