On Wednesday, August 28, 2019, I celebrated my first ever Annual Famous Fun People Day by inviting three famous people to join me for espresso and fun conversation. The invitees were: Clint Eastwood – Movie and Producer Magnet of worldwide fame. Clint sent his regrets. Clint Eastwood admitted he has never had one of Joe […]
Back Alley Reveals – Curb Appeal or Alley Repel?
If you are selling your home, you definitely want to have curb appeal. Curb appeal is the drive by attraction of a home to potential buyers who might be touring a neighborhood looking to purchase. The initial appeal of a home often results in an appointment to see a home and the purchase. Generally, people […]
Letter: The best thing about toasting marshmallows
Today, August 30, is National Marshmallow Toasting Day. Seriously. If you missed it there is a National Toasted Marshmallow Day Countdown Clock that shows the number of days, hours, minutes & seconds until the next gooey event. Relatedly, there is an opinion expressed by the editorial board in one media publication that recommends school not […]
Across the Fence: Tomatoes
Nothing spells mid-summer as boisterously as a berry coming in all kinds of shapes and sizes, but is mostly known for its red and its tangy-sweet flavor, the tomato. As a child, I wasn’t really keen on it; I belonged to the cucumber fraction rather. But today, I wish I had cherished those summer nights […]
Letter: Watering the flowers
Sometimes my granddaughter of now nearly eight months will help me water the flowers on our porch. It gives me yet another reason to hold her. Occasionally she’ll accompany me to get the mail but mostly it’s the flowers. Sometimes we’ll use the sprinkling can since that takes longer and gives us a chance to […]
Tea with Ron White – Mr. Tater Salad himself
When you visit St. Vincent’s (St. Vinnies) on South 56th Street, you just never know what you’re going to find. It’s a house of treasure and a house of hope. It’s a nice combination. Peg and I visited St. Vinnie’s to get a donation for Soroptimist International of Tacoma. Some of the members live in […]
Westside Story – Be a Good, Bad Neighbor
I recently analyzed a portion of my life-history only to discover that while living in my current home the past 42 years I have had neighbor relationships with 21 different neighbors with old neighbors moving out and new neighbors moving in. We have always enjoyed great relationships with our neighbors or at least appreciated a […]
Smelt, Rainbow Trout, Salmon, Steelhead and Good Eats
I love fried fish. My mother fried smelt to perfection. The little daggers of crunch were fantastic. My wife Peggy grew up on fried smelt from the Pacific Northwest, too. Her dad Ike and the whole family enjoyed smelt. The Toutle is a tributary of the Cowlitz River, which used to be the mainstay of […]
Fire and Ice – Film Review
I am a HUGE fan of Ralph Bakshi. If you’re not familiar with him, Bakshi is the innovative director and animator of various independent adult-oriented animated films such Coonskin (1975), American Pop (1981) and Fritz the Cat, which was the first animated film to receive an X rating. While most animated films up until that […]