page contents Google

ARMY ENLISTMENT? HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

Me: Today is my Army enlistment anniversary. Did you remember.
Wife: It’s also the day my Mom died.
Me: It is? I mean, yes, it is, and also my anniversary.
Wife: I’m glad you remember it.
Me: And there’s another thing to celebrate on the same date.
Wife: What?
[Read More…]

BOOMER BLOGGERS UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL. TOO CLOSE?

As a cohort of boomer bloggers, I read all about them.
From posts and opinions, to ABOUT pages, we’re all about challenges and adventures, the places we’ve been, places we’re going.
Take this picture for example. It’s from the Portland Art Museum page.
Does that big golden ring look like an adventure, some kind of portal? Yes?
What do you do when you see a portal? Jump in.

[Read More…]

WANTED MAN vs NEEDED. THERE’S A DIFFERENCE?

If you’re waiting for a wanted man to make life better, you’ll be waiting a minute.
This man was a one-float parade around Silverton during my last visit.
You could hear him from blocks away with his booming sound system blasting AC/DC.
When I left, he followed my car out of town, then turned back at the city limits.
He was either a one float parade or a motor escort service.
Either way, I asked myself: Are there town characters everywhere?
[Read More…]

ONE PORTLAND JOURNEY: MINE

I got off the bus at the end of my Portland journey, only to begin the real deal.
This is where I lived after breaking up.
My usual move after a break up was moving to bigger and better.
For instance, I broke up in Delaware and moved to Brooklyn, NY.
Here, I broke up in far SE and moved downtown Portland.
This building had a lot of break up apartments, so I was in good company.
[Read More…]

CLASSIC PORTLAND RIVALRY

Social media Portland isn’t for the weak of heart.
It’s either heaven on earth, or a hell hole from the underworld sticky goo.
If you showed up recently, things are looking better; if you’ve been here a minute you’ve seen the ups and downs.
Lastly, if you’ve lived here your whole life? Uh oh.
[Read More…]

More Posts from this Category

toughen up

Wellness Luxury: Feeling Good For Doing Good Again

To do good you don’t have to feel good. If you do it’s a wellness luxury, an expression I just made up. Google wellness luxury. This isn’t that sort of post.   Take mental health for example. Nothing makes any difference to you? No one cares about you? Feeling earful about the future? Feeling sad […]

HPV16 TONGUE CANCER HARD TO UNDERSTAND? HOLD MY BEER

        Hpv16 tongue cancer is hard to understand, but only if you look at the numbers.   From cbsnews.com:   Eleven million American men are infected with oral human papillomavirus (HPV), which can lead to cancers of the head, neck and throat, a new study reports.   That equates to 1 in 9 […]

PORTLAND STORY THEATER TELLS THE TALE AT WILLAMETTE WRITERS

  Lawrence Howard and Lynne Duddy ran the first Willamette Writers meeting of 2018. For all the wishes for a Happy New Year still echoing, their presentation confirmed the idea.   I came in right as they started and found a seat in the back, the last seat open. I start every meeting with high […]

More Posts from this Category

boomer years

AUTHOR PHOTOS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS? Pt.3

    Demonstrate how a book works?   You can hold it, turn pages, but a book works in other ways.   They hold doors open, shine light, give hope.   An author thinks they’ve done one thing, but a reader takes it another way, which is the magic of book. We get to make […]

LOVE AFFAIRS OR LEARNING AFFAIRS

Do past love affairs affect the future? What happens between two people ought to be like Las Vegas: what happens there stays there. Except it never happens that way between two people, three or four people, or a whole team of people. No judgements, just call it a social agreement between adults who know how […]

OBAMA FAREWELL SPEECH, OR CITIZENSHIP CLASS

President Obama farewell speech a study in civics.   At the crossroads of history, President Obama gave his last big goodbye. The heart of his farewell? The Constitution. You’d expect different from a Constitution scholar with twelve years in the classroom? Like a great politician, a showman for the ages, he did it in Chicago […]

More Posts from this Category

buckle up

Walking Portland Memory Lane One Alley At A Time

As much as you hear about people moving to Portland, loving Portland once they get here, it’ll never be their home until they’re walking Portland on memory lane.   Like, “This is where I used to play basketball, where I got beat by a five foot six opponent,” didn’t ring up the oooos and ahs […]

SAVE OREGON, MOVE TO PORTLAND

Moving to Portland for the food and music? Or to save Oregon? It’s not Austin, Texas, but you’re heading the right direction. The Southwest here is a part of town, not part of the country. Food cart walk ups, innovative menus, and don’t forget the river. Without the Willamette River what would Portland be? It […]

6 STEPS OF EUROPEAN TRAVEL AFTER THE FIRST STEP

  Step One: Admit you’ve been bored to death since your last trip.   You miss making connections, new train stations, airports. The miracle of being on time. Like a caged animal, your travel bug paces. Every Sunday it rattles the gate. That’s when Rick Steves shows up. With a dish. Travel bugs feast on […]

More Posts from this Category