What's in Dave's Head

Happy New Year! I hope your 2024 is filled with joy and peace.  If spending less screen time is on your list of resolutions for 2024, getting into a good book or two is a great way to bypass your phone, computer and TV (Kindle doesn’t count in my, er, book). Here’s a rundown of what I’ve read recently; let me know what you’re reading! Fiction   The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store , James McBride — A remarkably powerful story about redemption and the power of love that takes place in the Chicken Hill section of Pottstown, Pa. in the 1920s. Yes, I’ll admit it — these eyes got a little misty at the end. The best novel I’ve read in a very long time. The Good Lord Bird , James McBride — A fictional account of abolitionist John Brown and his attempted takeover of the federal armory at Harper’s Ferry. A time-well-spent read by one of our finest writers, but it didn’t engage me quite like Heaven and Earth did.  The Bee Sting , Paul Murray —An amazing — but long — chronicle of an...

Our journey to Africa spanned 10,000 miles and with a long layover, about 24 hours each way. It also seemed to take us back in time – like the Way Back Machine in the old Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons of my youth. The parts of Africa we saw – aside from Arusha, Tanzania’s third-largest city into which we flew – are like a place time forgot. There are, of course, some paved main roads, vans and trucks, and we often had access to the Internet, even in very remote areas. But so much seems nearly untouched by modern influence: The vast expanses of ancient trees, unmolested game animals and birds, and virgin landscapes that stretch to the faraway horizon, seem unchanged since prehistoric times. T he Industrial Revolution doesn’t seem to have reached much of the country.   T ribes such as the nomadic Maasai retain a culture and customs from millennia ago. Unspoiled nature About 38 percent of Tanzania – 16,000 square miles – is composed of national parks, preserves, marine par...

Donna and I recently took the trip of a lifetime, a safari in Tanzania on Africa’s central east coast. We visited Tarangire National Park, with multiple herds of elephants; Ngorongoro Conservation Area, which features the renowned Ngorongoro crater; and Serengeti National Park. Serengeti, like Ngorongoro, is a UNESCO World Heritage site; it is home to some 1.5 million migratory wildebeest, 400,000 zebra, 3,000 lions, and many other herbivores and predators. After much research, we booked our 10-day excursion through Micato Safaris . It was a great choice. We were pampered with luxurious accommodations, incredibly up-close animal sightings, and vast amounts of fascinating information. It was a life-changing experience that greatly exceeded our most optimistic hopes. We arrived in Tanzania’s Kilimanjaro International Airport after a 10,000-mile, 26-hour journey, and were greeted by our remarkable tour director, Joseph Mushi, and a driver. We hopped into the rugged Toyota Land Cruiser, ...