News Around the Island
Today was just a hodge-podge of strangeness. A
time-warp. A mess of confusion. Some fear. In and out. Up and down.
So, today, Dear Reader, I name this blog post: News Around the Island.
Only if you have lived on Taiwan (which we actually did for a few years
in the mid-80's) may you understand the gesture. Occasionally
The China Post
would have a section, buried in the back of the flimsy 8-page newspaper,
entitled "News Around the Island". A thin one-column section, the
one-or-two line blurbs usually announced something like "Severed Finger
Found in Taichung: Yesterday, a severed finger was found at the Ling
Ling Hotel in Taichung." That would be the entirety of the reporting.
The stories had no explanation, and were never followed-up.
Kinda like today's post here!
As you know, I have been having all sorts of difficulties with my Sony
laptop, which I can now happily say is my OLD SONY LAPTOP because I now
have a
NEW SONY LAPTOP! No kidding, I left the house, drove 9 miles to the
mall and was home in exactly one hour with a new computer - in white, by
the way, only because they were out of the pink. My new laptop has twice
the gigs, twice the ram and was less than half price of what I paid for
the OLD SONY LAPTOP. Wow, can't wait to get yet another laptop... at
this rate, they will be practically free and so small I will be able to
slip one in my lipstick case.
Buying the laptop was the easy part... now I have to move all my files
to the new laptop. See you sometime in November.
DT was busy too. The tree-trimming guys returned this afternoon. They
weren't quite sure what we needed trimmed exactly in the
circular driveway island. What we needed exactly? Enough
branches removed so the
Magna Peregrinus isn't scratched when she slips into the driveway.
A clear shot
Room to move
Give me a wide berth
It is unseasonably warm here in the Willamette Valley of
Oregon. Apparently, it only rains on the weekend, or during Duck
Football Games. The rest of the time it is ninety degrees. So, we had
many visitors to our bird bath today.
A pretty Flicker (woodpecker) stops by to have a sip of water. I hope
you notice my elephant statue because Lisa has informed us today is
Elephant Appreciation Day. So there.
Okay, so Flickers sometime bore holes into the side of our house... they
are still magnificent creatures
Yesterday, I braised lamb shanks for our dinner tonight.
Luckily I did too, because I was so swept-up with my new computer, we
would have probably had popcorn otherwise.
Rosemary-Braised Lamb Shanks
served with mashed Yukon Gold potatoes and Thyme-Garlic Mushrooms
And for my final news snippet... buried way down at the
bottom of the page... is my final "News Around the Island". Here are
three photos recently forwarded to me of DT as a runner at the
University of Oregon (of course)!
I think this was the Portland Indoor,
circa 1973-74. Obviously the day meet.
Steve Prefontaine & DT, again circa
1973-74. This photo was taken at
Historic Hayward Field on the
University of Oregon campus.
DT running in front of thousands of his
adoring fans... or something like that.
By the way, I am sending this post from my new laptop!
Until my next update, I remain, your newsy correspondent.