Atlanta, GA May 28, 2023 I said unto the king: If it seem good to the king, let him give me letters to the governors of the country beyond the river, that they convey me over… – Nehemiah 2:7 (Douay Rheims Bible) Five centuries before Christ, Nehemiah sought permission from the King of Persia to […]
Barnsley Gardens, GA May 19, 2023 Last week we contemplated fear. Today we lighten the mood, and consider contentment. What makes us happy? The question has animated philosophy since systemic thought sprouted on Aegean shores. For centuries since, the hunt for happiness has followed countless trails of reflective contemplation and empirical inquisition. Today, under a cool […]
Atlanta, GA March 7, 2023 In the course of my career, I’ve spent countless hours in hotel lobbies. Now, I’m passing a few more. Sipping coffee in a corner chair, I’m comfortably ensconced at the Hotel Whitley, in a building that once housed the Buckhead Ritz-Carlton. Rita and I were here a few years ago, […]
Atlanta, GA November 24, 2022 Three years ago, on Thanksgiving Day in 2019, we inverted the script, put our tongue in our cheek, and derided all the things for which we’re eternally ungrateful. A few months later, those annoyances would seem like quaint irritants of a naïve age. Since that time, it’s as if we’ve […]
Lexington, KY November 21, 2022 Last month, I participated in a charity golf event. The day before, for the first time in weeks, it rained in north Georgia. Showers continued thru the night, stopping just as we were supposed to play. Unfortunately, the soggy conditions caused the Club to prohibit carts from leaving their path. […]
Frankfort, KYNovember 20, 2022 The United States were founded on principles of state sovereignty and local government. If two peoples were incompatible, there was no sense imposing a bad marriage. That was the rationale for thirteen states seceding from Great Britain. It became the reason future societies might separate from those states (and one we […]
Atlanta, GA November 16, 2022 Chesterton advised to “not ever take a fence down till you understand why it was put up.” But sometimes they come down whether we like it or not. The previous owners of our house had some reason to line each side of the property with a double-rail border fence. We […]
As we did a couple days ago, we delve the archives, and recall a wonderful place in a pleasant time. [Earlier installments in this series: Orléans, Chenonceau, Amboise, Chambord, Montrichard, Blois, Tours, Chartres, Paris] Paris, France April 26, 2000 After the Religious Wars, the Bourbons supplanted the Valois, and moved regal soirées from the Loire […]
On the Feast of All Saints, we remember a day we spent with one. November 25, 2000 Spello, Italy The Apennines divide Umbria like uneven vertebrae up the spine of Italy. Yesterday, we crossed the ridge in search of a saint. Near the central crest, in the province of Perugia, sits the comune of Cascia. We’re spending […]
Auburn, AL September 25, 2022 “SWEET AUBURN! Loveliest village of the plain.” – Oliver Goldsmith, The Deserted Village This is Homecoming and “Parents Weekend” at Auburn. We aren’t alums. But we do have a son who hopes to be one in about a year. So with his younger brother, Rita and I came to campus. […]