I’ve been off the board at TACID for a number of years now, but I like to see how they are doing. The brown bag luncheon offers me that opportunity. Since Nola Renz has become executive director, the annual fundraiser has been held at the Boys & Girls Club facility on the ground of the […]
Puget Sound Honor Flights
My father spent World War II on a tanker in the South Pacific. Like most men and women who served in the military service during the war, he talked sparingly about what he did. Twice he stood watching torpedoes rushing towards his ship. If he were alive today, I would make it possible for him […]
Shooting Stars Against All Odds
Growing near our front step is a small grouping of flowers. They shouldn’t be there. They weren’t planted. They rarely get sun; our roof stops most of the rain from watering them; the morning newspaper frequently scores a direct hit on their bed . . . and yet they grow. I think they represent life […]
The Times They Are A-Changin
A man and a woman are walking down the middle of a snow covered city street. She has her head on his shoulder and is looking directly at the camera . . . smiling. She is wearing a knee length winter coat and black leather boots. His eyes are averted and is looking down at […]
Home Repair Equipment & Supplies for a Dollar or Less
While you can’t buy a gallon of paint at Dollar Tree, you can still buy most tools to help you paint or do minor repairs around the house. I was having the Furnace Doctors install a new HVAC system in my home. They had already disconnected the old one and were ready pull the final […]
A Cheap Lunch Mostly from Dollar Tree
My secret, always-ready meat only cost a dollar. I buy 8 once packages of Farmer John “Classic Pork Links” at Dollar Tree. Dollar Tree can save money on groceries. The sausages keep in the freezer until we’re ready to eat them. There are eight to a package, so each one is an once. We’ve used […]
AAA Buffet – Chinese Buffet Restaurant Review
Returning from a meeting at the Chehalis Rotary Club, my friend Dick Dorsett and I talked about food as we drove back to Tacoma. Dick mentioned the AAA Buffet, which I had never heard of or seen. No wonder, just off South Tacoma Way, it’s tucked in behind the Union 76 Gas station (10310 S […]
BBQ and the Art of Slathering
I was introduced to BBQ by my father in the 1950s. He took an old wood burning range and encased it in stone and concrete in our backyard. George Stephen, a welder at Weber Brothers Metal Works, created the iconic Weber grill in 1952. Soon my dad progressed to the new (at the time) BBQ […]
The Writing on the Wall – Murals
I love the mural on the street-side wall of the Saint Vincent de Paul Thrift Store on South 56th Street in Tacoma. The mural colors attract the eye and the walls and trim of the building itself lend support to the image as a whole. Painting on walls is nothing knew. Our ancestors started that […]