"The safest and most suitable form of penance seems to be that which causes pain in the flesh but does not penetrate to the bones, that is, which causes suffering but not sickness."- -Saint Ignatius Drove up to the lake for this morning's deposition. One of the blessings of the post-Covid age in my profession is that I can do my job wherever there's an internet connection. Plus, I just needed the hour of silence in the car to ponder. I've spent six years now mostly cooped up

"You love a lot of things if you live around them, but there isn't any woman and there isn't any horse, not any before nor any after, that is as lovely as a great airplane, and men who love them are faithful to them even though they leave them for others. A man has only one virginity to lose in fighters, and if it is a lovely plane he loses it to, there his heart will ever be." -Ernest Hemingway 8.5.1994 Thirty-two years ago today, on a steamy, gray Gulf Coast afternoon, I fl

"You’ve got to expect things are going to go wrong. And we always need to prepare ourselves for handling the unexpected." — Neil Armstrong, 2005 Back after a long weekend in NYC. I have to admit that I never took the computer out of the bag until I had to pay a bill on Monday morning. One can see the headlines there, the cupidity and kakistocracy of the present moment--one just can't feel it the same way in Manhattan, as if the whole city is protected by a dome of political s

Going to the city, got you on my mind, Country sure is pretty, I'll leave it all behind, This is my decision, I'm coming home to stay this time 'Cause I'm a fool for the city, I'm a fool for the city, Fool for the city, I'm a fool for the city -Foghat An apt name for the group offering this morning's quoted sentiment. Sixty-five and foggy, but the fog is lifting which is good because we're about to jump in the Caddy and drive to Manhattan for the weekend. Dio's been down the

The language of these Soviet show trials... could only be understood in the Aesopian imagery of the closed Bolshevik universe of conspiracies of evil against good in which 'terrorism' simply signified 'any doubt about the policies or character of Stalin.' All his political opponents were per se assassins. More than two 'terrorists' was a 'conspiracy'. -Simon Sebag-Montefiore We've all now read about the circus in the Senate yesterday, as a United States Senator was allowed to

I used to think that this was my town What a stupid thing to think I hear you're fighting off a breakdown I myself am on the brink I used to want to be a real man I don't know what that even means Now I just want you in my arms again And we can search each other's dreams I know you're tired And you ain't sleeping well Uninspired And likely mad as hell But wherever you are I hope the high road leads you home again -Jason Isbell As usual, this morning it feels like Isbell is ta

“Today we are engaged in a final, all-out battle between communistic atheism and Christianity.” -Joseph McCarthy The establishment media is increasingly atwitter about the ascendency of the Democratic Socialists within the Democratic Party. That's the mayor of my favorite city, Zohran Mamdani, flanked by Mao and Lenin. Those two were responsible for the deaths of in excess of 50 million human beings. Zohran just wants to make groceries affordable and universal daycare availab

The biggest thrill wasn't in winning on Sunday but in meeting the payroll on Monday. -Art Rooney It's not even nine a.m. at home in Florida and the rising tide of yuck has already started. A client calling because a settlement agreement that should have been signed two months ago still hasn't been, due to the intransigence of the other side. What are you going to do about this, counselor? I could sue them, but the same client doesn't want to spend money on a lawsuit. I'm sche

The rhythm of the weekend, with its birth, its planned gaiety, and its announced end, followed the rhythm of life and was a substitute for it. -F. Scott Fitzgerald Sort of a challenging writing environment right now, given that I'm sitting in a deposition. Well, in fact we're waiting for the witness to show up. What a glorious thing if she doesn't, and I have this hour for something less stultifying. I mentioned this week a desire to avoid the boring, repetitive views out the

I see great things in baseball. It's our game - the American game. -Walt Whitman Walt, you were right old friend, but maybe not in the way you might've anticipated then. I say that and then think that he worked in military hospitals during the Civil War. He probably would have understood this moment better than I do. Yesterday, at Wheeler High School in Marietta, Georgia, where I lived from age five through ten, my beloved Marietta, there was a rally featuring the Mad King. A

Basically, at the very bottom of life, which seduces us all, there is only absurdity, and more absurdity. And maybe that's what gives us our joy for living, because the only thing that can defeat absurdity is lucidity. -Albert Camus After all those repetitive shots of life goinng past outside the window here at the Schoolhouse, I figured I'd post a different shot, from my windshield as I drove to the post office a few minutes ago. Market Street is a block to the left, in the

"The German army was the best tactical instrument in the world, but it was employed in the service of a strategy of bedazzlement that was essentially lunatic.” -Max Hastings This morning's headlines included the whopper that the Department of Defense/War is about out of money. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/07/21/pentagon-sinking-billions-into-iran-is-quickly-running-short-cash/ How exactly does one run a trillion-dollar-a-year enterprise out of money w

Anxiety How do you always get the best of me? I should be living in a fantasy I can't enjoy a goddamn thing Anxiety Why am I never where I am supposed to be? Even with my lover sleeping close to me I'm wide awake and I'm in pain -Jason Isbell We've been listening to a lot of Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit lately. I've written about that before. The above lyric sort of captures this Monday, every Monday for years now, from 3 a.m. until I finally roll out of bed. I may blame my

"Old men delight in giving good advice as a consolation for the fact that they can no longer provide bad examples." -Francois de La Rochefoucauld Yesterday evening, as Peg was immersed in planning for the furnishing of the new Manhattan apartment (it's so small I figure she's given several minutes of her attention per square foot on the subject), I was reading an online essay that casually dropped a quote from one of my favorite little books, La Rouchefoucauld's Maxims: "Hypo

"Is global warming causing more extreme weather events of greater intensity, and is it causing sea levels to rise? The answer to both is an emphatic 'no.'" -Jim Inhofe Jim, you may want to come out here to the street and take a look at the sky. Or I reckon you could just peek out the window from here inside the condo right now. I guess the good news is that all this particulate has driven down the temperatures a bit. We hit 100 degrees in Corning on Tuesday, the second time w

“About half the practice of a decent lawyer is telling would-be clients that they are damned fools and should shut up. ” ―Elihu Root Without really knowing much about Elihu Root, I put that quote on the back of the t-shirt we gave away to runners in the annual Bay County Bar Association Race Judicata. I was the chair for three or four years early in my legal career. I guess my jaundiced eye toward the role played by our profession was obvious even then. Lately I've been watch

"Old age, believe me, is a good and pleasant thing. It is true you are gently shouldered off the stage, but then you are given such a comfortable front stall as spectator." -Confucius This blog has become sort of vapid, hasn't it? I mean, what insights emerge here (as if they ever did)? Yesterday I turned 62. I've been in sort of an anhedonic grump for a while now, and P was determined that a trip to Manhattan might pull me out of this funk. Returning to the recent site of a

"How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?" -Satchel Paige Sitting here in our very expensive room at the Abbey in Peekskill, NY, about to drive the 1+30 down into Manhattan for my birthday. This hotel isn't as great as I remembered the last time. They advertise a pool, but it's actually at the apartment complex across the street. In November we didn't care, but yesterday it would've been a welcome amenity. There's no place to sit outside without baking in the

I heard enough of the white man's blues I've sang enough about myself So if you're looking for some bad news You can find it somewhere else Last year was a son of a bitch For nearly everyone we know But I ain't fighting with you down in a ditch I'll meet you up here on the road I know you're tired And you ain't sleeping well Uninspired And likely mad as hell But wherever you are I hope the high road leads you home again To a world you want to live in -Jason Isbell No post yes

"You can't convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it's based on a deep seated need to believe" -Carl Sagan Trying to hustle some work out the door this morning before P and I head down to Williamsport, PA, for a quick getaway to see Todd Rundgren in concert. P has today and tomorrow off, and this morning she was still in bed after 8. So was I, reading the paper because I didn't want to slip off and leave her to wake up by herself. Which ma