Letter from a Mother to a Daughter

“My dear girl, the day you see I’m getting old, I ask you to please be patient, but most of all, try to understand what I’m going through. If when we talk, I repeat the same thing a thousand times, don’t interrupt to say: “You said the same thing a minute ago”… Just listen, please. …

A lesson on patience

A NYC Taxi driver wrote: I arrived at the address and honked the horn. After waiting a few minutes I honked again. Since this was going to be my last ride of my shift I thought about just driving away, but instead I put the car in park and walked up to the door and …

Surfing the mouth of Newport Harbor, 1938

Here is some rare footage from 1938 of a few big swells coming into Newport Harbor (Newport Beach, CA). The long jetties at the mouth of the harbor providing smooth seas haven’t been built yet, and the waves are looking really good! The area was known as the “Waikiki of the west coast”. The Balboa …

Amsterdam’s famous canals are frozen – time to lace up those ice skates!

For the second time in three years, Amsterdam’s famous canals have frozen. You know what that means? It’s time to lace up the ice skates. After temperatures dropped to 14 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 10 degrees Celsius) this past weekend, Dutch young and old flocked to the city’s famous waterways, gliding across the frozen surfaces on …

Amsterdam's famous canals are frozen – time to lace up those ice skates!

For the second time in three years, Amsterdam’s famous canals have frozen. You know what that means? It’s time to lace up the ice skates. After temperatures dropped to 14 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 10 degrees Celsius) this past weekend, Dutch young and old flocked to the city’s famous waterways, gliding across the frozen surfaces on …

Among the Ancients

Of all the literary themes out there trees happen to be one of my favorite. One of the best authors in this genre is, surprisingly, fantasy giant J.R.R. Tolkein. In his series of novels, The Lord of The Rings, he goes on endlessly about trees giving them an entire culture and personifying them with eyes, mouths, …