Keeping Social Distance by finding Secret Places: My Thursday Ramble, 9 April 2020

Near Knapp Falls. Camera: Olympus XA2. Film: Kodak Ultramax 400. It's somewhere near a month of Stay-at-Home here in Portland. The quarantine is now just a fact of life. Yes, it'll end at some point, but now life before it seems so distant. Hang out with people? Go to a cafe? I know we'll have…

A Saturday Social Distance Ramble: 28 March 2020

I haven't been riding my bike as much as I should, even before global pandemic and "stay at home". So getting out on a bike for a few hours right now is a big deal. Gone are my regular errands by bike (though I still get down to my P.O. Box once a week), so…

Getting outside during the time of COVID-19

All of us are probably getting used to (or trying to get used to) this brave new reality we find ourselves in for maybe the next few months or so. While I've been "staying in place" this last week (thank you, mostly-work-from-home-"job"), the need to get outside from time to time is still present. While…

Rambling in The Dalles, 28-29 Feb 2020

The old cherry orchard The Dalles, Oregon is about 80 miles east of Portland, along the Columbia River and east of the Cascades. This is where the "Dry Side Of Oregon" definitely (and definitively) begins. Instead of default forests of the west side, it's a landscape of grasslands and sagebrush*, muted colors on rolling hills…

A Slough Country Ramble, 27 December 2019

As I stated previously on this blog, riding down by the Columbia Slough is my "jam". I lived near the western part of it for five years, so it was always easy to cruise down there. But I don't live near it anymore. There's not a lot I miss about the house in Woodlawn,* but…

Blogging in an Instagram world

Just the other day I saw a post from a friend's blog in my reader. He hadn't posted in awhile, and only came back to his blog to post info for an upcoming event. He said that most everyone had migrated to Instagram, but this post was for the straggler or two who hadn't made…

Ride Report: Outer NE New Parks Ride

Three for three! It's a crapshoot when you schedule bike rides from October through May; will the weather be OK? So far, I've managed to get good weather on all my rides for fall. I'm not complaining. The weather for Outer NE New Parks Ride on Saturday November 3rd was just about perfect for early…

Working towards a semblance of a normal weekend

It's Sunday morning as you read this. You might be waking up late, having a leisurely breakfast while reading the New York Times. Maybe you'll putz around the house for a bit, then go on a walk. You know, a Sunday. Me? I'm at work. In the almost 27 years of my work life (gawd,…