Susan and I were signed up to go on an Embassy sponsored tour of the Great Wall of China today. We have already seen that part of the Great Wall, but there would be a special lunch and a stop at a porcelain factory afterwards. I like those kinds of outings because someone else gets …
I vividly remember hearing the town where I lived in Texas was flooding, while I was deployed to Saudi Arabia. Those were the early days of the internet and e-mail, and I received an e-mail from my daughter saying, “LaVernia is being evacuated because of flooding and I can’t contact Mom.” My daughter didn’t respond …
As Christmas presents accumulate around the tree, we hope the best looking one is ours. If we get our desires, we can only be assured of getting the nicest wrappings. Wrappings are the least valuable part of the present and will be cast aside when the present itself is revealed. The goal should be the …
Looking out from my room on the 18th floor of the Diamond Hotel, Manila Bay was tranquil as far as I could see; traffic flowed along the tree-lined Roxas Boulevard; passenger “Jeepneys” competed with tricycles and taxis on the streets below and people didn’t seem to be bothered by the hot and sunny day. I …
We recently spent a week in Manila enjoying the tropical heat, crowded streets, chaotic traffic, and many other familiar sights and sounds of that busy city. It had been six years since our last visit. Even with our joy at being back, we needed a short break. We signed up for a tour of a …
