Foreign Travel 101

What can you expect when you send a bunch of young Americans to a foreign location?

Be they  Law Enforcement, military troops, political staff or even private citizens I don't think we can expect choirboy behavior when their work day is done.

The politicians and the media are all atwitter because an advance party of Secret Service and military support troops managed to make the news when one of them tried to cheat a young lady out of the negotiated price for her services. In Columbia being a prostitute is not illegal (there are apparently no laws against it) so what the politicians and the media are talking about was a business arrangement between two consenting adults. It was an agreement somewhat similar to the relationship between President Clinton and an upward striving intern, or as they say in the gaming industry “Pay for Play”. But if you are not "important" than correct behavior is demanded. I’m not the least surprised by a young footloose male doing what that SS agent did, but I am disappointed that he tried to renege on the deal. For that, and that alone he should have been fired, we don't want to develop an Ugly American reputation.

I guess the best way to prevent any future reoccurrence of good guys making wrong decisions (good luck with that idea) is that all future advance parties will be staffed only by married agents.

And their wives will accompany them.

Pub Onions and Tower Bells

Aging and our response to daily issues brings an appreciation not only for the finer things in life but also those things that make life comforting and enjoyable. Both Le Conteur and I enjoy good eating, fine cooking, and respectable wine and zesty condiments to perk up the tongue. On our trips abroad we discovered English Pub Onions with their distinctive crisp crunch, malty flavor and dark vinegar pickling tang and since really good pickled onions are hard to find in the center of the country we are always alert to new sources of pub onions and other flavorful additions to our meals.

Last week Le Conteur discovered that the last of our imported Pub Onions were fast disappearing and commenced searching the web to find a local source. It came as no surprise to find that there is an English store in nearby Leavenworth. After all Fort Leavenworth is host to hundreds of foreign military students each year at the Command and General Staff College and other advanced schools located at what is the oldest military post west of the Mississippi. It was an easy drive to find the store, buy out their stock and order a case of condiment goodies for future consumption.

After we had dented the exchequer we decided to wander the streets of Leavenworth, which proudly proclaims itself to be the oldest city in Kansas and has lots of specialty and antique stores to prove it. We did found one likely looking store that had a French writing desk in the window. We are not search of a desk, but the store looked interesting so we wandered through their stock. To our surprise (and subsequent impact on the wallet) we found a not quite antique Westminster Chime Mantel Clock hidden behind some other furniture. The price was acceptable the clock is in great shape and we now can hear church bells chiming the hours. The sounds of the older chiming clocks reminds us of slower, friendlier times and of family who are no longer here but who listened with us as our younger selves grew to appreciate what earlier generations have passed on to us.

This has been a week of remembrance and loss (an earlier blog note talks about losing a pet) and too soon we will find ourselves responding to demands on our time. So our search for zesty condiments turned into a long term opportunity for the enjoyment of music that measures time and helps us cope with the pressures of daily living by reminding us to slow down and enjoy the day.

The Earth Abides

A long, long time ago I read a book about what the world would be like after a great human die off. The title of the book was "The Earth Abides" and it got me thinking about the transient nature of life and the permanent nature of the world we inhabit. It gives me a bit of peace to know that each of us lives on despite bad things happening.

Fifty thousand years ago man and dog found that they could live together and together both would benefit from that arrangement. Besides their skills that benefit man what dogs brought to the relationship were love, devotion and a belief that humans were special and that dog was privileged to share their time with man.

In our household of dog, cat and human we know that each of the pets is special and that they are here to bring comfort and admiration to the humans who give love, comfort and companionship to the pet. But on a brilliant Easter morning one of those special dogs who allowed us to be with them needed to cross the Rainbow Bridge to join with other companions who had gone before him.

Jean Luc, a mixed Papillion and Chihuahua friend who is one of the smartest dogs we know was 22 years old, had only three legs and was, in his mind, still a vibrant eager service dog. Trained to recognize the need for the compassionate touch he reached out and comforted First Responders at disasters. At this moment we need him to offer his special service to us but he can only do so in our memory.

Easter is a day of resurrection, not a day for sorrow, but when it’s time to cross the Rainbow Bridge or transit the River Styx we must comply. We also know that this day of resurrection applies to us and that the Elysian Field will bring humans and pets together again.  But we miss our friend while knowing he will always be a part of our lives, makes the parting a little easier. But it will be long time before the rip in our hearts is healed.

                                    Jean Luc

                                    1990 – 2012

                                    Companion and Friend

Words of our fathers

Some of the most impressive art that we know of is the rock art produced by ancient man and found in caves scattered across France and Spain. More than 200 caves have been found, studied and admired for their scope of subjects and brilliance of effort all leading to a conclusion that our ancestors, while living simply (by our standards) had a full and complex culture.

Humans take pride in knowing they are different from other animals, and one of the reasons is that we use a large, complicated vocabulary to communicate our thoughts. While it’s understood that verbal communication is perhaps the earliest form of information transfer it’s also commonly felt that the act of writing down the sounds of speech didn’t happen until about 13,000 years ago.

But that date might be in question if the theory of some researchers in paleoanthropology are correct. Genevieve von Petzinger from the University of Victoria in British Columbia has written a paper on a study she did using rock art as her source. Included in the art are signs and symbols whose meaning is unknown. She, and her associates have created a data base of some 26 visual forms, called hectiforms, that are found in cave art all across Europe that were created across some 20,000 years. The hectiforms seem to transcend time different cultures and could mean that humankind had developed a form of proto-communication at long ago as 35,000 years.  

The hectiform addition to ancient art work appears to be also found in some cave art found in Africa which could extend the theory that viable communication goes even further back in our history. My feeling is that mankind is a lot smarter than some of scientist’s believe and that our ancestral heritage was produced by people just like you or me.