Posts

Italy Top to Bottom

Image
Velle dei Templi- Agrigento, Sicily 17 fantastical days in Italia, where a 2500-mile odyssey all came together in ad hoc fashion. Hiking up to stay at a rustic stone cabin at the base of Monte Rosa, a meaningful road trip from the Alps to Sicily exploring the mysteries of love, death, history, and love, stumping for SFTE,  enjoying new culinary delights of southern Italia, playing guitar with new acquaintances and deepening relationships old and new Italian friends.  There were challenges; losing my wallet in the mountains, weather, lodging, navigation, mindfulness, taking time to be still, ego, and attachment. But, if emptiness is "going with the flow" and "living in the present" then this trip was not only delightful but a model for growth and enlightenment  I arrived in Milan early on the morning of 1 Nov exhausted having chosen to try "AA Premium Economy" (not worth it) Even with an ambien it was a fitful time. My old friend Francesca was "chomp...
Post a Comment
Read more

West Coast Tour to Assume the Presidency

Image
  This trip was a logistics marvel.  Fly into San Diego for 4 days to visit family and meet my newest grandchild of 4 months. What an amazing young bambino! My 7th nipote!   Fly to Sacramento to visit my brother and sister in the Sierra foothills and see a different way to retire on 25 acres. Scenic and peaceful, but not for me.   I visited my father and mother's grave for the first time. Gravestone already showing signs of aging. Little weird to think there bodies are in a box below decaying.  Meaningless, meaningless.  All we are is dust in the wind.  Drive to my alma mater, Univ of California, Davis to give a talk about SFTE to a dozen graduate students and faculty in the Department of Aeronautics.  My old grad school professors, Prof. Karnopp, and Prof Margolis were still there in the same offices!  90+ and still doing bond graphs!  Many others had died, some with their names on a building.  The new professors were young!...
Post a Comment
Location: Seattle, WA, USA
Read more

Double Fantasy Holiday - Italian Style

Image
Was this real or a dream?  If it was real, then it was a dream come true.  It all started with an email from a long-time guitar-playing friend. He sent me a link to a flat-picking guitar workshop in the Italian Alps (Dolomites) and suggested I should consider attending.   I put it off not sure if I had the time and talent to participate.   Then after receiving an invitation from an Italian flight test colleague to come stay at his summer home on the Adriatic Sea in the village of Pineto, I inquired about the workshop and learned that that there was one slot left after someone had cancelled. So I jumped in and started making plans.  I had left my Taylor guitar in Italy 3 years earlier with a street musician who I had become friends with.  I arranged to pick it up near Milan, hoping it was still in good shape.  My Italian colleague who had invited me to his family home, offered that I could bring a friend to stay.  I contacted a bright yo...
Post a Comment
Location: Italy
Read more