Jeffrey K. Walker's Blog, page 18

All Things Scottish

I finished my Beach Book last week while we were vacationing on Ocracoke Island. This year it was Diana Gabaldon’s wildly popular historical fantasy-fiction book, Outlander. I’ve seen the first season and a half of the cable production—and it really is stunningly filmed and wonderfully acted—but had put off reading the book. That it took […]

Now We’re Cookin’

  [I’m away with Kay-Kay this week, down to North Carolina and the Outer Banks. I’m reposting this blog because I’ll be taking my beloved wife of years out for our anniversary to Chef and the Farmer, Vivian Howard’s restaurant in Kinston, NC. Then it’s off for several days on Ocracoke, because nothing says romance […]

Predestination and Fisher-Price

My grandson Goober is three-and-change years old and is, shall we say, rather doted upon. He’s the first grandchild on both sides of the family, with four grandparents, one aunt, three uncles, and a bazillion more shirttail variety relatives who also contribute to the cause. Which is to say he has a lot of toys. […]

Where Do You Get Your Ideas?

Seems about time to do a writerly blog post. I’ve done eating bugs and eating pizza the last couple of weeks, so I’m thinking a blog on my favorite candy products would seem a little… orally fixated. With a couple of books on the street for awhile, I’ve done a fair amount of author talks, […]

When the Moon Hits Your Eye Like a Big Pizza Pie

That’s amore??? I’ve never figured that song out, and I say that as a man with the utmost reverence for the late great Dean Martin. I mean, first of all, the moon, besides being round, looks nothing like a pizza. Second, I’ve never found it an effective dating method to hit one’s inamorata with any […]

Eating Bugs

I’ve written before about my less-than-remarkable Air Force flying career here and here. But I have yet to share a little-known rite of passage through which I was forced to endure. After all the flying and academics and specialization training, there’s one last hoop to jump through. I refer to Survival School. The objective behind […]

Women of the Great War

[I’m off for a short vacay with Kay-Kay (heh, heh, heh) to NYC. We’re visiting our son Scooter and his wife so I’m running an updated blog post from last summer. It’s the centenary of the US’s involvement in the First World War, with 1918 the year when the Yanks took up their share of […]

Long Hot Summer Days

It’s hot. And humid. I mean feels-like-walking-through-boiled-molasses hot. Not just here in Virginia, according to Weather Underground, but the entire eastern half of the Perspired States of America. It’s just turned July. Yikes. Let us give thanks to all deities and karmic life forces for central air conditioning. Which makes me go hmmmm while the […]

Citizen Soldiers

I joined the Air Force in 1983, back at the very height of the Reagan Build-Up. Since then, I’ve often been reminded of Groucho Marx’s quip, “I would never belong to a club that would have me as a member.” I’m guessing the only way I got accepted—especially as an officer and into flight training—was […]

In My (World) Cups

What’s the deal with soccer? Can someone please explain it to me? Why is the entire world (minus the USA) gaga about The Beautiful Game? I just don’t get it. And now it’s World Cup time—again. Didn’t we just have one of those like a week ago Thursday? Don’t get me wrong. I like a […]