Thoughts, tales, and travels

September 23, 2024

Bruges

As much as I like beer and chocolate, I like history even more. In Bruges, I hope to visit St. John’s the oldest existing hospital (12th century) in Europe. The whole medieval city center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The beer from their biggest brewery is piped underground to...

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September 4, 2024

Ribbon Trail

Bill and I have been doing the work to get our hiking legs back, and we were rewarded Sunday morning when we walked the ribbon trail from Hendricks Park. The trail is short, but it has some real ups and downs, and it felt glorious to be fit enough to...

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April 9, 2024

Fire and Snow

We’re in Colorado, enjoying some beautiful late-season snow squalls. There was an inch and a half on the ground when we woke up this morning. We headed out to meet Bill’s son John and grandson Charlie at the playground. We used the snow mounded on the slide to make snowballs...

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April 5, 2024

Colorado Sunshine

Visiting Marianne in Boulder. The brilliant light, blue sky, and rosy clouds at sunset are an invigorating change from the gloom of an Oregon winter.

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April 4, 2024

Spring Beauties

Pacific Northwest natives wild current and Oregon wild grape are blooming together right now. Purples were dominant in Hendrick’s Park this weekend.

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February 3, 2024

Layover at the Getty Center

Most of the day to spend in LA? The Getty Center seemed the perfect choice, only 11 miles from the LA airport, where we would depart in the evening for Vietnam. We had a leisurely breakfast, then caught an Uber. It was a beautiful day, a little chilly, but the...

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January 30, 2024

Leaving Paradise

It’s pretty rare for me to eat a cheeseburger, but we’re officially on vacation. We probably won’t see many burgers in Vietnam and Cambodia.

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January 29, 2024

Duck fans

After a disappointing Oregon women’s basketball game, we stopped recently reopened sports bar The Wild Duck with friends Rosie and Bruce. We had a nice chat with the new owner, far left, next to Bruce. We’re all hoping for a return of glory days for the Wild Duck and for...

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January 23, 2024

Post Ice Storm Post

We walked through the woods towards Springfield this morning. Carefully. Most of the large trunks and branches have been cleared from the trail now, but evidence of badly damaged and downed trees was all around us. Some of the biggest trees on this trail provide homes for our herons. It...

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