Sailing the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal
My father always maintained that, when buying yachts, you could never go smaller when purchasing a new one; you always had to go larger. That's the way he bought our boats; first it was a 36', then the 51' (the one we hit the reef with.) Our less than stellar navigation notwithstanding, that boat was …
One of the pleasures we enjoyed during our years in Palm Beach were our travels in our family yachts. Our family has a long history of power boating going back to the latter years of the nineteenth century. From South Florida our favourite destination were the Bahama Islands, at the time making their transition from …
Readers of this blog have seen the antics of our Applehead Siamese Cat, Buff, who in his day braved both photographers and the high seas. Shortly after we left Palm Beach for Boynton Beach he taught us yet another important life lesson, and as usual he did it the hard way. Florida living has some …
Today, of course, is the fortieth anniversary of Neil Armstrong's first steps on the moon--"one giant leap for mankind," to be sure. It was a great accomplishment and deserves to be remembered. It's easy to forget, however, that at the time there were many--especially on the left--who believed that the whole enterprise was a mistake, …
The summer before I graduated from prep school, we left Palm Beach. My mother had had back surgery and we needed to live in a single level house. We didn't move far, just to Boynton Beach, about 50 km down the road. A New Church...A New Parish I had started attending the Catholic church in …
Continue reading "Called Out of the Pews: An Experiential Reflection on the Role of the Laity"
Palm Beach Day School https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSnZ5tjDlLY Above: the opening ceremony during Field Day at Palm Beach Day School, 20 April 1968. For intramural competition the school was divided into two teams, the "Pelicans" (blue uniforms) and "Flamingoes" (yellow uniforms.) Both my brother and I were in the latter. (View the video in QuickTime/iTunes format.) Right: A …
One of the long running relationships of our family business was with the Nilens firm in Belgium. This family concern manufactured pile driving and other construction equipment. In January 1965 we were expecting a visit from their principal, Willy Nilens. What we got was a call from New York telling us that he, his colleague …
Continue reading "A Royal Visit: Prince Alexandre de Rethy’s Visit to Palm Beach"
Helene Tuchbreiter Portrait by Antonio Sereix Photo Reproduction by John Haynesworth Helene Tuchbreiter was one of Palm Beach's most prominent socialites in her time. She made an impact both on the social scene and on the people immediately around her. My own recollection of her, however, was more prosaic: she was one of my mother's …
I've had very few nice things to say over the years about the Miami Herald (the paper I grew up on) but this time Glenn Garvin nails it, on the subject of Honduras: Here's a question for all these new-found defenders of Honduran democracy: Where were you last week? Perhaps if some of these warnings …
Continue reading "The Miami Herald Gets It Right About Honduras"
The Archdiocese of Miami's response to Father Cutié's bailing out on the RCC is understandable: According to our canon law, with this very act Father Cutié is separating himself from the communion of the Roman Catholic Church (c. 1364, §1) by professing erroneous faith and morals, and refusing submission to the Holy Father (canon 751). …
Continue reading "The Strange Anglican Response to Father Alberto Cutié’s Switch to TEC"
Positive Infinity 