Category: Misc.
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Patrol Torpedo
I just finished reading William Doyle’s 2015 book about Kennedy’s PT 109. A great read. Whatever people think about JFK the politician, there’s no doubt he was a real hero following the destruction of his boat in the Solomons. (I can’t help wondering if Kennedy’s later outbursts of anger about the incident were due to…
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Weekend
A walk through URI’s Alton Jones Campus. Sadly, the 2300-acre wooded campus has become a financial burden. It reminds me of Walden Pond 40 years ago. And a book among the barroom bottles. Hope someone reads it.
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A Walk in the Woods
On my daily (i.e., theoretically daily) walk through the neighborhood and surrounding woods I came across the URI tick people posting signs, dragging for ticks, and filming a little promo spot. The on-campus Tick Encounter group (https://web.uri.edu/tickencounter/) is a long-running research and public service entity that “promotes tick-bite protection and tickborne disease prevention by engaging,…
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The Last Hike?
I remember the first time I saw the White Mountains. It was on a Boy Scout hiking trip—probably in 1970. We hiked up Tuckerman’s from Pinkham Notch, and from there my memory of the rest of the route is a bit hazy. But that trip was the start of a long love affair with backpacking…
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Armada de Molucca
I was just onboard a replica of Magellan’s 500-year-old flagship, Nao Trinidad. It was one of five ships in the 1519 Armada de Molucca sailing around the world. Magellan made it as far as the Philippines. I may have to re-read Bergreen’s Over the Edge of the World. Magellan and his crew were not 21st-century men. They were cruel,…
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The Retiring Shore
From a recent NYT piece about my hometown, Old Saybrook: “It’s a place where middle-class people built cottages generations ago and left them to their kids… Now, many of those houses have been winterized. And as people retire, they live in them year-round.” Actually, this is true all over the Connecticut shoreline. Former seasonal, cold-water cottages…