Stephanie says

I cleaned my mother’s silver belt tonight; I’m giving it to you for Christmas.   I’d always thought it silver, but now think another metal, maybe copper or tin, is overlaid on a silver base.    This belt is so recognizable to me, and I fondly find it pretty. Mom had it forever.   She dressed like a gypsy, walnut stained face and many layers of necklaces, to read fortunes at my third grade school carnival, and wore this belt clasped at her waist over voluminous skirts and slips, hoop earrings, scarved red tresses, and striking green eyes.   She nailed it.   I was amazed by her performance – yeah, like an eight year old.   So proud!   You can thank her genetically for your waistline – apparently it skips a generation…    Helene would delight in you wearing this!

Henry bugering up my windows. 

Okay, so it's totally one-sided.  That'd be on my side.  That man has a voice that wakes me from a deep sleep into instant awareness:  Eddie Vedder singing.  His range isn't as high as Lyle Lovett, but he's got that low pitch going up and up, and pulling down on the crescendo, which is tantalizing.  I can recognize it anywhere. Whew, baby.  Thank you.

Henry dons a ZAP wristband And shapeshifts into a super hero before my very eyes Balancing on one foot, the other kicked out behind, A slight bend at the waist, arms soaring up, up, and away.   I say “Wow” and he flashes me an “oh, you get it” kind of smile. 

Just watched “The Lighthouse of the Orcas” and thought about your Olympic Peninsula adventures.   An event I fervently wished I’d seen with my own eyes.   If I’d only had a drone then.   So told totally from my imagination: The scene:   The two of you in a raft, (or a kayak, or some other very small water craft,) paddling from the shores of a ginormous body of water, saltwater, when a pod of Orcas stop by for a visit. Here’s the part I really, really wanted a close-up visual:   Michael paddling toward them.   Jacky paddling away.  Classic keystone. Hey Jack, I judged, (sorry) and thought you totally wimped out.   Michael, being Michael, likely slanted my view. Until tonight I thought Orcas were of similar size to a porpoise, (a porpoise being bigger than I want to swim next to…) but I learned I was wrong.   And that Orcas are HUGE and powerful in the abstract.   Right where I plan on keeping them. I’d have ...

Sad to see the Douglas County Library measure fail.   The county has historically funded the libraries but with ever decreasing timber revenues from the State, library support has suffered cut after cut for many years.       Drain and Yoncalla have 33 weekly operating hours between them, spread over six days. Residents can check out books, movies, use the internet for a few hours at whichever location is open.     The current county budget eliminates funding for library services at the end of their fiscal year, June 30, 2017.   There will be further cuts to service hours beginning January 1, 2017. There is no Plan B. Closures will follow.   While I appreciate the need for police and fire protection, not supporting library services is a step back in time, a further blow to the education of our children in this poverty stricken community.     We’ve lost sight of the value of education in fighting that poverty ...