Hello and welcome to the July issue of the Peripatetic Historian. I’m your host, Richard J. Goodrich, and once again we gather around the loom to weave history, travel, and photography into a coat of many colors.
This Month:
Summer Holiday
No Country for Old Worms
Whither the Historian?
Ready? Let’s dive in:
By the time this month’s edition of the Peripatetic Historian lands in your inbox, I should be back in the United States. Like swallows to San Capistrano, we turn our beaks east at this time of the year, winging home on our annual summer pilgrimage.
Reviewing recent installments of the newsletters, I have detected a tendency toward increasing prolixity: the screed grows longer every month. More is better, until it’s not.
Therefore, since it is summer—a season for rest and relaxation—I have decided to trim back and curtail my tendency to run on at length. ‘Short and pithy’ will be the Summer 2026 official motto. I’m going to set a 500-word limit and stick to it. Every word that fails to clear the 500-word bar faces the scrap heap.
A heavy rain falls outside the window as I prepare this month’s edition of the newsletter for the press. These are the months (May & June) of the seasonal Plum Rains. This year, two tropical storms, floating off the east coast of the country, are amplifying the monsoon’s effect. According to Taiwan’s Central Weather Authority, 5.5 inches (14.1 cm) of rain misted down on Taipei over the past 24 hours. If it wouldn’t shock the neighbors, I could go stand out back in the alley and take a quick shower.
During these periods of intense precipitation, the open spaces that pass for lawns in the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Gardens degenerate into bogs. The sparse grass surrenders and the earth turns to mud.
As you might imagine, this condition is a trial for earthworms. These little fellows absorb oxygen directly through their skin—they have no lungs. When the soil becomes water-saturated, they cannot get enough of the gas and are forced to crawl to safety—usually up onto the hard tile floor of the portico that runs around the park. Here, stretched out on cold porcelain, they are either crushed beneath the feet of careless pedestrians or are snapped up by the local birds.
It’s not easy being a worm.
After five weeks in the US, we will be returning to Taiwan for a final year. Big trips are chalked into the coming calendar, including some island-hopping in search of WWII battlefields, Italy, and maybe another Japanese expedition. Some fun stuff—you won’t want to miss the upcoming coverage.
Looking beyond this year, the crystal ball appears to be flashing the international symbols of France (a croissant and beret). Should the oracle prove accurate, this wandering historian will return to his primary obsession: European History. Then won’t the newsletter length run wild?
These long-term plans are still in flux. Stay tuned to this channel for breaking news.
Some interesting opportunities are starting to pop on the writing front. I hope to have more to tell you next month.
Goodness—already at 500 words?
Be safe, be sensible.
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