tejaslibertas | An exploration of civil liberties, retired life, cats,...

Yosemite stole my heart many years ago – I’ve climbed its mountains and hiked at least a  hundred miles of its trails – and the central coast enchants me, but when it comes to personal liberties – the political and social quality I cherish above all...

One cannot live on this bay for 23 years, with eyes open, and not feel awed by the unrestrained flourish and fecundity of birds.  In my small world, they furnish the motion and sound that dominate each day.  In other words…life.
I have made a hobby of knowing them.  I watch them, study them, listen to them.  A shelf in my house holds nothing but books about birds, all well used.  I know our birds by sight, by silhouette, by flight pattern, by time and place, by behavior, by...

In November, 2000, a month after moving here, I planted two Canary Island date palms in the bare space between the house and the bay.  Less than two feet tall at the time, they had grown from seeds I collected from the best trees I could find.  I selected...

How to explain this: even as I am working through a long series of books about American Indians in the 19th century, the most recent two winnowing down to Custer, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and the iconic battle at the Little Bighorn valley, brother Kevin...