Keeping Animals, I Have Learned,

Parents, It Seems, Have An Almost Olympian Persistence When It Comes To Suggesting More Secure And Lucrative Lines Of Work For Their Children Who Have The Notion That Writing Is An Actual Profession. I Say This From Experience.

Writing About Someone Well Known Removes That Obligation Of Defending It As A Subject, But It Also Means That Some Of The Surprise And Freshness Is Already Gone. It's So Different - In Some Ways Much Harder For Me.

It Seems That Half The Point Of Being In Miami Beach - Particularly The Northern End Of South Beach - Is To Be Observed By People-watchers Like Me, And The Display Along Ocean Drive During My Visit Was, As Always, Sublime.

When We Stopped To Rest And Tony Tried To Figure Out What Was Wrong With His Compass, I Asked Him What He Thought It Was About Orchids That Seduced Humans So Completely That They Were Compelled To Steal Them And Worship Them And Try To Breed New And Specific Kinds Of Them And Then Be Willing To Wait For Nearly A Decade For One Of Them To Flower.

Places Like Hilton Head, With Water Adjacency And Nice Climates, Are In High Demand, And Land Values Are Insane. In The Case Of Hilton Head, Which Was Developed In 1970 On What Had Been A Mosquito- And Alligator-infested Swampy Barrier Island, Land Value Has Leaped From Nearly Zero To Now Unaffordable.