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Several years ago, just about this time of year, someone said to me "Have you ever heard of Peace Pilgrim?" No. Soon I was holding a little pamphlet. I think maybe if Peace were alive today (they called her Peace) she might be a little bit more fiery, like Doris Haddock.

This brief speech, by the inspiring Doris Haddock, 92 years old, is well worth reading. It was posted to my college classmates newsgroup and inspired the comment that she was maybe a little hard on reptiles. So take a minute or two and read this brief speech by Doris Haddock [well worth reading] who, like Peace Pilgrim, walked across the country.

pools=XML, Blog, Ruby

My morning was spent walking between yard sales in Santa Monica, buying various travel necessities, while Joe had his violin lesson. From a Spanish-speaking woman I bought an umbrella, a travel etch-a-sketch, and a travel copy of pictionary, the hilarious charades drawing game.

I also couldn't resist a copy of Virgil's Aeneid [buy at amazon.com] just in case I run out of reading on the plane. I haven't read it, and after looking at the first line, "I sing of warfare and a man at war," it seemed like it might be pertinent to the world situation today. Funny, I wouldn't have checked the Aeneid out of the library, but seeing it on someone's lawn somehow made it something to consider more seriously. Maybe The Rogue Librarian is right. Libraries must change.

It was getting difficult to carry all these items (proving the point that an Etch-a-Sketch, even the travel size, can be a curse as well as a blessing), in addition to Christina Wodtke's Information Architecture: Blueprints for the web, which I had been reading as I walked along, so I picked up a suede leather backpage from a Russian-speaking chain smoking chimney of a woman a couple of blocks later on. She told me of her plans to visit Paris and Moscow in March, as she juggled two lit cigarettes and kept a watchful eye on her yard sale shoppers.

Later on, when Joe and I were getting ice cream, the clerk behind the counter was carrying on a spirited conversation in French with the customer ahead of us. It was as if I had fast-forwarded a week into the future and was already at Berthillon on Ile St Louis in the middle of Paris. pools=XML, Blog, Ruby

My morning walk carried me down block after block of gently sloping sidewalk, all the way to the beach. It was hot and clear, due to winds from the high desert to the East, hot to begin with and getting hotter as the air became more compressed at sea level. Visibility was tops and I could see past Malibu to the West, a distance of over 20 miles. A lone surfer cruised in on a 4-foot wave.

On the way back, I saw a new consumer electronic product in use on the street: a retractable dog leash combined with a cell telephone. What a convenience! You're out walking the dog, and you only need to take one item. Oddly enough, the woman who was talking into this combo device while walking her dog wasn't actually using the leash part of it; the dog trotted on ahead, leashless in Santa Monica.

Upon overtaking her, it turned out she was actually holding both a telephone and a dog leash in the same hand. Woof! It's still a good idea!

pools=XML, Blog, Ruby

I admit it: I googled Edna Girton. My own grandmother! There can be little doubt that this makes her, at 107, one of the oldest people ever to be googled. I was disappointed to find her described as "One of Northwestern University's oldest alumni." I loved everything else about the article, but...

I still find it hard to believe she isn't THE oldest alumna. Don't you think the author of an article in the AlumniNews could look up the information? To me, it seemed a little bit lazy. Other than that, it's a great article. Are you feeling a little bit old, Bunky? Why not click your way over to Northwestern University and read about some of my grandmother's adventures. pools=XML, Blog, Ruby

One of the most adventuresome and best recipes I have tried is Thanksgiving turkey. The recipe Nicole and I used, back in 1997, comes from a book "The Magic of Herbs," by Leonie de Sounin, long out of print.

Thanksgiving is coming up soon. Are you going to have turkey? Here's a link to a very unusual recipe which is completely practical. pools=XML, Blog, Ruby

It was just a short morning walk, around the corner to the polling place. As usual, nothing kept me from voting.

I wonder if the turnout will be higher than in Pakistan's recent elections pools=XML, Blog, Ruby

The air was crisp and the light was warm as the dog and I tumbled out through the front gate. A picture of the street, mountains in the distance. One of the most beautiful street pictures ever, phantom haze in the air.

On our walk at sunset the Sony Pictures water tower looked just like a movie set. A second photo would have been appropriate. But with all the "you'll be searched if you come in" signs, and the concrete pylons around the entrance, I just feel funny taking snapshots that include the security guard at the entrance. pools=XML, Blog, Ruby

It's a good thing when people can read. I arrived on the street with the dog to find a man and his wife with their car. He was standing next to the open trunk, reading out loud, slowly, from an oddly-shaped black spray container.

When the dog and I returned, he was spraying the front right tire and wheel, cleaning them. We exchanged good mornings.

I just noticed that Christina Wodtke's new book Information Architecture:Blueprints For the Web (buy at amazon.com) has shipped. I have always liked the design of her personal website elegant hack and I know that she shares my view that usability is usually more important than visual design, so I'm looking forward to reading her book. I'll tell you what I think about it in a couple of weeks, but in the meantime we have a date early next week with destiny: the houbara bustard. Interestingly, there are many postage stamps showing images of the houbara bustard.

pools=XML, Blog, Ruby