As I posted my entry titled “An American”, I reflected on how my own family has changed in recent years. As far as I can discover, all of my paternal and maternal ancestors emigrated to America from Britain or western Europe before the American Revolution. In many ways we were a very insular people. This […]
Some years after 9/11 there was a report that someone in Pakistan had published in a newspaper an offer of a reward to anyone who killed an American, any American. So, an Australian dentist wrote the following to let everyone know what an American is, so they would know when they found one: “An American […]
American sailors and soldiers have left their bones in lands and seas all over the globe. One place that lives on in military lore is the peninsula of Bataan, on the island of Luzon, in the Philippines. United States forces had occupied the Philippines during the Spanish American War, and by terms of the treaty […]
As we endured the cold of winter, it was good to think of warmer times. In June 2018, I had the privilege of taking a Mediterranean cruise with members of my family – three sons, three daughters-in-law, one grandson, three granddaughters, one grandson-in-law, and two other in-laws. What a motley crew we were. Italy may […]
It is interesting to reflect on how much the world has changed in the last 175 years. My father was born in 1873, his father in 1841. Both were born at a time when there were no automobiles, no radios, few or no telephones, very limited medical facilities, etc. Railroads were new phenomena when my […]
Irving Berlin, who arrived in America in 1893 as a Jewish immigrant from Czarist Russia, was a prolific songwriter, both composer and lyricist, and he wrote hundreds of songs. Almost every American over the age of fifty is familiar with some of his creations. Think, for instance, of that marvelous musical Annie Get Your Gun […]
I come from a family of prodigious eaters. Our five sons could consume amazing amounts of food. In a previous post about camping I wrote about how the family may have closed down a smorgasbord restaurant in Pennsylvania. Fortunately, their mother was a great cook. My first son, Sandy Jr., may have been the most […]
Journalists and television pundits often appear puzzled by the fact that so many American Evangelical Christians support President Trump and are very hesitant to criticize him. To them it seems inconsistent that these people ally themselves with a thrice married, philandering, rude, and often crude individual who often engages or has engaged in behavior at […]
Have you ever encountered someone who either spoke so softly or incoherently that you had difficulty understanding them? Remember the old Dick Tracy comic strip? There was a character that sometime appeared in the strip that they called “Mumbles”. His trademark was never speaking clearly but always mumbling. This was indicated when he spoke by […]
One never knows what awaits around the corner. Charles Dickens titled one of his novels Great Expectations. Do you have great expectations? What are your prospects? That reminds me of a brief story by Jack London in his book Burning Daylight. London told of a wedding in western North Carolina where a fight broke out […]
Jordans-Journey 