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TRAVEL SOUVENIR pt2: French Classic Mother Sauces

Give yourself a French travel souvenir that keeps giving. Instead of trinkets taking up space until you don’t remember where they came from, or why they had any appeal when you first saw them, why not learn something? Find a travel souvenir that reminds you of a time and place, which is what happened during […]

HISTORY BEGINNER: COMMON BASICS FROM UNCOMMON BLOGGER

Long stories blur into each other the more they’re told. Eventually a common thread emerges. I’m a history beginner, you’re a history beginner, we all be history beginners. If you don’t agree, then visit a new place, a place where you don’t speak the language, a place with different food, where you essentially throw yourself […]

EUROPEAN HISTORY NOTES FROM OREGON HISTORIAN

European history notes from an Oregon historian? Is this a guest blog post from someone new? Good one. No. I’m a history major with a focus on Oregon history along with two decades of history with the Oregon Historical Society. Ask me about material identification. It’s wood, metal, or stone. Or plastic. Ask me about […]

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 […]

TOM McCALL WATERFRONT PARK SUNDAY

We’ve heard the same thing all out lives: Get outside. More than once we’ve said it to others. How often do we tell ourselves to ‘get outside?’ That’s what I told myself Sunday and outside meant Waterfront Park in downtown Portland, Oregon. I knew my audience.

BIG TRUCKS FOR BIG JOBS

If you’ve got a big job, I mean really big, you’ll need big trucks to get ‘er done. Why big trucks? Because big jobs usually have a delivery component. You may not need the truck ‘on’ the job, but you’ll need a visit. Building a house? Big trucks are in your future. Building a skyscraper? […]

NORTHWEST TRAVEL BETTER THAN ???

(Any place you’ve seen before.) Start in Portland and drive any direction and I see elevation changes, more shades of green than a box of crayons, and snow capped mountains most of the year. Start in LA and drive any direction and never leave the freeway. Start in Kansas. No one wants to start in […]

BON JOVI TABLE vs BAND TABLE

Bon Jovi table versus the band table had a nice feel to it, like the Sharks and Jets in Westside Story, except without the dancing. One table is all in for one of the sexiest rockers to ever take the stage. Women love him, men want to be him. The other table worked the moment […]

BOOK REVIEW: BLACK TAR HEROIN, SAM QUINONES, AND DREAMLAND

Do Millennials Hear Boomer Parents Talk About Black Tar Heroin And The Damage Done? Sam Quinones Says Not Much. The movie Traffic isn’t about black tar heroin. It’s heroin, though, and shows a group of affluent young people dealing with a friend’s drug overdose. They drop him on the sidewalk outside an Emergency Room and […]