It was a blue day in late summer, you know the kind, where you wish someone would bring you a vanilla latte or flowers, but it doesn’t happen and you cannot get out of your funk. What soothes my soul, and always has, is a new animal. So off I headed to my favorite feed […]
The Charlie Brown and Franz Stigler incident occurred on December 20, 1943, when, after a successful bomb run on Bremen, Germany, 2nd Lt Charles “Charlie” Brown’s B-17 Flying Fortress (named “Ye Olde Pub”) was severely damaged by German fighters. Luftwaffe pilot Franz Stigler had the opportunity to shoot down the crippled bomber, but did not. […]
Once upon a time, before the ribbon was cut on the internet’s information highway, there was this thing called hobbies. Hobbies were activities focused on something an individual enjoyed, and wanted to spend a portion of his or her spare time pursuing. Unlike the cerebral tech knowledge required to engage in web surfing and obsessive […]
“Bein’ Green” (also known as “It’s Not Easy Bein’ Green”) is a popular song written by Joe Raposo, originally performed by Jim Henson as Kermit the Frog on both Sesame Street and The Muppet Show. In the Muppets version, Kermit begins by lamenting his green coloration, expressing that green “blends in with so many ordinary […]
The Arlington National Cemetery is truly sacred ground. It is the final resting place for over 400,000 of our nation’s military, some of whom have been buried there since the Civil War. The grounds were originally the property of the family of Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s wife, who was also a granddaughter of George […]
The hugely popular Gorge Fruit & Craft Fair, arrives Saturday and Sunday, October 21-22, from 10am to 5pm, at the Hood River County Fairgrounds, 3020 Wy’east Rd., near the community of Odell. It’s an autumn favorite! Admission and parking are free. Celebrating the people and products of the Columbia River Gorge—and only the Columbia Gorge–the […]
Fall has arrived and my gardening focus has shifted to harvesting and preserving the bounty. Life is an experiment and this year’s experiments included sun-drying tomatoes in my car. I spread brown paper bags in the windshield with tomato slices on them and they dried nicely. I was amazed at how many tomatoes could fit […]
October comes from the Latin word octo which means “eight.” In ancient Rome, October was the eighth month of the year. However, when the Gregorian calendar was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII on February 24, 1582, it became the tenth month of the year. Of course, probably the most well-known holiday of the month is […]
In one of my favorite Agatha Christie Hercule Poirot TV productions, “The Adventure of the Clapham Cook,” the little Irish housemaid “Annie” speculates to Poirot that the missing cook has been carried away by “White Slavers.” This is an amusing little scene, intended, no doubt, to inject a bit of humor into the mystery. However, […]
The final day of Vacation Bible School this year was also my birthday. I was greeted with the singing of “Happy Birthday,” and presented with enough balloons to nearly lift me off the floor. I appreciated the thoughtful reminder of another milestone passed. But what is most special now about that event is the item […]