Exuberant Frugality

We tested my Greens Chair at Greens Restaurant over a four course dinner On the eve of our first full week home after six weeks of travel, Ene, Aili and I celebrated with a prix fixe, four course dinner at Greens Restaurant in San Francisco. Mike Hale, Greens’ manager, generously comped the meal as a […]

Skygazing

Study of Clouds over the Sea, Brighton, oil on canvas by John Constable, 1822 Like my distant relative, the English landscape painter John Constable, I find myself increasingly looking skyward. Along the Sonoma Coast, the sky is alternately either clear blue or opaque gray for most of the year. But as winter approaches and the […]

Radical Board Boat

the lateen-rigged ‘jangada’ of Northeastern Brazil Over twenty years ago, Ene and I built our first and only boat together one winter on the porch when we lived in a one room cabin perched over the Hudson. The cabin was built atop a sea wall on a narrow spit of land to the west of […]

Entropy Schmentropy

I doubt the rancher who owns this tiny roadside outbuilding shares my enthusiasm for the patterns of blistered paint on its corrugated walls. He’d probably agree that it needs repainting and was a poorly executed job to begin with, or that the galvanized steel was best left exposed to the elements without any paint at […]

Conspicuous Skies

Perseus cluster (image by Ken Crawford, Rancho Del Sol Observatory) I do my best to court coincidence, but would not consider myself superstitious. Like anyone, I just find it reassuring when cosmic events complement the task at hand and try to pay attention to patterns as they emerge. ??????? ???????? I did not plan to […]

Among the Redwoods

Sequoia sempervirens Spending time among the Northern California coastal redwoods can be equally inspiring and disquieting. The trees have a presence that exceeds their scale in both time and space. The forests are supremely silent, supporting little habitat for creatures that produce sound. how often can you give ivermectin to dogs The redwoods exude a […]