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Awe and Wonder 1.1.26 – A New Year Suggestion
As 2025 fades into our rearview mirror and we look forward with hopeful anticipation to what 2026 will bring, I offer up the following advice. Bring more awe and wonder into your life. Because our grandchildren’s parents were working on New Years Eve, Elizabeth and I were asked to watch our grandchildren yesterday morning. So, we left our house at the lake at 6:30 a.m. to drive to their house an hour away near Charlottesville. As a result, Elizabeth and I had “the opportunity” to spend the morning of New Years Eve alone with our grandchildren, James and Elizabeth. Looking back, spending time with James and Elizabeth on New Years…
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Creating and Using Social Capital 12.16.25
At our annual Christmas dinner with dear friends from our old neighborhood, we eventually get around to giving updates on our children. Our oldest son Davis is a second year head basketball coach at Monticello High School. And I did a little bragging on him in two ways. First, he led Monticello to its best season ever during his first year as head basketball coach. But secondly, and more important to me is his approach to coaching. And as I told our friends, I am not even sure he would articulate it the way I would. I described it as follows. He is first and foremost a mentor. He is then…
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Thanks, and Giving 11.27.25
Today, always a Thursday, is a day to treasure. It is a day to slow down, spend time with family and friends, and to give thanks. But I am not sure we fully embrace this day’s essential meaning. And a note I received today from one of my friends relaying his recent experience visiting some “favelas” in Northern Brazil made me think about this even more. We all know the story of the native Americans and pilgrims sitting down together for the first Thanksgiving meal in a land that would one day become a part of the United States. However, the annual thanksgiving holiday tradition in what would become the…
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Sunday Musings on Judging and Apocalyptic Thinking 11.23.25
Today’s posting may seem like a collection of random thoughts – and in a way, it is. I write these postings as material for a future book (if it ever gets written), but also as self-therapy. In fact, I recently responded to the following question on the Mennonite Health Assembly Association Website, “What have you learned about yourself during the past year?”, with the following: “I have learned that I need to write – not for others, but for myself. By organizing my thoughts that I share with others, it forces me to create a lucid narrative that helps me to understand why I hold certain world views. And…
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Rites of Passage 11.18.25
When I was in Peru earlier in October, I tried some foods for the first time, including Guinee Pig, Alpacca, and Beef Heart. Of the three, Beef Heart was my favorite. It is usually served as small pieces as part of a stir fry or on sticks – very often as “street food.” I had beef heart again this past Saturday when my son Davis, who is the head basketball coach at Monticello High School, had his varsity basketball team with coaches and managers out at our farm for a team building get-together. This is Davis’s second year at Monticello. He secured the head coaching job when he and his…
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Peru Trip 2025 – Days 10 to 13 – Final Days
Our Lama Shepherd who let her lamas hike with us On day 10, the day after our visit to Machu Picchu, we took an early train for a last 1.5 hour scenic ride through the Sacred Valley of Peru. Arriving in Ollantaytambo, we then took a 2-hour van ride to the southern end of the valley back to Cusco. Back in Cusco we walked through the charming San Blas neighborhood to reach our lunch spot, Pachapapa. After lunch, I walked around on my own and did some shopping. In Cusco there are so many opportunities to part with your Des Soles! Once the center and capital of the Inca Empire,…
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Peru Trip – 2025 – The Sacred Valley
I spent five days of my Peru trip in the Sacred Valley. The Sacred Valley, located between Cusco in the South and Machu Picchu in the north, is known for its stunning natural beauty and rich Inca history. As the vital agricultural and strategic center for the Inca Empire, the region features impressive ruins like the fortress of Ollantaytambo and the terraces of Pisac and Moray, and most impressive of all, Machu Picchu. The valley is carved by the mighty Urubamba River and surrounded by dramatic mountain peaks, offering breathtaking scenery, which I would see while hiking the Inca Trail. Peru – Day 5 – First Day in the Sacred…
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Peru – Day 4 – Acclimation Day in Cusco
So, what does one do on a “rest day” in Cusco to acclimate to the high altitude before cycling and hiking the Sacred Valley in the Andes Mountains? Well you walk slowly around the city, maybe buy something, go to a chocolate museum, visit an huge indoor/outdoor market, and make a reservation to eat dinner at one of the best Vegan Restaurants one of my friends has ever visited. viva El Peru Thank you Judy Amiano for recommending Green Point because the food was extraordinary. And Luna our server had plenty of positive personality and the ambience was very zen. If all Vegan restaurants were like this, I would eat…
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Peru – Day 3 – Oct. 18th
This morning I flew from Lima to Cusco – from sea level to 11,300 feet. The approach into Cusco was spectacular. At times we were flying between two mountain ranges – truly cool! On taxi ride to the hotel, I saw a vendor walking among the cars in the traffic selling soft drinks, bottled water and rolls of toilet paper. I saw this practice in Lima as well. Evidently, as a cultural practice in some countries, it is common for public toilet facilities to provide only a toilet, and for people to bring their own paper or purchase some from a nearby vendor for a small fee. For example, in some parts of China,…
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Peru – Day 2 – Oct. 17
Because our flight was delayed yesterday out of Atlanta, when we landed in Lima I went straight to the hotel and fell asleep at around 1 a.m. I did not eat breakfast in the morning because I had booked a 4-hour food tour that started at 9:30 a.m. So, this morning I met our guide, who has indigenous, Spanish and Japanese ancestry. He would focus on the Barranco area of Lima. And this was the review I left. “First of all, David, our guide was not only knowledgeable, but was also warm and sincere. And I not only learned a great deal about the Lima and Peru culinary scene, but also a great deal…