Beware and take heed of the Bight of Benin. There’s one come out where forty went in. Good advice from an old sea chantey. As easy as Peggy is to get along with, she must have offended...

The Chinese ambassador came to the end of his tour. Or, maybe, got recalled for spending too much time with foreigners. Or just wanted to go home and be with his wife. However it came...

When somebody has you to dinner, the only thing to do about it is to invite him to your place. The problem with having the Chinese ambassador to our house was that Peggy and I...

The night Peggy and I showed up for dinner with the Chinese ambassador we arrived five minutes early, parked next to the ten-foot high wall with the eight strands of electric wire on top, and...

To Americans brought up in the Fifties and Sixties, being invited to dine with the ambassador from Red China was like being invited to Mons Olympus to sup with the Man from Mars. We landed...

Once, when we lived in Botswana, we got invited to a formal luncheon. The president was at our table, along with the American ambassador and her husband, a retired lieutenant general. Three stars. I’d never...

At our embassies overseas Fourth of July falls, naturally enough, during the last week of June. Or, if the ambassador is otherwise engaged, the third week. Sometimes even, one hears stories, the second week.     This may...

When you live overseas on Uncle’s dime, the government assigns you a house. In Botswana, the one they assigned Peggy and me came with a-hundred-and-twenty-nine keys. At least the ones we could hold in our...

Every now and then Bushman who aren’t incarcerated in boarding schools get together and dance for each other. But only every now and then because any event involving Bushmen is difficult to organize. Bushmen don’t take...

One weekend Peggy and I were driving along a dirt track in the Central Kgalagadi when we encountered a family of Bushmen, a dozen maybe, carrying bundles and leading a pack horse deeper into the...