January 4, 2024
Looking back: Spring 2023
We always trek up to Hendricks Park in the spring. This year we went a little early, so azaleas in bloom were scarce. Lots of snowdrops, though, and these lovely white daffodils.
Thoughts, tales, and travels
January 3, 2024
Morning walk
through a hushed and foggy park before breakfast this morning. I left my phone at home because I thought it was too foggy for pictures. A scant few days past the equinox, and the birds are already increasing their activity in response to the slightly longer days. We heard the...
January 2, 2024
Looking forward, looking back
Happy New Year! We started 2024 with a nice long walk along the Willamette River to Island Park. It was too foggy for good pictures today, so I will continue my look back at 2023 with the beautiful day last spring when we took a day trip to the coast....
December 31, 2023
Well Said by Sy Safransky
Safransky, retiring editor of The Sun, imagines the previous owners of a typewriter that had served him well. Writing in 1987, he evokes another era of different details along with the process of writing, which essentially remains the same: I wondered how many other people had owned it over the...
December 31, 2023
Early Spring in Oregon, 2023
Symphony concert at the lovely Hult Center, camelias in bloom, a trip to Portland with a stop at Powels City of Books and a Performance of Hairspray, Christmas gift from son Ben. Easter brought precious grands Maizy and Joe, not too old yet for one more Easter egg hunt. Tony...
December 30, 2023
Looking Back: 2023
I’ve been looking through my photos from this wonderful year of travel and good times with family and gratitude that the dark days of Covid are over. I’ll be sharing more during the week to come. This first one is from our Scotland trip in June, at Glascow University. Centuries-old...
December 25, 2023
Words of Peace
Pope Francis on Christmas Eve: “Tonight, our hearts are in Bethlehem, where the Prince of Peace is once more rejected by the futile logic of war, by the clash of arms that even today prevents him from finding room in the world.”
July 31, 2023
Friday, July 28, 2023. Seattle to Riga, Latvia.
My plan to listen to Sibelius on the long flight from Seattle to Amsterdam was foiled because the plane did not have free WIFI, so I couldn’t use my wireless earphones. I could plug into the plane’s entertainment offerings, so I listened to sleep and classical mixes and Billie Eilish....
July 31, 2023
Thursday, July 27, 2023. En route, Portland to Amsterdam
The Portland Airport experience this morning was about as calm, uncrowded, and smooth as I’ve ever seen. The new version of the Portland Airport carpet just isn’t quite the same, though. I was a fan of the turquoise. I even have a pair of Portland Airport carpet patterned socks, but...
July 27, 2023
Reluctant Traveler
Wednesday, July 26, 2023. Portland, Oregon. Today I packed forty-three pounds of clothes and etceteras (one pound under the limit) for a trip I didn’t plan for. I am a somewhat reluctant traveler. We signed up for this trip to the Nordic countries because a gap in our summer schedule...