McMINNVILLE, OREGON – On a rainy late-winter morning, my buddy Glenn and I headed southwest from Portland to McMinnville, about 35 miles away. The town is roughly the size of Lufkin and is home to the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum, three large buildings (one is a movie theater), across from the airport and surrounded by a vineyard. The museum was founded by Evergreen International Aviation, known mainly for commercial helicopter operations. The company went belly-up in 2013, but not before founding the museum about two decades earlier, in 1991. The following year, Evergreen won the bid to buy the Spruce...
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ALONG THE COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE – Forgive me for saying this, but this place is gorgeous! (Pun intended and likely not original.)
I first encountered the Columbia River in North Portland while wandering around with our buddy Glenn, while my Beautiful Mystery Companion and daughter Abbie took a Lyft to shop at a mall. We ended up crossing that wide river into Vancouver, Washington, searching in vain for a restroom in a driving rainstorm. We finally gave up looking in Vancouver and snuck into a McDonald’s on the Oregon side. It turns out my peeps were at the mall beside Mickey D’s, so we gave...
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PORTLAND, OREGON — We were hanging around the Saturday Market in Old Town Portland, vendors set up beneath one of the bridges that spans the Willamette (emphasis on the last two syllables, which rhyme with dammit) when a short scrawny fellow holding a soft drink cup began jawing with several security guards. He was highly agitated, screaming and cursing, jabbing his finger into the air. The guards, armed only with truncheons, calmly stood in front of him while he vented his rage. The subject matter of his ire was not readily apparent. Finally, he started walking across the one-way street into...
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We are now the proud owners of a cuckoo clock, a Valentine’s Day present to my Beautiful Mystery Companion from yours truly. We began talking about getting a cuckoo clock while in Germany just before Christmas but did not really look for one. As it turned out, daughter Mere and son-in-law Matt were headed to the Black Forest to spend Christmas right after we left. The Black Forest is in the southwestern part of Germany, near the French border. It has been the home of authentic cuckoo clocks since 1737, when Franz Ketterer, a clockmaker in Schönwald, in the Black Forest, built what is believed...
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Spring is poking its head around the corner here at Three Geese Farm. In late February, the willow trees began budding out, followed by a few of the hardwood trees in the woods behind Pancho’s Pond. Driving to town, I notice the misnamed redbud trees (they are violet, or purple) are blooming nicely, while the tulip trees have already lost their exquisite blooms, petals carpeting yards along the way to work. Each day, more trees begin leafing out.
Back home, I replenish the backyard bird feeders almost daily, providing sustenance to the red-winged blackbirds, chickadees, cardinals, and an occasional...
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