Polish Constitution Day

I discovered Polish Constitution Day almost by accident three years ago, when I was visiting my friends Kris Wadolkowski, and his lovely wife Helen at the beginning of May.  We celebrated together, with their next-door neighbor (who was also flying the colors) in the traditional manner - with Zubrowka Bison Grass Vodka.  

Since that day, Celebrating this annual holiday has been sort of a fun thing for me - something to share with my friends, whether in person, or virtually.  

This year, though, it has deeper meaning to me.  The Poles share a tortured history with other Slavic people, of repression beneath the boots of a succession of Russian overlords, from the Czars, to the Bolsheviks, and now the totalitarian Putin regime. When Ukraine was invaded this winter, Poland opened their borders to their brother and sister Slavs - hosting as many as five million Ukrainian refugees.

So this Tuesday, when I raise my glass of Zubrowka, it will not be just for fun; it will be in loving, heartfelt memory of the generations of patriots who have given their last full measure of devotion, so that their children can live free of foreign domination, educate their children in their own languages, and not be conscripted to fight for a repressive foreign tyrant.   

Moth & Lightbulb - revised

I was drawn to her like a moth to a front-porch lightbulb on a summer evening—not one of those cold, efficient compact fluorescent lights, or an even more efficient dimmable LED light, that is super bright, but emits no heat, but an old-fashioned 100 watt soft-white bulbous incandescent, that pulls you into increasingly tight spirals, then quick-fries you at the touch of the sizzling orb—my ardor only intensified the knowledge that government regulations and evolving consumer preferences would soon render this simile quaint and obscure.