One thing that most powerful people in public life--politicians both democrats and republicans, lobbyists, presidents, presidential candidates, lunatic former governors on private buses--have in common is how well groomed, well dressed, smooth, silky and shiny they are.  All… Read full post »

To repeat from my faulty memory what I think I just heard a BBC commentator say on NPR today: 

Let's be honest, Michelle Bachman has a reputation of being a bit nutty and saying daft things, and it was noticeable last night that she didn't say anything daft. 

I… Read full post »

I was gone at first because my 6-month-old Hewlitt-Packard motherboard went about a month ago and I bought a new rebuilt computer and am using that, and it works fine.  HP will fix my old one but it would have taken about 2 weeks during which time I would have lost my job,… Read full post »

 This weekend I watched a very seriously interesting movie, and it was just so enjoyable.  The beginning is more promising than the movie turns out to be, but I love this era, and just saw a special on PBS about the French avante-garde, so when this movie started with the Rite… Read full post »

Photos from flickr. 

IFC has a new show called Portlandia, and I have been discussing it with all of my out-of-state relatives, who almost all have lived here in Portland for a year or more at a time, my 2 sisters and my aunt.  I've seen it, and it's… Read full post »

My fatal flaw is not that I can't upload my photos to my banner or in my posts (but I can't).  I think I make up for that by being able to post videos, pictures from flickr and linking to articles I want to share. 

Nor is my fatal flaw… Read full post »

"Either we're going to go with some grace into green energy, or we're going to go kicking and screaming, but we're going, by God.  The world is already leaving us behind.  We're being left behind.  America.  Because the gas and oil industry has a stranglehold on us. And… Read full post »

You will need:
2 slices of sourdough bread
2 slices of provolone cheese
Some sliced avocado.

Make the sandwich, butter the outside of the sandwich, brown it in a skillet on medium high heat until the cheese melts and the outside is toasty.  You could also add a slice of tomato if you want.… Read full post »

Outside My Window

Other apartment buildings, cars, the Vietnamese store where I get my rice noodles, eggs, bean sprouts, baby bokchoi, onions, sometimes tomatoes, sometimes coffee drinks.  It is not the nicest store, but the rice noodles are great and very cheap.  There are m… Read full post »

In followup to my description of Fayard's and my ill-fated attempt to see the Pittock Mansion all decked out for Christmas, I must add some good news.  After my awful day I had left a phone message in the office of PM, and the lady who received the message called me… Read full post »

I watched this a couple of years ago and it has stayed with me.  "Armed with bitterness--"

Well, no one really probably wants to read my diary but it's all I've got to write about.  So here goes. 

On New Year's Day, Fayard my 20-year-0ld son and I decide to take a trip up to Pittock Mansion.  It's a mansion here in Portland that they have all… Read full post »

Poor Martin's wife died this year, which is sad, but this little video cheered me up so much last year that I would share it here now. 

I was taking the bus the other day, probably to Goodwill or someplace, no place really fun, maybe the grocery store.  I take two buses to get to SE Portland, and got off one and stood at the next stop waiting for the connecting bus.  I glanced over to the curb,… Read full post »

I was married for 13 years to a guy who to put it mildly was no fun at all. He couldn't go anywhere and have a normal conversation.  He hated having people over or going to anyone's house except his sisters. 

All of his sentences were accusations pretty much, and… Read full post »

I haven't been watching Mad Men lately because of the cable situation, but was sad to hear that Bert quit.  I know most people know this about Robert Morse, that he played an ambitious smartass in How to Succeed in Business Without Even Trying,  but my aunt, who is of the Mad… Read full post »

This is an I-post all about me.  That makes it tedious. 

I have stuff in my head all the time that I want to post, but every time I narrate myself to sleep with a funny/insightful/bitter/dramatic post, I wake up thinking what's the use.  I'm mad about stuff.  That Gibbs chara… Read full post »

The other day I watched a great old movie called The Big Lie.  The story is basically that two women, Bette Davis and Mary Astor, are in love with one man.  He is in the army and goes to war somewhere and presumably dies.  Well, Mary Astor is pregnant by this… Read full post »

So, the state sent me a check today, a child support check not from my ex, but from me.  They take 50.00 out of my paycheck then mail it to me because I no longer owe child support to anyone.  It's a system I do not mind because I get the… Read full post »

You walk in, switch on the TV and have a seat in a house not your own.  Daughter and mother--again not yours-- are crying, so upset and angry with each other.  This is not a problem of your making and it's not your home.  Best to mind your own business.  TV is funny… Read full post »

I have a job, my dog, my home, 1 or 2 good friends, my opinions, some hope, some righteous indignation, some snark and silliness.  This is where I come to talk about what I like, what I've done, how I feel, who I know and things of that nature.  You can't… Read full post »

1.  Friend of My Youth by Alice Munro.  I love her ambivalent, practical writing style, mostly about everyday people living lives of quiet desperation.  I am left pondering her stories days, weeks, months and years later. 

2.  Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishuguro.  This i… Read full post »

His questions are tedious and boring, yet he behaves as if they could build a substantial conversation around them.  "Is London broil flank steak or round steak?"  Round steak I think, she will say.  He furrows his brow, cocks his head to the side "I don't think so.  No,… Read full post »

I just want to say this and I will say it quickly, and I doubt it will get read much, but I do not care.  It's why I have a blog in the first place. 

Last weekend I went to see Crazy Heart, and I kind of liked it.  I… Read full post »

I'll do this in list format:

1.  Got paid more than I anticipated, about $150.00 more, that's huge.

2.  Went grocery shopping, love it when I get food in the house.  Spent more than I wanted to, but hey.

3. Addie, my 17-year-old daughter, came over and spent the night.  We… Read full post »