Saturday, May 28, 2011

The Ride Home

Today I drove home from Salem under Biblical-like skies that could easily be imagined in the background painting of the Sistine Chapel. The clouds were black bottomed and rimmed with gold edges around their neon pink tops. The sun was sending shafts of low light that highlighted a gigantic rainbow that followed the bucolic scenes of rustic barns and fields bursting with blooming nursery stock. I could almost imagine God's gigantic hand reaching out to Adam's in the foreground of my mind.
For some reason, this scene made me start thinking about things I wish I didn't know:




  • Both Abraham Lincoln and his wife probably suffered from what we know as clinical depression.


  • Fake snow is made out of soap flakes and not out of any watery material at all.


  • Hamlet wasn't really as young as Shakespeare would have us believe.


  • Anthony Geary had an affair with Elizabeth Taylor. (Wait! I think I like knowing this.)


  • Tectonic plates and their random movement cause earthquakes. I'd rather that earthquakes were more cosmic in nature.


  • "Great you pull pieces" is a phrase I am somewhat embarrassed to admit I understand.


  • My 2005 RAV 4 doesn't really get good gas mileage.


And then the sun sank in a Maui-like blaze into the Willamette River as I headed the back way home off the old highway. I had no way of knowing what caused that awesome sight other than to turn a wholly natural and beautiful event into something atmospheric and scientific. I didn't want to know; I just wanted to get one last glimpse of its wonder.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Almost Lost

Sometimes I feel as if I am swirling faster and faster and getting close to a mean vortex of watery cyberspace. I'm rather comfortable with this blog, but facebook and the construction of my website sometimes leave me feeling as if I'm floating aimlessly on a tiny raft in the middle of the Willamette River during this Spring Chinook season. Fairly regularly, I bump into a boat on the hog line and the crew gives me a push in the right direction. But occasionally I have to paddle anxiously to get out of the way of a seal lion determined to steal a salmon. Will I ever make it to the place where I can successfully spawn a spot in the complex social network?
I can't locate my domain name since I let it expire. I know it's out there; Cyberspace lets me know. But I can't have it back until I contact so and so with this and that number and piece of information. So that push to the raft gets me nowhere. I can't navigate around my website without Kelly and Sarah's help so I'll just paddle around until they wash up. Facebook does not offer the island of contacts that I looked forward to. Everyone assumes that I know how to use it with ease and precision. To borrow another metaphor, it would be like taking a typing class in the 50's or 60's without really knowing what a typewriter is. People just assume that I know things that I don't know and they tell me every time that " It's easy. You just. . .". Right. Now pardon me while I try to build a better raft out of the jetsam and flotsam all around me.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Mother's Day

I always enjoyed planning a Mother's Day event for my mother. She, like every other living mother, loved whatever it was we came up with. The colorfully decorated paper plate with fake flowers stuck into it was the most beautiful thing she ever saw. That cake I made with the too thin ugly pink frosting was the best she ever ate. And, oh, how she loved it when my sister and I took her out for a special meal. The Silver Falls Conference Center was the best place of all. Never mind that my sister and I thought we were in heaven just to be at that park.
My own kids really outdo themselves. This year we, meaning just Brian and Amy and myself, went to the Cornelius Pass Road House where we had the crunchiest, tastiest, freshest tater tots on the planet. We drank the mildest yet most flavorful beer in Oregon. And Brian picked up the tab for all of us because he was honoring not only me, but Amy's role as a mother as well.
I saw people purchasing roses and store bought cakes at the grocery store who were obviously just that moment on their way to their mothers' houses. They were signing cards on each other's backs. They were hauling out body fragrances done up in clear wrap festooned with gaudy ribbons. The deli was doing brisk business packing up meals to take to Mom and the sushi bar was crammed with folks buying little clam shells full of fishy things for all the moms waiting for something exotic. Birdhouses, blueberry beer, plants and flowers, all manner and shape of chocolate, Jergen's Lotion, bestselling paperbacks-all going to Mom's to join the school projects already there. And guess what? Every single one of those hastily purchased items was the best thing your mom ever saw, smelled, tasted, felt, heard or experienced. It will only be outdone by next year's gift.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Sneak Preview

Here it is-the first version of the new book! You are among the privileged few who get the first peek. We are so pleased and excited!