December 2020 Recently, I received promotional materials from The Colonel, Colonel Littleton in Tennessee. I was stunned at the savvy quality of the marketing of superb merchandise. The Colonel has found a new recruit! One of the more tempting items for sale is Col. Littleton Cologne. I immediately yielded to temptation — once I’d read the reviews. I decided that this subtle scent of citrus and manly spices just might replace the Old Spice cologne that I’d loved, since child

November’s End 2020 Last evening, I was engaged in multi-tasking amidst my translation of Chapter 91 of THE DAWN into L’AUBE. I’m coming...

Mid-November 2020 Once in every life, someone comes along, and the life of each someone is changed, somehow, forever. I have been blessed...

November 2020 Despite my dislike of the music of the 1970s, I occasionally find a nugget or two, mostly among the country-music repertoire, that transcend that ghastly era. One is a gem, penned and composed by Kris Kristofferson. It became a number-one hit by Ray Price in April 1970. This wistful song of parting established Kristofferson as a serious, award-winning songwriter; and it provided musician, songwriter, guitarist and innovator Price with his first smash country-and

Halloween 2020 There are times during these tumultuous times when I feel, and re-experience, the horrid days of my life, my very young...

11 October 2020 No, I am not leaving California. This essay addresses the many many people who have left California. I have known more than my share of them over the course of having lived in this state for forty years. I arrived here as a very young adult, and I, a native Northeasterner, was not welcomed by many of what would be known today as Native Californians. The atmosphere that I encountered was one of hostility and narrow-minded snootiness. I was stunned, and offended

Autumn 2020 Last night I started to translate the beginning of Book 6, La Résistance, Chapter 81 of THE DAWN. It had been a busy day,...

November 2020 Moving into my Dream House has occurred in phases. During the initial phase of unpacking the first phase (of many) of the first allotment (of many) of all of the Stored Stuff that has been in Mini-Storage for almost three years . . . . I came across my little Lane cedar chest souvenir box. The small treasure trove of personal mementoes was a delight for me to re-discover. I’d been trying to remember some of the more laughable info that was stored in it. One welc

October 2020 In 1936, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, a song called “Smoke Dreams” was featured in the highly enjoyable, highly...

Late September 2020 La Résistance is the term that was used most accurately, historically and fundamentally for the covert internal fight...

8 September 2020 Yesterday, I observed Labor Day in the USA by working — on the translation of Chapter 77 of THE DAWN into L’AUBE. I’d forgotten about how very opposed to the cross-Channel invasion Prime Minister Winston Churchill had been in 1942. The military commanders in the American enclave of the Allied forces punted a response to his rejection of this idea by stating that there were insufficient landing craft to pull of such an operation. They were correct, of course.

September 2020 Gabrielle is the Home-Cat now, in the new house called Larkhaven. After her release from 10 days of spacious...

September 2020 King Lear: The Lost Story of The Lost Scene During my first semester back-at-school, that would be Sac State of the...

Summer Souvenirs 2020 The drive-to-go was once described to me during my adolescence as the motivation to achieve, great things, with...

Summer 2020 Welcome to Larkhaven During the course of designing and building The Milligan Dream Home, I decided to give it a name. It...

Summer 2020 Reading information that has not even a remote link to my work is often how I discover aspects of writing that take me to...

5 July 2020 These 4th of July extravaganzas are not what they used to be — which means they are absolutely spectacular! I’ve experienced...

4 July 2020 We are closing in on the end-of-construction of my Dream House. Yesterday, I visited the site, which has begun to look like a...

2 July 2020 Yesterday, I was working on my laptop, quite happily I might add, working on the translation of Chapter 74 of THE DAWN into...

Summer 2020 Sea Fever John Masefield: Poet of the Sea Born in 1878 in Ledbury, Herefordshire, England, John Masefield was perhaps a...