Can you make up for lost time? I’m not talking about passenger jets that get a tail wind that compensates for a late departure from the gate. I’m talking years of lost productivity or enjoyment of life due to, well, due to a lot of things. Can you make up for lost time? For most […]
“Life isn’t about living your dreams,” said the TV preacher. “It’s about living God’s plan.” Maybe, I thought to myself. Or maybe not. Maybe our dreams are God’s plan. Maybe God is the giver of dreams. And don’t get too religious on me. I’m talking about dreams of traveling or cooking or writing or building […]
So my friend Mike Haynes finally got to see the Northern Lights. It was on his and wife Kathy’s bucket list. They had tried before—in 2015 from Iceland and again in 2019 off the coast of Norway. Yet, though they went to likely places at likely times, the phenomenon known as Aurora Borealis wasn’t cooperating. […]
My first dream was named Sue. I was six years old, and, no, Sue wasn’t a girl. She was a horse, more precisely a Paint mare. Paints are white with a patch (or patches) of another color. Sue was solid white with a splash of copper on her neck and mane. Can’t remember exactly how […]
Thank God for Louis Armstrong. He saved my Monday. I had woken to the usual weekend news updates—more political unrest, more bad pandemic numbers. And, then, “What a Wonderful World” popped up on my Pandora. Suddenly, I’m seeing “trees so green,” “red roses too,” “skies so blue,” and “friends shaking hands.” What timing! Evidently, I […]
The reader said I was unrealistic: “Building a custom home is an unrealizable dream for many at any time of life, let alone when suddenly retired without warning.” OK, maybe I was. Maybe I still am. But, five years later, the cash flow is working. Yes, it took some new income streams and some good […]
His mother called him Shug (as in “sugar”). So we all did. And we still do—although his size and somewhat rugged appearance don’t fit the name. Picture the Marlboro man with a few more years and a few more pounds. Shug is one of my oldest, best friends. So when he moved back to his […]
Team I couldn’t help being impressed by the esprit de corps of the Grafton crew. Early on, they decided to abandon the tradition of top-down rank aboard ship for a more democratic partnership on land. They still elected a leader, and, interestingly enough, unanimously chose Captain Musgrave. The only caveat was that they could change […]
Risk I didn’t tell you earlier, but Druett’s book also is about another vessel, the Invercauld, which wrecked on the same island, at approximately the same time as the Grafton (though each crew did not know of the other’s existence). However, the story of the Invercauld differed drastically. While all member of the Grafton would […]
Routine Captain Musgrave believed that routine was important for morale. Thus, he had everyone rise daily with the cook at 6:00 a.m. The early time was important not only for psychological reasons; it took a lot of wood to keep the cabin heated—they kept the blaze going night and day—so the earlier the start, the […]