Murderer’s Eggs
After leaving the paved road I had some trouble locating the arroyo. It was dusk and the features of the land were all begining to look the same. I made rapid drives up two or three openings in the terrain only to encounter rock walls. Finally, in the last of the light, I recognized a distinctive portion of the skyline of jagged hills up ahead that could lead us through the arroyo... Read More
The Perfect Punch in the Face
I have a friend named Rod. He’s a master cabinet maker. You can see his mastery in his self confidence, and that part of him that is always far away, occupied with lofty things, like his craft. You can see the mojo in him. To be admitted to his workshop, his sanctum sanctorum in Sonoma, California, is like being admitted into a matador’s dressing room before the fight. To be... Read More
A Mile in His Shoes
I spent many years of my adult life as the source of my grandfather’s shoes. My grandfather was the man in my life. My dad was a bit of an absentee father, ‘nuff said about that. But “Popa,” as I called granddad, was always there. Where I grew up in the timber country of the Pacific northwest it was Popa who taught me the names of all the trees, which plants were good to... Read More
Fortress of the Ancient Warrior
The Sierra de San Fransisco rises almost straight up from the desert floor, climbing for a mile. No rolling foothills presage its existence. It lunges up like skyscrapers, stabbing at the air with its crooked towers, snatching at clouds with its twisted peaks. Here and there high mesas contrast with the crags. The mesas fall away into great slashes of canyons, as deep as... Read More
Adrift on a Dry Sea
Central Desert Region, Baja California Garret Culhane, Matt Tully and I had arrived at Bahia de Los Angeles, on the Sea of Cortez, from the abandoned Mission San Borja. Despite some previous difficulties, Garret’s rebuilt 1959 Willy’s jeep (panelled version) was performing well off-road. The Argo, my modified Toyota 4X4, was in its element. We called the two vehicles... Read More
Strange, Wonderful and Taboo
All I ask of food is that it doesn’t harm me. —Michael Palin IN PAMPANGA, a small Philippine town, I was traveling to Olongapo City from Manila. I was hungry and had walked into a hole-in-the-wall restaurant, the kind that has a counter for about three and seats for two. The proprietor spoke no English, but I spoke enough Tagalog to say something like, “Give me your... Read More
A Gift of the Magi
I was still quite a young GI, but I had had a full combat tour in Vietnam, and that was more than enough, when in April of 1975 I was sent back in as a member of the expeditionary force tasked with extracting the South Vietnamese government, their dependents, and many thousands of fleeing civilians. All was disorder, and our efforts were reduced to ad lib and impromptu, and I just... Read More
The Great Montezuma
Bernal Diaz, The Conquistador, rode with Cortez from the very start of his conquests. He knew the Generalissimo and his beautiful Mayan interpreter, advisor and mistress:Dona Marina. He knew the near erotic thrill and the soul shaking horror of Cortez’s great enterprise. And he knew and admired the man he referred to as “the great Montezuma”. Diaz was a close observer.... Read More
Holy Mole
Stroll through the lanes of any Mexican neighborhood. If there’s a wedding, or other celebration, in the offing a certain come-hither aroma will find you. And you might find yourself following it, intrigued by its complexity. You know it’s something deep, dark and rich; and something pungent; and something almost floral yet toasty or smoky. What kind of outlandish combination... Read More
On The Origin Of Species: The Tuxedo
The tuxedo is the sartorial masterstroke of Griswold P. Lorillard, habitue’ of the Tuxedo Park Country Club, of Tuxedo Park, NY. In 1886 he adapted a style of smoking jacket worn by the Prince of Wales for what he considered semiformal attire. What resulted was a tailcoat with no tails, shorter and evenly cut, like a suit jacket. But Lorillard’s brainchild was almost... Read More
