State park trail entry point.

Journey Home

Tales from the pilgrimage.

Ukraine

  • Ukraine, Not Immigration

    I am a Cold War warrior. I was in the U.S. Military during the period NATO stood down Soviet forces at the West German border. Based on intelligence received from friends who spied on Soviet troops, we believed we could whip their collective asses on any given day. That was likely our youth speaking. In… Read more

  • Russo-Ukraine War Continues

    We are nine, going on ten years into the Russo-Ukraine War and there’s no sign of resolution. Russia determined the Ukrainian people are part of Russia and annexed Crimea on Feb. 20, 2014. Russia now occupies one fifth of the Ukrainian land mass. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Washington, D.C. Monday as part of… Read more

  • Nobel Peace Laureates Reject Nuclear Weapons

    Open Letter From Nobel Peace Prize Laureates and Citizens of the World Against War and Nuclear Weapons: We reject war and nuclear weapons. We call on all our fellow citizens of the world to join us in protecting our planet, home for all of us, from those who threaten to destroy it. The invasion of… Read more

  • Writer’s Week #5

    Every time I read the name of a new city in Ukraine, I look it up on a map. When considering the vast expanses of farm fields depicted in atlases, I wonder how Ukrainian farmers will get a crop in this spring. I also wonder about the number of war crimes the west will tolerate… Read more

  • Price Gouging into 2022

    There is too much information about the Russia invasion of Ukraine to process. I had to get out the maps to keep things straight. The Rand McNally is a bit old as it shows Ukraine as part of the U.S.S.R. The atlases are opened to Ukraine on the living room coffee table. I filled the… Read more

  • Late Winter

    Snow fell and a day later it began melting. The ground is partly snow-covered in today’s predawn darkness. With a forecast high of 30 degrees, there will be more melting in sunny areas. Eleven days remain in winter. With President Biden’s March 8 announcement, “We’re banning all imports of Russian oil and gas and energy,”… Read more

  • Joint Statement Condemning Nuclear Threats from Russia

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 2, 2022 Joint Statement from the Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control Working Group Condemning Russian Nuclear Threats WASHINGTON, DC— Senators Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Representatives Don Beyer (VA-08) and John Garamendi (CA-03), co-chairs of the Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control Working Group, today issued the following statement condemning Russian nuclear… Read more

  • Images from the Russian Invasion of Ukraine

    In his 1979 book The Third World War: August 1985, General Sir John Hackett identified that the public generally disregards the possibility of war. He wrote about the role media embedded in combat units would play in his hypothetical war, bringing home different aspects of the conflict from what had been experienced in previous wars.… Read more

  • Sleepless Night

    Around midnight I woke with my mind racing. There was a high-pressure fire hose full of news on Monday. It is continuing into Tuesday. With Ukraine being eight time zones ahead, there were a lot of reports coming in via Twitter when I looked at the mobile device in bed. Much of the information was… Read more

  • Planting for Change

    Ajuga is a hearty plant. In the 1990s, we brought some from my father in law’s home to use as ground cover. It spread until plants were visible all along the drainage ditch on the north property line, stretching some 80 feet from the house into the ditch. We hope to use it in the… Read more