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GOOD PARKS FOR A BETTER LIFE

May 21, 2026 by David Gillaspie Leave a Comment

I didn’t move to the suburbs for good parks, but I would have if I knew how important they are for living a better life. The first time I took my tiny kids they weren’t impressed. I was. It was Cook Park in Tigard, Oregon and it was beautiful with paths and forests alongside the […]

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REMEMBER TO VOTE: BE SOMEBODY

May 19, 2026 by David Gillaspie Leave a Comment

Remember to vote at this late date. Late? Well, this is the last day to drop ballots at collection sites. Mine dropped yesterday. Felt pretty good.

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HIGH SCHOOL CLASS FOR PLUMB, LEVEL, AND SQUARE

May 18, 2026 by David Gillaspie 2 Comments

The high school class I regret not taking? Shop. Woodworking. Construction. Why the regret? I bought a table saw. It’s piece of machinery people in their thirties and forties buy because there’s something missing in their life: They’ve never built anything. The table saw is also famous for kick-backs that send a piece of lumber […]

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WRITING TOOLS: THE SHORT LIST

May 15, 2026 by David Gillaspie Leave a Comment

Writing tools were easy in the beginning. Either write something worth reading. Or, do something worth writing about. Is there more? There’s always more.

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CUVÉE MOTHER’S DAY WITH CHEF GILBERT HENRY AND COMPANY

May 11, 2026 by David Gillaspie Leave a Comment

Mother’s Day grows more importance when it’s part of a masterplan. Add a road trip with a restaurant at the end and it edges toward epic. It goes without saying that any two lane drive through rural Washington and Yamhill County is enough to make you want to sell everything and move into a dilapidated […]

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MAY 1986, THE LAST WEDDING

May 10, 2026 by David Gillaspie Leave a Comment

It was a cloudy, wet, day, in May 1986 for the last wedding. Like so many raised on the Oregon coast, a cloudy, wet, day, is good luck no matter where you are. Everything was done, everything set in Sandy, from rented morning coats to a rented preacher. The preacher was a second choice.

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SHARING SPECIAL DAYS, EVERY LAST ONE

May 9, 2026 by David Gillaspie Leave a Comment

Special days have special meaning which don’t hit the same for everyone. For some it’s repeating, “Why bother,” for the fortieth time. Others like to say, “I thought we’ve moved past all that.” But you still find those looking for something special in every day, and keep looking until they find it. Hell or high […]

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LET THEM, LET YOU, OR LET ME?

May 7, 2026 by David Gillaspie 1 Comment

The Let Them Theory book has a lot of lets in the letters. My favorites are the parts that address my problems, which come with a writing habit from what I can tell. Will I discover why I’m not a better writer? Learn what I should have done by now, or find a lingering message […]

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DIFFERENT SOLDIERS? HOW DIFFERENT

May 2, 2026 by David Gillaspie

The men in uniform during WWII were different soldiers, different kind of people. The Axis powers carried an extreme devotion to duty, an extreme devotion to their emperor, and an extreme devotion to cruelty over helpless victims. By the way, this isn’t new, not breaking news, but a reminder for short-memoried morons who ought to […]

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RECLAIMING MY TIME ON SOUTHERN OREGON COLLEGE SIXTY-FIVE YEARS LATER

April 30, 2026 by David Gillaspie

Southern Oregon College Graduating Class of 1960: My dad. He transferred after two years at Central Oregon Community College in Bend. It was a well used path to the first college degree in his family. He was thirty years old, an old 30. Back then thirty was older, fifty was a grandparent. Hit sixty and […]

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