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LEAVING TOWN? GOING HOME? NOT EXACTLY

Leaving town is one thing. It’s different for everyone. How different? Some never come back. But we all carry parts of town, growing up in a place, with us. Nothing shows it more than a high school reunion on the long side.

TOURIST ATTRACTIONS FOR NORTH BEND’S FUTURE

Tourist attractions for non-golfers on their way to Bandon? If you’re not golfing, why go to Bandon? When daddy brings the family to town and parks his jet in North Bend before heading for Bandon Dunes, what’s the family do while he’s gone?

BETTER VIEW FOR BETTER TIMES

This better view comes from Front Street in Coos Bay. Better than what? It’s a better view than the parking lot outside my motel door, but I’m not complaining. A ship, a bay, and a dream of discovery. What else would you want?

CITY LIVING REALLY GOT YOU DOWN

City living gets everyone down eventually. Then we get back up and keep going. And it doesn’t have to be a big city. Someone from Coquille might call someone from North Bend a ‘city boy’, which is probably better than pretty boy. And it rolls on from there.

‘PRETTY BOY.’ WHEN IT’S NOT A COMPLIMENT

“Pretty boy” isn’t what you expected to be called? And you didn’t like it. So what do you do? Here’s what I did:

NATURAL BEAUTY, OR CLOSE ENOUGH

Natural beauty? You know it when you see it. You should know it when you see it after a certain age. Do you see natural beauty, or do beauty ‘influencers’ show you? Let’s start at the beginning. Let’s start with your mom, my mom, any mom.

LIFE GOALS: CLIMB THE LADDER, WANDER AROUND, OR BOTH

Life goals bring everything into focus the way the right rug ties a room together. It starts with a list of things to accomplish by a certain year and an ambitious plan for doing it. There’s the calendar with each day, week, month, year, with room to pencil in your progress. And you are progressing, […]

DANGEROUS PLACES #1: MATERNITY WARD

Dangerous places are pretty obvious. Who doesn’t have a list of them. Here in Oregon, land of the great outdoors, we have plenty of danger. But, instead of a list picturing the grandeur and beauty of this great state, then spoiling if by saying climate change makes it all dangerous, let’s work a little harder.

LONG HAUL, OR LONG IN THE TOOTH

The ‘long haul’ is a lifespan, no matter how long or short. Baby boomers know all about it, yet some are still reluctant to embrace the details. How does that work out over the long haul? Let the embracing begin.

KEEP GRINDING, WRITERS

“Keep grinding’ is the message all writers tell themselves, but not out loud. Instead, what they say is their word count for the day. Maybe it’s a thousand, maybe more. The message they send is keep grinding.