I was sitting at my local coffee shop yesterday, pondering some of the responses I’d gotten from my Craigslist posting, and watching two guys at the next table test a pair of flame-retardant grilling gloves. One of the men put on the gloves, while the other tried to set his friend’s fingers on fire with […]

I attended the annual May Day celebration this morning at Portland’s International Rose Test Garden. The Morris dancers — with performances from a variety of local Morris dance groups — were superb once again. I even remembered to bring my camera this time, and I may upload some photos later. Next year, perhaps I’ll try […]

There’s a coffee shop close to my house that offers free WiFi service as well as a very comfortable “living room” next to a fireplace. They’ve gotten used to me coming in from time to time to work for a few hours, and no one bats an eye when I slip off my shoes and […]

It’s Thursday! It’s the best day of the week! It’s true: I have a favorite day of the week, and it’s not Friday or even Saturday. Periodically, when I go into my “Happy Thursday” song and dance, people look at me rather quizzically. “Thursday? What’s so great about Thursday?” Yes, Thursday is the day before […]

In the past month or so, I have seen and experienced all sorts of craziness. This is happening in my neighborhood, in our city, in our country, and across the globe. Friendships falling apart over misunderstandings, people sending hate messages to co-workers and acquaintances, friends shooting each other (example: Cheney in Texas), churches being burned, […]

Sometimes I wonder why I even get out of bed. I’ve had a particularly rough morning, mostly fielding a barrage of e-mails — and even a potential conspiracy — about a recent problem in our community. But I also had a troubling experience while walking my dogs that has prompted me to compose the following […]

Many Westerners are having difficulty understanding the deep offense that Muslims around the world have taken to cartoon drawings of the prophet Muhammed appearing in various European newspapers. Digging deeper into the issue, a friend of mine went searching the web for the rule in Sharia law forbidding depictions of Muhammed, but came up empty. […]