2012 Olympics

Missed it. When was it?

Well, I hope folk enjoyed the Olympics even if I missed them.

Well, I can understand Brits needing to travel outside England, it's not like the whole Island is all that large. I mean come on, the UK is about 244,000 square kilometers while Texas alone is almost 700,000 square kilometers.France is only a few miles away across the channel, so there is an almost Texas size area where you can stretch your legs after a short ferry or train ride.

It's not so much just being comfortable at home, it's that there is a lifetime of variety here. I've spent over a half century exploring the US and have still not made it to every state.

While that is becoming increasingly true, it was not true for most of my life.I have been lucky enough to travel throughout some of the US and actually spend time in different cultures. I was lucky enough to be able to spend time over on Dafuskie Island before its development into a resort like many others, at a time when the witching woman was still dominate, when Geechee and Gulah were still spoken; in parts of Appalachia before TV and even electricity were the norm and I sat on a stump listening to folk tell tales and fiddle; on Indian Reservations and in Amish communities where outsiders are "The English"; in Baltimore when it was still a blue collar city of ethnic neighborhoods; to live when Savannah was still a rowdy harlot and Charleston a Grand Old Dame; to visit Harlem when it was not "in" but it certainly was cool; here in Deep South Texas where English is the second language; to live before Interstates when the US Highway was a two lane road and every town was different and unique and any trip an adventure.While the language may have been technically "English" it was certainly not the same and cultures varied as much as anywhere in the world.

And a great example of the cultural differences the US affords us.Long long ago and far far away I used to go down to Puerto Rico pretty often and take a cab ride over the mountains and through the rain forest to a little village next to where the company I worked for was building a resort. I'd stay in the upstairs apartment of a family who's home looked out across the Caribbean and grapefruit trees. We'd pick a few fruits, squeeze them into glasses, fill with Don Q and watch the stars rise.There were two little kids living there and in the afternoons I'd play catch with them as they practiced their limited English and I my limited Spanish. They were having Pollo Sofrito and the little girl ran to get the pollo to show me. She returned with a brown paper bag and smiling opened it to proudly show me the loser of last nights cock-fight.The Puerto Rican rain forest is so different from the California rain forests or those in Oregon and Washington just as the swamps of Georgia, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi are unlike the Great Dismal, just as the Alleghenies are unlike the Sierra Madras or the Rockies or the Cascades.