August 2025

Books read:

Howard’s End by E.M. Forster
Heart of Aztlan by Rudolfo Anaya
Lew Kuan Yew: The Grand Master’s Insights on China, the United States, and the World by Graham Allison and Robert D. Blackwill with Ali Wyne

Trails walked:

Cub Lake to Bear Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park (Aug 1st)
Ypsilon Mountain in Rocky Mountain National Park (Aug 5th)
Bull of the Woods Mountain near Taos, NM (Aug 12th)
Santa Fe Baldy Mountain near Santa Fe, NM (Aug 16th)

Song(s) of the month: Molly Tuttle

Sittin' On Top of the World (with Billy Strings)
Grass Valley (with her dad)
White Rabbit
She's a Rainbow

August Summary:

The Dragon-Bravo fire on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon is currently the largest fire in the US. It’s 75% contained at press time, but its main damage has already been done: Destruction of the historic Grand Canyon Lodge. It was one of my favorite places on Earth. There was no place like it. Perched on the edge of the North Rim, made of stone pulled from Grand Canyon’s walls, a set of sturdy wooden rocking chairs on the veranda for all to use, and a dining room with a view to beat all dining rooms. You didn’t have to be staying at the lodge to use the porch or the dining room in the spirit of our greatest idea of the National Park System. My wife and I have spent many special moments with our kids and on our own, sitting on those rocking chairs as the sun set on the canyon, painting the walls a different color with each passing moment. From Phoenix, it took 7 hours to reach the North Rim, vs 3.5 hours to the more popular South Rim. The North Rim only received around 10% of the total visitors to the Grand Canyon, making it relatively serene compared to the hustle and bustle of the South Rim. That was part of its charm. There are plans to rebuild the lodge and the visitors center, but who knows how long that will take in the age of government reduction of budgets for nice things. My son took the below photo of me, my wife and daughter on the north rim in 2003 after one of our raft trips. I wonder if we'll ever get the chance to sit on that (rebuilt) porch again...

A group of people sitting on chairs looking at the grand canyon

AI-generated content may be incorrect.

In August of last year, two hockey-playing brothers, Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau, were tragically killed by a drunk driver while cycling in Pennsylvania. This event was tragic on so many levels. It was the eve of their little sister’s wedding (which was subsequently canceled of course), and both of their wives were pregnant at the time; it would have been Johnny’s third child and Matthew’s first. The two deaths shattered many people’s lives. But I didn’t bring this up to bum you out, I’m sure you’ve heard about it and read the latest stories on the anniversary of this terrible event. I brought it up to remind us all to take extra care when we’re driving. The driver reportedly had a blood alcohol level just over the legal limit, but I think the main reason he killed these young men was because he was impatient. He was mad that the driver in front of him had slowed down. That driver then pulled over to the center of the highway in order to pass the two cyclists. The impatient and drunk driver saw an opportunity to pass the vehicle ahead of him on the right, which is when he slammed into the two brothers and killed them. Cars are heavy and fast and deadly. Please remember to always treat them like you’re driving a weapon and slow down a little, give driving your full attention, have patience; you’ll eventually get to where you’re going. Even if you’re a little late, it’s better than never getting there. I admit it’s much easier for me to preach this when I’m retired; I was certainly guilty of driving too fast or recklessly if I was late for work or late to pick up the kids. I wish someone had reminded me to have more patience then. So, here I am now, hopefully being that someone to another person.

This month’s reading took me from the inspiration for one of last month’s books (Zadie Smith’s On Beauty), to a familiar neighborhood in Albuquerque, and to the sage advice of the founding father of modern Singapore. My walking took me across the eastern heart of Rocky Mountain National Park and also to that park’s 5th highest peak, and then to a steep hike in Taos (are there any other kind there?), and to the 5th highest peak in New Mexico. Enjoy!

Things My Grandkids Say:

My two-year-old grandson used his toddler tower...for those non-parents or grandparents, this is a device recently invented to allow toddlers to reach a countertop, presumably to help you cook. It replaced a set of rickety boxes or chairs that toddlers had been using for years...he used this toddler tower to then climb on TOP of the kitchen counter to reach something he wanted way up high. His mom cried out his name, and his immediate response was: “I’m not being careful!” That’s pretty much the mantra for all two-year-olds I think, and pretty good self-awareness too….

Song(s) of the month: Molly Tuttle

I've only recently discovered this 32-year-old virtuoso guitarist, her songwriting, and her song covers, even though she's been performing since she was 12. In 2017, Tuttle was the first woman to win the International Bluegrass Music Association's Guitar Player of the Year award, which she won again in 2018, the same year she was named the Americana Music Association's Instrumentalist of the Year. Her album Crooked Tree won the 2023 Grammy for best bluegrass album and then she won it again the following year for her album City of Gold. So it's not her lack of accomplishments that have hidden her from my view. If you watch her many entertaining videos you will notice that her hair is different nearly every time, and sometimes she goes full Sinead O'Connor on you. This is because she was diagnosed with alopecia areata when she was three years old, which quickly progressed to alopecia universalis, resulting in total body hair loss. Here are 4 songs of hers that I love, even though there are many many more that are just as great.

Sittin' On Top of the World (with Billy Strings) - I think this may have been the first time I saw her play. Billy Strings is another artist I need to profile because he's an amazing musician and singer. In this video he starts out playing, fingers flying and Molly is watching him and what I guess she's thinking is, "yeah, you're pretty good, but just watch me." And then she starts playing really fast and with such ease, and Billy Strings has to look over her shoulder to see how the hell she is doing that. This is an old bluegrass standard, written in 1930.

https://youtu.be/LJzz-Nuo-QQ?feature=shared

Grass Valley (with her dad) - I love this song she wrote about growing up around bluegrass festivals that her dad would take her to when she was young. And the fact that she's playing it with her dad is special. I have to believe that her dad was flushed with pride as he played and sang along side her on this one.

https://youtu.be/i7yYfC2Osl0?feature=shared

White Rabbit - I love this fun and entertaining cover of the Jefferson Starship/Airplane classic. She has a clever way of reinterpreting songs to make them seem like she owns them.

https://youtu.be/LeHlvXvG6vA?feature=shared

She's a Rainbow - Another cover, this one of the Rolling Stones great song. I'm thinking that if Keith Richards has seen this video, then he's a bit jealous of her picking. The video is also a terrific defense of equality. Another video that the White House probably isn't playing on repeat these days.

https://youtu.be/YMnopVR3x04?feature=shared

Cub Lake to Bear Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park – Back in September of 2021 I did a version of this hike that I called the “Six lake hike and shuttle.” (By the way, looking back, September of 2021 was a GREAT month of hiking). Back then I started at Bear Lake and ended at the Fern Lake shuttle stop 11.2 miles and 3,000 feet later. This time I started at the Cub Lake trailhead and hiked 11.2 miles and 3,000 feet up to Bear Lake. It’s harder this way since most of it is uphill. But it’s just as beautiful both ways. Five of the six lakes were the same (Fern, Odessa, Helene, Two Rivers, and Bear), but in September of 2021 I hiked up to Ptarmigan Tarn, and on this hike, I skipped that off-trail walk and instead passed by Cub Lake. I was happy I included Cub Lake this time because I got to see a huge bull moose munching water plants at the edge of the lake. I watched him for about 15 minutes before moving on. My hike started at the Cub Lake trailhead at around 6:30am. There were 3 other cars in the small lot. It was 2.5 miles and around 600 feet of elevation gain from the trailhead to Cub Lake. From here I proceeded to give back that 600 feet as I descended to the Big Thompson River to hop on the Fern Lake trail, then up another 600 feet at 4.6 miles to Fern Falls, which I think is one of the prettiest falls in the park. I stopped here for a bit to enjoy the water. I reached Fern Lake at 5.8 miles, another 600 feet above the falls. In another mile and another 500 feet I reached the beautiful Odessa Lake which I think has one of the best views in the park. I stopped here for a snack while taking in the views of the Little Matterhorn, Notchtop Mountain, and Ptarmigan Point on the other side of the long lake. I had one more climb before reaching the high point on today’s hike. So at mile 8 and another 600 feet (that seems to be the segment length today) I reached the beautiful Lake Helene at 10,600 feet. From here it was mostly downhill for 3 miles and 1,000 feet past Two Rivers Lake to Bear Lake. I had a couple of options from here: Option 1, I could call it a day and take the shuttle back to my car. Option 2, I could walk another 6 miles back to my car and make it a giant loop. Option 3, I could walk another 3.1 miles to the Park and Ride and take the shuttle back to my car. I was undecided as I reached the junction of the trail where I had to make a call. Hmmm. I was feeling well enough for either option, but I really had been taking my time on this hike and stopped a lot to take in the views (and the moose). The two longer options would have gotten me home close to dark so I opted for the easy option so I could be home in plenty of time without anyone worrying too much about me on this big day. Another great day in this beautiful national park.

Big elk on the drive in

Big Thompson River with early morning sun

Big Thompson looking west

Early morning color along the Big Thompson

The sun, pine trees, rivers, what else do I need?

...oh yeah, a big old bull moose is what I need!

Moose!

Leaving Cub Lake as I climb

Raging Fern Falls

Fern Lake with burned out trees from the 2012 fire

Lots of green growing from the fire

Spectacular walk along Fern Creek towards Odessa Lake

Odessa Lake's spectacular backdrop

Such a pretty lake

Climbing up towards Lake Helene

Odessa Lake now far below me

The equally pretty Lake Helene

These landslides are much easier to navigate in summer than the winter

Bear Lake, my end point for the day

Howard’s End by E.M. Forster – Last month I read Zadie Smith’s On Beauty which I had heard was loosely based on Forster’s Howard’s End. I enjoyed On Beauty a lot and I had also enjoyed two other of Forster’s books: A Room with a View and A Passage to India. So I decided to read this and compare it with Smith’s On Beauty. I was surprised at how much alike they were. I would say it was much more than "loosely" based on it. Both start out with a letter (or email in the modern version) describing a romantic encounter. In both cases, someone was sent to knock sense into the letter writer because it would have been a scandalous match. Also in both cases, the romantic encounter had ended, but the person sent to stop it didn’t have that latest information. In both novels, this lack of information actually caused even more of a scandal.

In Smith’s novel, a main theme addressed differences between conservative and progressive views at modern universities. In Forster’s novel, a main theme addressed the differences between a “business” mindset (ie conservatism) and an “artistic” mindset (ie progressive). In On Beauty, Kiki was the person who was able to navigate and bridge the differences between the conservative and progressive worlds. In Howard’s End, it was Margaret who navigated and bridged the worlds of the practical business mindset and the fanciful artistic mindset. Even though Forster’s writing is a bit dated for today, his ideas are just as pertinent, perhaps even more so than during his time.

In On Beauty there was a character (Carl) who was from the ghetto but was a creative rapper and poet. The progressive academics wanted to provide him with a free education to expand his possibilities, but the conservative faction on campus wanted to stop this since it was taking a class spot away from another person who deserved it more and was more “qualified.” In Forster’s novel, there was Leonard Bast, a poor working clerk whom Margaret and her sister Helen found to be more intelligent and artistic than they assumed the working class to be and tried to help him. But the more practical business minded people in their lives thought it was a waste of time and resources to improve that lot and they should stay where they belonged in the caste system. Of course, in both cases there was a LOT more to the story, including past infidelities and family drama that made the stories even more compelling. Oh, another sort of tongue in cheek comparison is that one of the main characters in On Beauty is named Howard, and that story showed him reaching the end of his academic career due to a series of unfortunate mistakes on his part, so it was sort of the story of Howard’s end. Here are some lines from Howard’s End:

The truth was that she had fallen in love, not with an individual, but with a family.

To trust people is a luxury in which only the wealthy can indulge; the poor cannot afford it.

She could not explain in so many words, but she felt that those who prepare for all the emergencies of life beforehand may equip themselves at the expense of joy.

“there’s never any great risk as long as you have money.” “Oh, shame! What a shocking speech!” “Money pads the edges of things,” said Miss Schlegel. “God help those who have none.”

Her idea of business—“Henry, why do people who have enough money try to get more money?” Her idea of politics—“I am sure that if the mothers of various nations could meet, there would be no more wars.”

And month by month the roads smelt more strongly of petrol, and were more difficult to cross, and human beings heard each other speak with greater difficulty, breathed less of the air, and saw less of the sky.

Oh, Mrs. Lanoline’s a dear—she asked for a husband as if he was an umbrella. She mislaid him Saturday afternoon—and for a long time suffered no inconvenience.

If Wilcoxes hadn’t worked and died in England for thousands of years, you and I couldn’t sit here without having our throats cut. There would be no trains, no ships to carry us literary people about in, no fields even. Just savagery.

The business man who assumes that this life is everything, and the mystic who asserts that it is nothing, fail, on this side and on that, to hit the truth.

Dolly’s a good little woman,” he continued, “but a little of her goes a long way. I couldn’t live near her if you paid me.”

Ypsilon Mountain in Rocky Mountain National Park – If you lived in Europe, this mountain would be a big deal because it’s a 4,000-meter hike. But in Colorado, if it’s not a 14er (14,000 feet or more), then nobody cares...which is the main reason I like hiking 13ers. I saw a total of 5 people on this hike and the scenery is every bit as stunning as any 14er. This hike now goes down as one of my favorites for so many reasons: You access the trailhead by driving up the fun Old Fall River Road which is normally only open to vehicle traffic for three months each year. After the hike you get to drive Trail Ridge Road which is one of the great scenic roads of America. And the hike itself is stunning. Plus it’s one of the peaks I can see from my backyard!

The trail begins by skirting the crazily beautiful valley formed by the headwaters of the Cache de la Poudre river. Chapin Creek and the Poudre River wind their ways north and east through a green valley that must be teeming with wildlife. The trail starts rising, providing access to three peaks: Chapin, Chiquita, and Ypsilon. I had hiked Chiquita with my college buddy back in September of 2021. We didn’t have the time nor energy to add on Ypsilon then. So today I skirted around the mid-base of Chiquita to avoid climbing it again and headed directly up Ypsilon. The mountain was named for the greek letter due to the Y-shaped snowfield that forms on its eastern face, and which lasts through much of the summer. As I approached the peak I walked along the ridge which has spectacular views of Spectacle Lakes below. Back in July of 2023 I hiked to Ypsilon Lake with my daughter-in-law. She had to be home in time to pick up the kids, so we didn’t have the time to make it to Spectacle Lakes above Ypsilon Lake, but now I’m gonna have to find the time to see those lakes up close, because from the mountain they are stunning.

While on the peak I checked out the peak register which was being guarded by a very possessive marmot. A note I saw from the previous day was from an 85-year-old gentleman who said that this was his 402nd summit in Colorado! That guy is my hero now. This was not an easy hike (8 miles total, 2,500 feet elevation gain, lots of loose rock to scramble across) and he’s up here at 85 like it’s a completely normal thing to do. I hope I feel the same way at 85. After some snacks and scenery gazing, I headed back down where I was lucky enough to spot a couple of huge bull elk just off the trail. A nice exclamation point to a great day up high in the mountains.

The beautiful valley where the Poudre River forms

Ypsilon Lake far below

Spectacular Spectacle Lake below

I still had to climb up to that high point

Spectacle Lake far above the pretty valley below

Marmot guarding the peak register

Inspiring note from an 85 year old hiker

Views north and west from my own personal wind shelter

Views south...Longs Peak on the left

Both Spectacle Lakes below

So pretty and precarious

A wave of snow hanging on the edge of its seat

A bit hazy out from all the western fires

Mount Chiquita

This looks like a great lunch spot...

Peachy (nectariney?)

Looking back up from where I came

Such beauty on the way down

BIG old elk

His little buddy down below

Heart of Aztlan by Rudolfo Anaya – This book was gifted to me by my wife’s wonderful aunt and cousin. We’re all from Albuquerque, so they thought I would enjoy this novel based on the people of Barelas, an historic Latino area in the South Valley of Albuquerque. My late father-in-law was raised in Barelas and he always felt that it was a point of pride for him (even though his future wife, my late great mother-in-law, thought people from Barelas were dangerous). People in that neighborhood can trace their Hispanic heritage back 13 generations or more. It’s located in a triangle bounded by the Rio Grande River, the rail yards, and I-25. Tingley Beach and the city zoo are part of the neighborhood. Barelas has been a crossroads for centuries; there was a river crossing here used by the Spaniards along the El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, Route 66 passed through here before being re-routed along Central Avenue, and the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railway put up shops in Barelas in the late 1800s. For most of its existence the area was a thriving community. It hit some hard times in the 60s and 70s when the rail jobs disappeared, causing extreme poverty and crime to rise. But it’s on the upswing these days as newcomers see the opportunities of its great location and the old-timers work to keep their history alive.

Oh yeah, the book! It seems that it’s somewhat autobiographical because the author left a rural community when he was in high school to live in Albuquerque for some of the same reasons the Chavez family did in the novel: crop failures, mounting debt, better educational opportunities for their kids, and better job opportunities for the adults. Rudolfo Anaya is the author of one of my all-time favorite books, Bless Me Ultima, which explored the Hispanic culture of lives in rural areas with a big dose of magical realism and the blending of Native American and Hispanic cultures. In the Heart of Aztlan, Clemente Chavez and his wife Adelita moved their four children (ages 14-21) from their rural community of Guadalupe to the Barelas neighborhood of Albuquerque to live next to their eldest son and daughter-in-law who moved there for railroad jobs. The move was a mix of success and failure. The youngest son got mixed up in the drug and gang culture, Clemente got a job at the railroad, the older daughters began pulling away from the family and disobeying Clemente’s wishes. Clemente was a natural born leader and the workers started looking up to him to unionize and to improve the dangerous working conditions. When the bosses discovered this, they fired Clemente and he lapsed into alcoholism. The story intertwined Clemente’s story with that of his second-youngest son Jason who found that he was a leader among the high school boys, which also came with challenges from gang leaders. Written in 1976 and based in the mid-1950s, the dialogue has lots of what we’d refer to today as politically incorrect language on the treatment of girls, but sadly, this was pretty standard during those times. After a near-death experience, Clemente goes on a magical journey to the “heart of Aztland” courtesy of the local bruja (witch). Aztland is the supposed original home of the Aztec people before they migrated south to present-day Mexico City. Aztland is purported to be located in what is now the southwestern US today. Accounts vary on whether this is a myth or a fact. After Clemente’s journey, his leadership is renewed, and he leads the people down the streets of Barelas on a peaceful march to claim their rights.

In between the family’s migration to Barelas and Clemente’s march, lots of day-to-day life events occur: weddings, funerals, dances, love found and lost, so the stuff of life really. Here are some lines:

Dedication: This book is dedicated to the good people of Barelas…and to people everywhere who have struggled for freedom, dignity, and the right of self-determination.

“All of the people who come to the city keep a garden,” old Manuel said, “it is some remembrance of home we bring with us and try to keep. A man must work the earth with his hands, he must keep in touch with it, or else he forgets.”

“Look at yourself. You got your high school diploma and where did it get you, huh? You’re a clerk selling cosmetics at Payless, selling junk to women who come to cover the truth!”

“Where will a man find that power to melt the steel?” “In his heart…” Crispin crooned, “in the heart of Aztlan…”

In Barelas the air was sweet and heavy with the fragrance of burning leaves, the smell of roasting chile verde…

“…the communal life of the pueblo or the ranchito supported each person. And the life of the village was reflected in the spirit of la familia. We didn’t need welfare, we helped each other; and our old people were not put in nursing homes, they occupied a role of respect in la familia. Times are changing, now every man seems isolated, every man cares only for his own good…”

Tomorrow he would withdraw once again into the shell of his solitude, and he would walk the streets of Barelas not with the weight of his son’s coffin on his back but with the burden of his loneliness.

Jesus Sena passed by here, on his way north to the beet fields of Colorado (NOTE: I included this line because my city of Longmont, CO has a rich history of sugar beet farming and processing; the old sugar beet mill still stands, empty)

Bull of the Woods Mountain near Taos, NM – A rare longish hike with my daughter since she became a mama. Granddaughter was in daycare, so we took advantage and headed to the (steep) hills of the Taos Ski Valley. Bull of the Woods Mountain climbs around 2,400 feet in just over 3 miles. Not even the official geographer of New Mexico knows how this mountain got its name but assumed it was from someone spotting big bull elk up here. We took the direct route there to get in a good exercise but came down on various biking trails which are much prettier and less steep, and pass through a bunch of meadows. It adds another mile and a half or two miles but it's worth it. From the top there are great views of Fraser Mountain and the Taos Ski Valley below. Up here there is a big pile of rocks left over from an old mine (not sure what mineral they were in search of). We stopped to enjoy the views before heading down in search of mushrooms. It had been pretty dry up here lately so not much luck on that search, but my daughter did find lots of strawberries which we munched on while walking. Around halfway down we heard this primal scream and a loud growl in the middle of the forest. No idea what it was, but it was spine tingling. I can only assume it was some sort of kill by a mountain lion, but maybe it was the Yeti…. Later on, we did run into a baby coyote running across the trail. Its mama was trying to lead us away from her pup, but we were going in a direction away from both of them. Overall a great 8 plus miles with a good workout, nice views, and pretty meadows (and primal forest screams).

Wonder dog getting a drink

So many flowers

Ski valley way down below

Fraser Peak from near the top of Bull of the Woods

Daughter and wonder dog on the last climb

Fraser Peak, and I think that's Wheeler way behind it...

Daughter and I on the peak

Gold Hill middle top

Ski valley way way below

Quite an elaborate grave stone far from the maddening crowd

Daughter kept finding and feeding me strawberries

Meandering

Pretty meadow

Meadow walk

A couple of yurts up here for winter hiking

Find the hidden coyote

Lee Kuan Yew Interviews by Graham Allison and Robert D. Blackwill with Ali Wyne – I have no memory of how I ended up with this fascinating book. Maybe I had read about it and ordered it, no idea (my Amazon history shows that I ordered it in November of 2023, so I must have read an article about it). Published in 2013, it lacks some of the more recent worldwide trends like Artificial Intelligence and the slide towards Nationalism and Populism in some countries. But it’s still a blunt and pragmatic look at how to deal with China, terrorism, geopolitics, and democracy.

Lew Kuan Yew is the founding father of today’s Singapore. In 30 years, he brought that country (or city-state as some would call it) from a third world country to a first world country with per capita GDP exceeding that of the US. This book is not about how he did that. I do plan to read Lee’s book about that transformation, titled From Third World to First: The Singapore Story. This particular book is basically a set of interview questions answered by Lee over several years. The chapter names are a list of the biggest geopolitical topics of our time:

The Future of China
The Future of the United States
The Future of US-China Relations
The Future of India
The Future of Islamic Extremism
The Future of National Economic Growth
The Future of Geopolitics and Globalization
The Future of Democracy

Here’s what I loved most about his viewpoints on these crucial topics: Both the right and left in American politics could highlight parts of his views and claim that he agrees with their views...or they could highlight parts of his views and consider him a political enemy. I think he takes the best ideas of the right and the left in order to create the best possible government. But he didn’t look for these ideas, he discovered them on his own, by seeing what worked and what didn’t work. The book begins with a list of who’s who in world governance all praising his mind and his accomplishments: Barack Obama, George H.W. Bush, FW de Klerk, Xi Jinping, Tony Blair, Margaret Thatcher, Rupert Murdoch, Rex Tillerson, Hillary Clinton, and Fareed Zakaria who had this to say, which sums up what everyone else had to say about him: “Lee Kuan Yew took a small spit of land in Southeast Asia, which became independent in 1965 after great struggle and anguish, with no resources and a polyglot population of Chinese, Malaysian, and Indian workers, and turned it into one of the economic centers of the world. To do this Lee had to have smart economic policies, but also a shrewd foreign policy…He is still indisputably the father of Singapore. I was struck by the depth of his understanding of the world—China, Russia, and the United States.”

The American left will find some of his bluntness about welfare horrifying and the right will find some of his views on immigration and climate change unimaginable. But there is no arguing his success. Here are some lines:

(China has) transformed a poor society by an economic miracle to become now the second-largest economy in the world—on track, as Goldman Sachs has predicted, to become the world’s largest economy in the next 20 years.

The Russian mistake was that they put so much into military expenditure and so little into civilian technology. So, their economy collapsed. I believe the Chinese leadership has learnt that if you compete with America in armaments, you will lose. You will bankrupt yourself. So, avoid it, keep your head down, and smile, for 40 or 50 years.

Talent will go to America because Americans speak English and everybody fits in. It is a country that embraces immigrants.

Winning an election becomes, in large measure, a contest in packaging and advertising…A spin doctor is a high-income professional, one in great demand. From such a process, I doubt a Churchill, a Roosevelt, or a de Gaulle can emerge.

I find parts of (US culture) totally unacceptable: guns, drugs, violent crime, vagrancy, unbecoming behavior in public, in sum, the breakdown of civil society. The expansion of the right of the individual to behave or misbehave as he or she please has come at the expense of orderly society.

Those who want a wholesome society where young girls and old ladies can walk in the streets at night, where the young are not preyed upon by drug peddlers, will not follow the American model.

To get good government, you must have good people in charge of government...If a people have lost faith completely in their democratic institutions because they cannot find people of caliber to run them, however good that system is, it perishes. (Gulp)

American society was so successful for so long not because of (constitutional principles), but because of a certain geopolitical good fortune, an abundance of resources and immigrant energy, a generous flow of capital and technology from Europe, and two wide oceans that kept conflicts of the world away from American shores.

The caste system has been the enemy of meritocracy...India is a nation of unfulfilled greatness. Its potential has lain fallow, underused.

Nehru and Gandhi had a chance to do for India what I did for Singapore because of their enormous prestige, but they could not break the caste system.

The big divide is no longer between communist and democratic countries, or between West and East. Now it is between Muslim terrorists and the US, Israel, and their supporters. A secondary battle is between militant Islam and non-militant modernist Islam.

Moderate, modernizing Muslims, political, religious, civic leaders together have to make the case against the fundamentalists.

The majority of Muslims who are moderates are caught in between (1) their sympathy for and identification with the Palestinians and anger against the Israelis, and (2) their desire for a peaceful life of growth and progress.

The ultimate threat to human survival is global warming and climate change. The habitats of millions, maybe billions, of people may be damaged…If sea levels rise to inundate many millions of people, and if glaciers in the Himalayas, Tibet, and the Andes melt away, leaving more millions without enough water, there will be no “life as usual.”

I always try to be correct, not politically correct.

If you are concerned with whether your rating will go up or down, then you are not a leader. You are just catching the wind…you will go where the wind is blowing.

If everybody gets the same rewards, as they do under communism with their iron rice bowl, nobody strives to excel; society will not prosper and progress will be minimal. That led to the collapse of the communist system. On the other hand, in a highly competitive society where winners get big prizes and losers paltry ones, there will be a great disparity between the top and the bottom layers of society, as in America…

I would describe myself, in perhaps European terms, and between socialist and conservative.

I do not believe, contrary to what American books say, that you can teach people to be leaders. I think you are a born leader or you are not a leader. You can teach a person to be a manager, but not a leader.

Santa Fe Baldy near Santa Fe, NM – My college buddy was going to be in New Mexico on this day for a big hike. The initial plan was a 17-mile, 5,600-foot circumference trail around the high peaks near the Santa Fe Ski Valley. He had invited three other friends. I told him ahead of time that my 17-mile, 5,600-foot elevation day hikes were behind me so I would bail out after the first three climbs and make it a 12-mile, 3,000-foot hike which was tough enough, but doable for me. We all met at the parking area at 6am, and my buddy asked if everyone was still OK with the plan. As we discussed, it became clear that the original plan seemed…aggressive. So, we compromised and decided to hike the Winsor trail to Santa Fe Baldy so that we could all stay together for the entire hike. So, a 14.2-mile, 3,500-foot day hike. That’s about the limit for me these days.

Santa Fe Baldy is the 5th highest peak in New Mexico at 12,632 feet and named for its treeless round top (much like the hairless round tops on some of us hikers today). The trail starts out steep, gaining 700 feet in about three quarters of a mile. Then it’s about two miles of downhill before the last 4.5 miles of climbing. You get some peeks of Baldy through the trees along the trail and on this day, it was socked in with clouds most of the way (it had rained hard the night before). At mile six we reached a spectacular ridge and the junction to Lake Katherine. We stopped here for snacks and to gaze up with trepidation at that last mile and 1,000 feet to the top. The weather was still shifting around up high so we weren’t sure what to expect up there. We slowly trudged our way up to the peak and were rewarded with incredible views of the Pecos Wilderness to the east and the town of Santa Fe to the west. The 2nd highest peak in New Mexico (Truchas) loomed to the north. The clouds were dancing all around us and the sun made an appearance just as we sat posed for a group photo. A few yards north of the summit we were rewarded with a stunning view of Lake Katherine below, one of the highest lakes in New Mexico at 11,745 feet. We hung around the summit snacking and chatting with other hikers. We met one guy who was 77 years old and was here on the 25th anniversary of the last time he hiked this peak and nearly got lost in a summer blizzard.

The hike back was long and that two-mile uphill slog near the end was soul sucking, but we all made it out in one piece! No big animal sightings today unless you count the cows…there was cow poop near the peak! These cows are beasts. Overall, a nice, if long, day with a bunch of good guys on a beautiful day. I still had that two-hour drive back to Taos in front of me, so I declined the offer to drink a post-hike beer. Maybe next time I’ll stay in Santa Fe to celebrate. [Note: thanks to Ken and Guillermo for some of the photos below]