Shortly after September 11 2001, like many Americans, I attached a small American flag to the antenna of my car. In addition, I added a flag to my helmet.

The flag Igor is holding is, like Igor himself, a road find. It probably blew off of an automobile. I found it on September 23, less than two weeks after the attack on New York and Washington.

I haven't habitually been a flag-waver, and there have been times when I would have been ashamed to wear the stars and stripes...but that was a long time ago, when evil men ruled our country.

That was all back in the last century, and I don't feel that way now. I'm proud to fly Old Glory as a sign of pride and solidarity with my countryfolk.

The flag turned out to be a bit cumbersome and fragile, and I removed it in July of 2002, partly because of that, and partly because I went up to Nova Scotia at that time, and thought it might be in poor taste to wave the U.S. flag in Canada.

The old photo that used to live at this URL never quite pleased me. Though Igor looks good, and I like the snowy background, the color wasn't so hot and my expression too grim.

Also, these days the gray in my beard is no longer caused by snow, I have different glasses and a different helmet. If you want, you can see the old version here.