A woman jogger with stocking seams tattooed down the backs of her bare legs, bows at the bottom near her ankles. A man walking along 42nd, not far from Fremont by AJ Java, taking off his sandals to walk in bare feet across Prescott Street…
Nancy’s Virtual Vacation Post #1
I feel like Richard, Ronna, and John in DC are all getting one up on me re: this virtual summer holiday so I thought I’d better come up with something of my own to offer/throw into the mix. Let’s see. What did I do on my summer vacation?…
It’s a Small World After All
Over the past few hot, holiday days, we’ve also heard “Pop! Goes the Weasel” and “You Are My Sunshine”—competing ice cream vendors, who knows? This is life in the city, post-Baghdad on the Columbia 4th of July festivities around the corner and down the street. It’s been an enlightening number of days
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What Constitutes a Good Day…
Today I made a conscious effort to change some of how I do things rather than fixate on what I do and be all crabby about not doing enough, being disciplined, etc. (my usual state). I tried to focus my morning journal pages …
The City of Barack
Apparently 75,000 people assembled somehow, someway on the banks of the Willamette River earlier today to hear Barack Obama speak for half-an-hour. Lines wound around downtown corners, landmarks, blocks—
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Vernal Equinox 2008
Brooding clouds drifting over the roof of our new house, passing, passing, and then a downpour that shakes the leaves of the purple blooming azalea, that make even greener the foliage of the hydrangea not yet in bud…
An Addled Brain
I’m not sure if I can attribute it to being too fond of books, as the Lainie’s Lady sent to me from Brisbane, Australia, by a friend says, quoting Louisa May Alcott, but today my brain has been addled by sickness and general aching malaise…
Watching the Day Fade
Another day unfolds in my city life as I reclaim my order and my time after returning from a long, icy trip back east. This is the first day I’ve actually noticed, taken note of just how long the light actually hangs around now that we’ve had almost a week of the clocks sprung ahead….
That Wonderful Smell of Baking Solved?
It started as a single event. One day I went outside and the air in our neighborhood here in Northeast Portland was filled with the wonderful smell of baking! At first, I assumed someone in the neighborhood wasn’t as calorie-phobic as I am and had decided to make a batch of cookies or pastries or donuts. Then I smelled it a second time. And a third…
More Boxes, Bins, and Piles
I think it’s hitting me tonight—after a spate of days spent socializing and the Arctic air and sun along with the piles steadily growing, day after day, on the edges of the rooms on the first floor of the house—here we go again! I am so longing to be settled, to be home…
