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BASIC APPRECIATION OF COMMON THINGS

A basic appreciation is important for context.
Things are usually more complicated than they seem.
A brick is a brick, just some fired up mud, until you see them working together.
In the hands of a skilled craftsman, a brick is a jewel.
What else deserves a second look? A towel rack.
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TALKING DOWN TO SOMEONE? WHY

How can you tell when someone is talking down to you?
It might be the clarification questions you ask that gets them annoyed to the point of explaining everything a few times, very slowly.
Or it might their regular way of communicating.
Which leads to more questions, like, “Why be a jerk?
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FALLING LEAVES OF AUTUMN

Falling leaves are the rule of the season.
The only place without a carpet of leaves is a parking garage.
But that’s Oregon, famous for trees.
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toughen up

IAN KARMEL’S BOOMER GYM ALERT

Based On Ian Karmel And Everything As F##k: A Warning Voice From His Generation To Boomers. Too many fitness fanatics urge us to better health. And we ignore them. You can’t ignore Ian Karmel. The Portland comedian and Portland Mercury columnist writes about his gym experience, the same gym experience boomers have been dodging. What […]

RESPECT WOMEN IF YOU RESPECT YOURSELF

It’s hard to respect women, or anyone, unless you respect yourself.   Find a mirror and give it a hard look while you’re in front of it. Do you respect the image reflected back? If not, get to work. You’ve heard this saying, “You say you respect someone if you can’t say you like them.” […]

YOU HAVE FEELINGS? DO THEY SAY HAPPY?

  HOW TO TELL IF YOU’RE HAPPY You’ve heard it before, whether you’re ten, thirty-four, or seventy-four years old. Balance. Say it like they said, “Plastic,” in The Graduate. Life, or a good life, depends on balance. Think moderation. Most of the time you hear this and nod and agree like the fat man who […]

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boomer years

WINTER REFLECTIONS, TIME PASSING

  Can we still complain if the snow doesn’t last for months and turn a nasty brown?

PUSH YOUR ENVELOPE FOR PROOF

Go outside the box and push your envelope. Push it real good. Too often baby boomers take the good advice of slowing down, like take time to smell the roses. It’s good advice because we’re not the proverbial spring chicken anymore, but it doesn’t mean crawl into a hole and die. When is the last […]

BABY BOOMERS ENJOY HOT YEARS HOLDING ONTO THINGS

First we Hold Onto Things to stand up, then Hold Onto Things to stay up. Hot sounds good. A hot dinner. A hot rod. A hot shot. Hot is a difference maker. Hot is cool, until it’s not. Growing up baby boomer was cool when the Sixties were hot, but how cool could you be […]

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buckle up

How To Travel Out West

Baby boomers come west for every reason, but there’s one most important when you start. Know which way is west.  NW Boomer says, “It’s thataway.” You’ll know you’re in Oregon by the greenery. Once you drop down from the hills you’ll think you’re in England.

Five Miles From Tigard Equals Yellowstone?

  Looked for wildlife far and wide from Idaho to Wyoming to Montana and Washington.   Then I looked near Tigard in the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge five miles from home in Oregon.   There was more wildlife in one place than there was in four states.   Go Tigard, Go.

BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAIN HUG FROM GROVE PARK INN

Or, How the Grove Park Inn cures your ills without pills. The Omni Grove Park Inn, GPI, comes packed with the sort of history that ties people to places through material anthropology. And it’s a clever knot. With an original main lodge dating from 1913 flanked by wings added in the ’80’s, the property sits […]

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