After a competitive round of golf where I spent a lot of time in the woods looking for a lost ball, my opponent, Steve Swanson, observed: "You had dissolved into the hinderland." Hinder as in thwarted, or hinder as in behind? I will spend 40 days wandering in the hinterland.

A political analyst describing the current situation in Washington observed: "You can't see the forest through the trees." True enough, unless you crane your neck.