I spent a lot of time at Balboa Park in San Diego with my girlfriend watching the ducks. They were mostly mallards, with a few exotic types from the nearby San Diego Zoo. There were 21 of them for the longest time, week after week, a combination of adults and some yearlings. There is aContinue reading “Discover Prompts: Day 9 – Pairs: The Ducks at San Diego’s Balboa Park”
Category Archives: Essays
Discover Prompts #8: Curve
Picture a corkscrew. It’s curvy, curved in one direction. Hold that corkscrew horizontally. As you trace the curve, it moves forward and also curves back around to where it started. If you drew a line on the top of the corkscrew, each point on the metal part of the screw would line up, the spacesContinue reading “Discover Prompts #8: Curve”
Below the Common View: A Dachshund’s Guide to the World
This is for Discover Prompts #7 for April 7 – Below. I have a dachshund named Herman. He’s 17 pounds of double dapple short-haired red with white flash on the back of his neck and a white stripe from his foreheard to his nose, white booties on his feet, and a white tip of hisContinue reading “Below the Common View: A Dachshund’s Guide to the World”
The Left-Handers Guide to Getting Behind
This is Discover Prompts #6 for April 6 on the word Hands. Something about needing and then getting a root canal slowed me down. But I’m on the mend now. I’m a left-hander. My brother was a left-hander. My paternal grandmother was a left-hander. I know that my grandmother bowled left-handed in Ohio. She wasContinue reading “The Left-Handers Guide to Getting Behind”
Give My Regards to Broadway
A memory and a tribute to healthcare workers in New York City Today’s Discover Prompts is about “song.” I’m remembering a duet I used to play with my dad on the piano, “Give My Regards to Broadway.” I’m also thinking of the healthcare workers laying their lives on the line during this pandemic. I’m thinkingContinue reading “Give My Regards to Broadway”
Adventures in Sailing, Part 9 – Land-Ho!
Photo by Markos Mant on Unsplash The longer the trip to Hawaii took, the more on edge we all became. Imagine 11 unbathed teenagers and young adults, diminishing food supplies, an irritable captain, a navigation chart with a criss-cross line for our trail and no land in sight. We did what we could to bideContinue reading “Adventures in Sailing, Part 9 – Land-Ho!”
Adventures in Sailing, Part 8 – Nighttime at Sea
Photo by Johannes Plenio from Pexels Adventures in Sailing, part 8 Nights on the Pacific Ocean were absolutely fantastic. The stars shone brighter than I had ever seen since the sky was free from any city light pollution. We practiced taking sights with our sextants. We were under strict orders to always wear our life jackets and toContinue reading “Adventures in Sailing, Part 8 – Nighttime at Sea”
Adventures in Sailing, Part 7 – The Day-to-Day in the Pacific
Photo by Oliver Sjöström from Pexels Adventures in Sailing, part 7 The day-to-day in the boat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean can become quite dull. Oh, give me that dullness all year long. In the first part of this series, I described our encounter in the doldrums. But when we had wind, there wasn’t anything quiteContinue reading “Adventures in Sailing, Part 7 – The Day-to-Day in the Pacific”
Adventures in Sailing, Part 6 – Hawaii Bound – But First, The U.S. Navy
Photo by Darren Nunis on Unsplash Adventures in Sailing, part 6 Our 12 person crew on the 42-foot trimaran Columba, headed to Hawaii, were off to a slow start as we rounded the southern edge of Catalina island on our 2nd day. The winds accelerated and we headed to San Clemente island at the end of our 3rdContinue reading “Adventures in Sailing, Part 6 – Hawaii Bound – But First, The U.S. Navy”
Adventures in Sailing, Part 5 – Bon Voyage – Columba Sets Sail
Photo by mali maeder from Pexels Adventures in Sailing, part 5 At noon on June 22, 1980, we left Ventura for Hawaii, with a scheduled stop at Marina Del Rey to pick up Andrea, our cook. Friends and family saw us off on the dock and our actual departure time was 12:20 pm. I know this because IContinue reading “Adventures in Sailing, Part 5 – Bon Voyage – Columba Sets Sail”
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