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NOTRE DAME UPDATE FROM OREGONIAN IN PARIS

How do they fix broken stone and burned timbers? It looks like this:

FRENCH TRAVEL WITH OREGON AND IOWA

French travel started out bumpy. I found my seat on the second plane, the long haul plane out or Minnesota. But it was occupied. That’s no way to start. Simple adjustment, right? But the lady had the same ticket for the same seat. At least that’s what she said. Then we all looked at our […]

PARIS RIVER: HOW WATER MAKES THE CITY

The Paris river divides the city like the Willamette divides Portland. But instead of an Eastside / Westside divide, Paris goes with Right Bank and Left Bank. One method means knowing the compass, the other is much more simple. Think of finding a place with directions that include east, west, north, and south. I’m already […]

PARIS NOTES AND LESSONS LEARNED, SO FAR

The top pic is the view from the hotel window. One block of Paris notes to work from is not enough, but it shows a consistent theme. I’m picking my new apartment out in these buildings, except mine is on the back side, the Eiffel Tower side. From my window there’s a tower view of […]

WHAT TOWER TOWERS OVER EVERYTHING? ONE GUESS

Some Guy said he ate lunch underneath everyday because it was the only place he didn’t have to look at it.

BRAGGING ABOUT COOKING SKILLS? NEVER, BUT IT STARTS WITH A DRUMBEAT

Bragging about cooking skills is worse than listening to someone else bragging when you know you’re better. The only thing worth bragging about is keeping people out of the emergency room after eating something you cooked. I don’t brag about my cooking skills for a reason, and it’s not because I’m serving raw or burned […]

MY STILL LIFE WATERCOLOR

It’s a still life watercolorOf a now-late afternoonAs the sun shines through the curtained laceAnd shadows wash the room Every time I walk out the front door I hear water falling. Instead of running to find the source, I remember it’s a yard fountain. I’ve grown so accustomed to the sound that the silence left […]

TIME MOVES ON WITH A DEGREE OF SADNESS

Time moves on when you see is a collection of kid bikes, the same collection Toys R Us sold. The same bikes the rich kids rode, the hand-me-down bikes, and the bikes kids rode into teen hood. Lots of bikes going one place: The scrap yard.

BITTER SPORTS TAKE VOLUME ONE: THE BAD BULLY

Today’s the day for ‘Bitter Sports Takes,’ a new feature here. What’s it take to make the bitter sports take? Look at Oregon, more specifically the Oregon Ducks of Oregon Duck football. Who remembers Auburn from nine years ago, and why does it matter? Sports history, my friends. Sports history.

WHAT’S SO GREAT ABOUT JAY GATSBY?

The Great Gatsby patrols the modern world with Jay Gatsby walking point. (Just finished Hemingway’s Movable Feast. Scott Fitzgerald came in at the end. He and Papa were buddies in Paris before Zelda slipped a gear. In 2011 Paula McLaine wrote a novel called The Paris Wife about the same time. Read both books for […]