Author Archives: Toes in the Sand

I accept that one of the aspects of having been alive in this earth for more than a half century, there are many things that I experienced or grew up with that are foreign to many people I know. My first real camera was a hand-me-down from my Uncle George. He had a classic NikonContinue reading “Filters and Lenses”

In late 2003, a small group of architects gathered at one of their houses for a night of cards and conversation.   That group was part of slightly larger group of architects who all worked for the same firm in Baltimore, at that time one of the largest firms in the city.  This group had been meetingContinue reading “What’s Your “Tell””

(Today’s annual pool opening prompted me to post this, from a previous FB post in January) I love our property. Our little acre-and-a-quarter slice of heaven is the main reason we bought the place. It is a lot to take care of. I quickly adopted a more naturalistic approach to property maintenance, over the moreContinue reading “Flora and Fauna, mostly Fauna”

I imagine just about all of us either knows someone or is someone who was not able to participate the way that had planned in one of life’s great “rites of spring” – graduation. (At my high school, we called it “commencement”, but it’s still the same ceremony.) Seniors virtually everywhere have been forced toContinue reading “Quiet Quads”

Perhaps it’s part of the new normal to count your blessings even more these days. It’s something I have always tried to do, though often with mixed success. But this topsy-turvy world we are in, where a trip to get more milk is fraught with danger and disease, reminds me all the more to beContinue reading “Fishing vs Catching”

Years ago we used to go to Florida in March, during what was then spring break. Thanks to a job my brother had at a property on the Gulf coast, we discovered a paradise of an island called Little Gasparilla. This long thin spit of sand was accessible only by water, and had a numberContinue reading “Shark Teeth”

I had never experienced water so clear or sand so white.  As a beach-goer from infancy, my memories of the beach up to that point were confined to the Jersey Shore.  The beach on Andros Island in the Bahamas was intoxicating.  Starting with my first trip in 7th grade, I tried to spend nearly every daylight hour face-down in theContinue reading “Glass-bottom Bucket”

I have been taking a lot of mental vacations lately.  These tend to fall into two distinct but related camps: 1) mental breaks from days filled with Zoom work meetings, social-distancing and mask-adorned trips to the grocery, and 2) time spent recalling past vacations and trips.   I love to travel and explore new places.  I am fascinated withContinue reading “Chicken Shack”

You’re never too old to learn. People define “lifelong learning” differently. For me it is simply about always being receptive to ongoing opportunities to learn. I was so fortunate to have been able to take a gap year between high school and college, where I spent the year as a student at the Rossall School,Continue reading “Game-changer”

(From my grandfather’s memorial service in 2007) The flats off of Lowe Sound on Andros Island in the Bahamas are a surreal place. At low tide the water is only inches deep. Most days the surface is as smooth as a sheet of glass. When the sun is shining – which is most of theContinue reading “The Flats”