Wednesday, April 27, 2011

"Day Trips From Portland" Actually Exists


The doorbell just rang.

There is nothing quite as exciting as receiving a box of books with your own name on them.

Yipppeee!!

The actual release date for my book "Day Trips From Portland: Getaway Ideas for the Local Traveler" is May 17.

There are two events scheduled so far.

May 24, Camalli Books in Bend, 7 p.m.

June 20, Powell's on Hawthorne in Portland, 7:30 p.m.

More to come!




Monday, April 25, 2011

Jesus

Captain Daddy and I almost didn’t get married based on vastly differing spiritual beliefs. All of that now seems like the sort of completely irrelevant nonsense that young people fixate on when making monumental decisions like who to spend the rest of their lives with, unaware that it’s actually anxiety, boredom and the laundry that will do you in, not God.

Religion rarely comes up around here. But it does have its moments, and it’s true that the Chickens get vastly different results depending on who they hit up for information on the subject.

Friday, Chicken Noodle approaches:

“What are we doing for Easter, Mom?”

Captain Daddy was nowhere in sight. This one was mine.

“Going to Grammy and Grandpa’s for an Easter egg hunt.”

Her face crumpled. “But we have to go to church!”

Curious. Where on Earth could she have gotten this radical idea? I doubted it was Captain Daddy. He doesn’t actually go to church anymore, just occasionally frets that he’s failing as a parent and going straight to hell because he doesn’t.

I looked at her inquisitively.

“Maddy said!” Ah. Maddie. In her Kindergarten class. Whose father is a minister.

“Hmm.” I considered. “Well, it’s true that Easter is actually a religious holiday. It’s about Jesus.”

“Who’s Jesus?”

I told you religion doesn’t come up much around here.

Knowing that if Captain Daddy were here, this conversation would now veer confusingly into talk of the flesh of God, and perhaps, gruesome-yet-apparently-necessary description of the crucifixion, instead I delivered up the child-appropriate version of what I actually believe about Jesus.

“He’s a famous and really wonderful man from history.”

Noodle contemplated this.

“So we’re not going to church?”

“Well, sort of. We’re going to the church of Grammy, Grandpa, chocolate and love. It’s quite nice, really.”

Friday, April 15, 2011

Thought For The Day




"Nothing happens, and nothing happens, and then everything happens."

--Fay Weldon

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Coming Soon - Day Trips From Portland, Oregon

Publishing May 17 is my travel guidebook, Day Trips From Portland, from Globe Pequot Press.

Rediscover the simple pleasures of a day trip with Day Trips from Portland, OR. This guide is packed with hundreds of exciting things for locals and vacationers to do, see, and discover within a two-hour drive of the Portland metro area. With full trip-planning information, Day Trips from Portland, OR helps makes the most of a brief getaway.

Stay tuned for more news about release events and more!