The Massif Central. An ancient landscape. To stand in its embrace is to experience the soul of France. In its heart, the Chaine des Puys is a line of 80 dormant volcanoes that run along a north-south axis. The capital [...]
It is Mother's Day and I am grateful that I can celebrate it. That I am allowed to utter my gratitude. And that is the reason I decided to write today. I hope you will forgive me for stepping into [...]
Steve Jobs led an inspirational life full of passion and creative brilliance. I won't lie. I am a huge admirer. His vision and core values were a light in a world bedeviled by speed, noise, and change. His flaws and [...]
Dad’s words are elusive. I have pages and pages of his later life, but those that reveal the brief period between leaving Marysville and graduating high school are sparse. They reveal little of what he endured or how he felt. [...]
Death. I imagine all the ways to deal with such an end. You can come up swinging. Or, you can allow it to be subsumed into a moment in which you become consumed by grief for that now dead world. [...]
When they cleared Marysville, Grandmother pulled over. Tears stained her dress. Uncle Keith, too young to get his license, begged his Mom to drive. Distraught, her distress alarmed the boys. They switched places. On the way to Santa Barbara, she [...]
When Pearl Harbor happened, it was like an itch that commanded the big scratch. The day it happened, Grandad called his kids in to hear the radio. You could hear a pin drop but for the announcer and his dramatic [...]
When Dad died, there were 2 versions of his life written for his obituary. My brother’s and mine. My brother’s version won which was only right. Living in the same town, he had been there for the heartbreaking decline. I [...]
It’s easy to believe that a floodgate can just open and spill its guts. Years of retaining soaking rains and melting snow gone in a second. Like that, an avalanche of water crashes and crushes everything. But any good engineer [...]