Tag Archives: Family
THE GREAT ASHLAND MIGRATION BIT
So a flock of geese has migrated in to claim the pond right outside Mum’s home. They make entertaining neighbors – but when they come honking by and wake me up too early, I get some really cranky and uncharitable thoughts. On the upside, these avian invaders also bring to mind very happy memories of […]
THE ICE BUCKET LIST BIT
Never thought I’d get to say something this obnoxious – but among a lifetime’s worth of travel gifts from Mum and Dad are not one but two Mediterranean cruises! I knew these excursions couldn’t help but be full of priceless moments. What I didn’t figure on was how many would simply come from drinking in the wide […]
EDMONTON: THE STATUES, FORTS AND TIMBITS BIT
So the NHL season ended with Mum’s beloved Blackhawks’ capturing the Stanley Cup for the third time in six years! No more thrills now until the Fall – and yet I’ve still got hockey on the brain… I was just at this annual black tie event, having a fine time people-watching and swillin’ the bubbly when I noticed my […]
THE “DAD DOES HIS BIT” BIT
With the approach of Memorial Day, I’m thinking of those who’ve bravely served in our armed forces – and that includes my dad who was a Marine during World War II. His “hitch” in the Corps turned out to be brief, but every once in a while he’d reminisce about those days and how they helped shape the man he became. […]
THE SERENITY BY THE SEA BIT
I find something fantastically calming about staring out across an ocean. And a favorite place to work on my saltwater woolgathering has been the magnificent stretch of Pacific coastline around Florence, Oregon. My family’s moved on, but I still have business to do there – I just need to remember while I’m at it to stop and smell the […]
THE PARTING SHOT GLASS BIT
So my New Years resolution for 2015 has been to get my apartment in order – and that is no small task. On the “to do” list is paring down bunches of items I’ve collected over the years – including the small hoard of shot glasses acquired through my travels. I already tried sifting through troves of books, […]
THE CALIFORNIA CHRISTMAS BIT
I’m dreaming of a white Christmas… So I just realized that the side topic of snow kind of “drifted” into each of my last two posts (about Vancouver and the fall). Yeah, ’tis the season (ask Buffalo…), but I think it’s become a thing with me. As a lifelong coastal Californian, I wonder if I’ve ended up with a complex […]
THE BIT ABOUT NEXT SEASON
As a lifelong California coastal resident, it’s not always easy to get a proper feel for the fall. Sure, some leaves change and drop off here in LA (honestly, I don’t know how SoCal plants figure out what to do and when), but the tall and skinny palm trees in front of my apartment pretty much stay tall and skinny throughout the year. It […]
THE “WE” IN “TEAM” BIT
I just love what you learn from traveling! Like I had a fantastic time in Boston last October doing all kinds of terrific touristy things. But the big surprise? Despite all my U.S. history knowledge, it took going to this storied city to learn that George Washington – the father of our country – was a serious Red Sox […]
THE WORLD ACCORDING TO A FOUR-YEAR-OLD BIT
It was a date that lived in infamy for me – the day I wasn’t allowed to visit Pearl Harbor because I was only four… I’ve since recognized the importance of keeping it peaceful at such hallowed places (at four, I might not have been relied on to do that). In any case, I think the rules there have changed since my rather distant […]