I think we can all agree that “Sorry I haven’t written lately” posts are about the lamest of lame posts in all of Internetland. I know my posting has slowed quite a bit from the furious frenzy I was writing over the summer. I’m not afraid to admit this winter has sort of kicked my [...]

This is, perhaps, one of those things I shouldn’t really be proud of. It should certainly be one of those things I SHOULDN’T write about on the internet. But as you know, I just can’t help it. I do embarrassing or dumb shit and immediately think, “Ooh, I need to tell the internet all about [...]

I love reading the the Astoria Police press logs. They are not always so entertaining, and sometimes they can be a bit depressing. But often, they contain little gems that make me smile. Astoria Police Log 1/25/12 3:20 SUSP CIRCUMSTANCES “Report of something making a grunting noise in backyard of the house. Reportin

Okay. Our friend Mike Vogel makes movies and stuff. He’s a funny guy and a fantastic writer, and he assembled a super talented cast and crew to make an original, all local film about “Marriage, sex, and shitting with the door open.” We blogged about being extras in the film two years ago. So it’s [..

So I don’t know if you know this: It rains a lot on the coast. People, it rains. RAINS. This week started with a lovely dusting of snow, and has ended with heaping buckets of rain. There’s flooding and pandemonium and gnashing of teeth. I’d like to think back a couple weeks, forever ago, to [...]

Another shot from my first week in Portland in January of 2008. More on that over here. You, yes, YOU are wonderful!

Four years ago today, it was snowing as I drove north through Redding, California. I was driving up I-5, the spine of the west coast, on my way from Los Angeles to Portland, Oregon. I had a kitty in the passenger seat, and a car stuffed with boxes of clothes, camping gear, books and whatever [...]

It was snowing when I woke up this morning. As I drank my coffee and ate breakfast, the snow came down in sheets and squalls. As soon as I felt like a human being, I grabbed the camera, bundled up, and headed out for a walk. River benches. The old train station. The Peacock in [...]

My parents and sister all live in southern California, which is an anomaly, because we are all originally from Massachusetts. That they all ended up in California was sort of an accident. I was the first to migrate to the west coast, and I first lived in Santa Barbara, which is gorgeous and expensive. After [...]

We are having a late holiday at my parents’ house in California. I needed to remind Dave of the “Danger Toilet” in the guest bathroom. You see, this toilet does NOT take a licking and keep on ticking. Why would I write about this? A toilet? Well, because it’s not just a toilet. It’s a [...]

A bus. Then the Max. Then a plane. Then a car in rush hour traffic in Southern California. But at the end is sun and warmth and my family. And some insane little doggies and some kitties. BRB, Oregon.  

Resolutions are bullcrap. I’m just going to get that out there. New years resolutions may have been a good idea at one point. It’s nice to slow down and be reflective. It’s a good idea to take inventory and make adjustments, or set some goals, or reevaluate our trajectories. These are all good ideas. But

Last night, the horns blew in Astoria. Like, all of them. The coast guard ships, the Alert and the Steadfast, are both anchored at the 17th street dock at the Maritime Museum. That’s about 12 blocks from where we live. At midnight, they sounded their horns, and from what I heard, the merchant ships parked [...]

Little Crater Lake. There was no way for photos to do it justice. It’s like an optical illusion. We visited during this camping trip over the summer. I just like to remember what summertime is like.

Boids. I have a hard time believing that birds and other creatures don’t have their own societies, communities and conversations. You just know that there are busybody seagulls gossipping about each other as they huddle together. “Did you hear what Margaret said today?” “Ooh, she’s such a shrew

The holidays haven’t quite calmed down for us yet. Everyone in my family is travelling, so we decided to wait until January for Dave and me to fly to California to visit my sister and my folks. This was the first actual Christmas Day in my 38 years that I didn’t spend with my parents. [...]

Dave and I were in Portland last weekend, and we did our best to efficiently tackle all our various errands while we were in town. Rather than do everything on the weekend, we wisely decided to wait until Monday, thinking there would be fewer people out being nutjobs with the holidays approaching. We did have [...]

It’s getting to be that time. That’s me, a few year ago. Just a few. I have a few more of these childhood Christmas photos up over on Ye Christmases of Olde. I’d still be pretty excited to get Legos for Christmas.

We have spent the past few years downsizing. We got rid of a lot of our “stuff” because we seem to move around a lot, and it is a pain in the ass to pack and haul extra crap we don’t need. We also got rid of our stuff because we wanted to live in [...]

So you’ve heard me complain about being bored with the internet. I know, it’s blasphemous. When I have these occasional episodes, there is clearly something wrong with me. I need to realign my priorities and stop being distracted by the real world. So we are house sitting this weekend in a house that HAS NO [...

How is it even possible? How can someone get bored by the internet? IT’S THE INTERNET. There are cat videos. I just googled “cat video” right now and there were 1,890,000,000 results. Are there even that many cats on the planet? December is busy, even when I’m trying my damnedest not to be busy. And

Sticky forest. These trees were perched upon a bluff above the beach at Cape Lookout. That whole state park was one of the prettiest beaches I’ve ever been to.

So, everyone like naps, right? Sleep is awesome. Naps are great. Sleeping at a time other than the conventional, acceptable “overnight” period of time is like a delicious indulgence. Especially if you’ve run a marathon, or if you are tired from sitting in front of a computer all day, or if you’re no

Do you ever wish you were a quiet little bunny? And you lived in a wonderful forest full of flowers and grass and cute, happy, friendly animals? And it was warm, and sunny, and beautiful all the time? And all the little animals all got along okay? All you needed to do all day was [...]

Rust and moss. Perhaps there is a story here. But perhaps it’s just decay and growth dancing happily together. From this trip to Cathlamet earlier this year.

Okay, so socks. Love em, right? I love socks. I wear them around the house. I wear them to bed. I have specific socks that are better for walking. I have probably 40 pairs of socks and it doesn’t feel like it’s enough. Why? Because I also have shitty socks. I have socks I don’t [...]

Still not tired of this. I like it here.

Thank you, everyone, for your thoughts about the kitty. We are doing okay, all things considered. He had been sick for nearly a year, with a long, slow decline for the past few months. For a while, it didn’t even seem like he was sick. He ate the special low protein food, he drank a ton of [...]

Schrodinger Von Kittenstein “Dinger” Or sometimes, “Ding Ding Kitty” 2001-2011 He was a good kitty.

A donkey. By the side of the road. I’m not kidding. It’s a donkey. By the side of the road. We saw it in Oregon. Or Nevada. I’m not sure which.