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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 […]

PORTLAND PICTURE TO THE REST OF THE WORLD

The Portland picture shows up after you forget about the beach, the river, the mountain. People show up to see the city sparkle and shine like the pictures they’ve seen in tourist magazines for fine living in the great Northwest, Portland pictures that seem to say, “Join us in reverence of our beautiful discovery.” Portland […]

OLD MAN TALKING ELDER HEALTH IN GYM

An old man, older than me, saddled up on the stationary bike next to mine. I’ve skipped the bike a while but now training for the prospects of pedaling around Paris. Together, the old man and I were biking Beaverton from 24Hr Fitness. My usual question if someone older looks chatty is, “How are things […]

CALIFORNIA JAM FROM 18 TO 62

    What was the hot ticket in 1974? California Jam. Just ask anyone who says they were there.   It was the West Coast Woodstock without the brown acid, Altamont without the murder. Just a nice gathering after all the dust settled and music took a turn.   My wife found her ticket to […]