Thanksgiving Hunter/Gatherer

 

Harking back to the old days when men went out and killed what they ate...

In this case rutabagas.

Thanksgiving morning I braved the cold and led my children out on a rutabaga hunt, manfully killed one and brought it back for my wife to cook.

Okay, strictly speaking my wife showed me where in the garden the rutabagas were, and I went out with the kids, my son dug them up while my daughter took pictures of herself and I supervised the whole operation. But you get the idea.

Something I swore I would never do...

You know, when you're young and don't have a lot of life experience you have plenty of opportunity to swear you will never do certain things and then do them anyway. Sometimes you realize you were right the first time - you should never have done that - and sometimes you wonder what took you so long to give it a try.

The older you get, the more experience you accumulate and the fewer chances you have to do that sort of thing.

But here I am, getting ready to do Something I Swore I Would Never Do - self publish a book.

I've had this novel of Vikings in Ireland in my virtual drawer for years. It never found a publisher. I always thought it was pretty good, and reading it over again, I still think it's pretty good. So, damn it, I'm going to publish it myself. It's so bloody easy these days (for better or worse).

More as I move though the process...

Work, Work, Work...

Just got back from the latest tough work assignment, two weeks as a guest lecturer aboard the cruise ship Yorktown. We sailed from Quebec to Boothbay Harbor, Maine, stopping at a number of ports on the St. Lawrence and the Canadian Maritimes. But lest anyone think this was all fun and games, I had to give four lectures over the course of two weeks!

More pictures to come, illustrating the unremitting labors of the struggling author.

Hard work in Halifax. Had dinner ashore and was forced to choke down a non-Maine lobster, but I managed. Photo courtesy of fellow passengers Lynn and Kathy Stokes

What I Did on My Summer Vacation...

Just got back from a great trip to Ireland and Scotland with my younger son, Jack. My sister lives in Ireland in the summers, so we visited her and we all went by car and ferry to Scotland. On the wrong side of both the road and the channel! (turns out they don't do the Red Right Returning thing in Europe. Or anywhere but the U.S. of A. Good thing they didn't ask me to navigate).

Here are some photos...



In the Scottish Highlands. Happily I am not wearing a kilt.

Me and Jack at Loch Ness (yes, that Loch Ness)

Jack on a boat on Loch Ness. We didn't even realize what the camera had caught in the background!

Haggis!

More Haggis!

This is Just One of My Favorite Things...

Blathering away in front of an audience! When my kids see me take on this pose and expression, that's when the eyes start rolling and they brace themselves for some serious pontificating. The good folks at the Society of the Cincinnati in the State of Connecticut asked me to address their meeting. I've come to know a number of them over the years. They are great bunch, leading the charge to preserve our Revolutionary history. The best part, they made me an honorary member! My family only goes back in this country about 120 years, so I never get to be part of that sort of thing. My wife's goes way back, and she is tracing it now, so it's possible my kids will get to be in the Sons and Daughters of the American revolution and I won't, in which case they'll really rub my nose it it!

My thanks to the Society of the Cincinnati for their kindness and especially to Chris and Steve for sponsoring me. But this begs the age old question - do I want to be part of an organization that would have me for a member?

Great Quote!

I came across this the other day and thought it was great, and pretty much sums the situation up:

Work is of two kinds: first, altering the position of matter at or near the earth's surface relative to other matter; second, telling other people to do so.

                                                                                          Bertrand Russell

More Dead White Men

Seems in my recent travels I keep coming across interesting dead guys I did not know where there. In Newport it was Benedict Arnold's family. Recently my wife and I were in New York City (was asked to give a talk at the American Yacht Club in Rye - a terrific place and they put on a heck of an event) and we ended up in the cemetery at Trinity Church in Manhattan. Unbeknownst to me, Captain James Lawrence of "Don't give up the ship!" fame is buried here. Since I am mired in the War of 1812 these days (more on the new book later) I got a particular kick out of this.

Not a great picture. And, of course, the camera adds 100 pounds. Also, note what the stantions holding the chain fence are made from!