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OK BOOMER? MILLIE, PLEASE, HOLD BACK GEN Z

Younger generations have a thing about baby boomers? “Ok, boomer,” is their go-to slam? Fine with me. I’m a boomer and I’ve been complaining about boomers, a particular group of them, and now we’re all bunched together. My biggest complaint has been with guys like childless Mike Rowe dragging millennials through his dirty work. Is […]

BOOMERPDX HALLOWEEN PARTY GUIDE

A Halloween party is more than chugging a twelve pack and handing out candy. First it’s too much sugar; you know you’ll dip into the candy bowl a few times. If you wear a costume this will happen: Scare little kids so much their parents talk about reporting you; older kids will be frightened into […]

BOOMER TRAFFIC SCHOOL

INSPIRED BY When you move to the suburbs, remember this: You’re not the first. You’ll find long-term residents in your new town whose parents and grandparents all went to the schools your kids will attend. They’re not used to new people. When you tell them you moved from Portland’s inner-eastside, they’ll look at you like […]

HALVE MAAN BREWERY, BRUGGE, BELGIUM

To start, I like beer. I seek out beer. New beer, old beer, good beer, or bad, I want to know more about beer. The Halve Mann brewery took me to school. Portland, Oregon beer has had a bad month, including the recent brewery closings. This link to Willamette Week lists the sad news for […]

CAGE FIGHT SHOWS GOOD MANNERS

The line outside a symphony hall finds civilized people on their best behavior, looking good and full of hope for a night to remember. It’s a well-dressed crowd on Broadway, a shuffling queue of elites found in cities around the world where even a mugger might receive a gracious thank you. By elite, I mean […]

LEBANON COOKBOOK IN MY KITCHEN

The Co-Cooking Cookbook  Growing up in my house, ethnic food meant warming up a can of Spaghetti-Os. More daring was a small town Chinese restaurant that sold more hamburgers than spicy chicken and rice. Then we all grew up and found another way: Books about cooking called a cookbook. Take it another level and invite friends to […]

TRAVEL SOUVENIR pt2: French Classic Mother Sauces

Give yourself a French travel souvenir that keeps giving. Instead of trinkets taking up space until you don’t remember where they came from, or why they had any appeal when you first saw them, why not learn something? Find a travel souvenir that reminds you of a time and place, which is what happened during […]

AUTUMN LEAVES DANCE TO WHISPERING WINDS

If trees are the answer, is the question “what do do with autumn leaves?” Stick with the trees for now. They produce oxygen. And they are beautiful, pulling neighborhoods together in a sharing way. So, where is everybody who breathes my tree’s gas when this happens?

HONEST MEMOIR? WHAT OTHER KIND OF MEMOIR IS THERE

The guy in the picture is a fellow neck cancer guy, Union General U. S. Grant. He’s also a fellow memoir writer, but was it an honest memoir? Not if he didn’t talk about neck cancer. If it lands on a writer’s neck, wouldn’t it be worth writing about? Like every writer, it was his […]

HUSBAND CLASS 101: THREE MOST IMPORTANT WORDS

The most important words to remember after the “I do” that started Husband Class in the beginning? Not the Big Three: “I love you,” with all of the emotional freight. Those three words promise the universe; the other three fill in the blanks. Three words: “Yes, I will.” If it sounds like work, you’re right, […]