On A Road

Portland – Gold Beach – Port Orford – Portland – Grangeville and then on to Billings, Montana. We are in the second Portland there. Maybe I could have included West Linn, where we went to meet my sister, her ex, sons, daughter-in-law and two nephews. I have not driving so much in hmmm since I moved here from Albuquerque. I do not drive around like I used to. Flying, that is out mode of getting places. Of course, Bejing, Bali, Madrid, Buenos Aires, Bogota, none of those are reliably accessible by automobiles from Portland.

So, although I am vowing to keep up daily pages and submitting them here, I will be somewhat sporadic. Mom assures me that it is OK to type – we can all sleep later — I just did not have the # gumption to type then. We will see for when we are all (Mom, me, two sisters, a nephew and a nice and her daughter) gathered in an AirBNB for the reunion.

I am typing this on an empty stomach. It is mid-day. I have a doctor appointment to be followed by blood draws afterward. Why Doctor Why? Why schedule a fasting blood draw for afternoon? Why Michael Why did you agree to the schedule?

Mom is eyeing my typewriter. It would be a good exercise for hands. Which one should I give her? TI am thinking of the Olympia. It is also compact. # She would like that.

A “nice” thing about typing and correcting, or not correcting are the bits like the not completely getting the line feed, like I did with the “it is OK”. You cannot see that kind of – what would you call it? Whatever it is you can see what I have not corrected but you would never see that on a computer generated piece. And there are other bits of corrections scattered here. I find them somewhat enduring. Or at least I can say that to myself as I do not a) fix them or b) get good enough to type flawlessly.

Remember the soft, soothing voice of Bob Ross? He had been in the army ad it was his job to & yell at people. When he got out he vowed to never yell at people again. Hence his soft, soothing voice. This is kinda how I feel about my typos and sometime lack of corrections. There is no need to yell at my typing.

— MichaelRpdx :: rm :: 2022-06-13

(Note: typo corrections on the original not reproduced here.)

Day Two

Keeping with this Royal Mercury (I believe) typewriter. Hopefully, today’s One Typed1 (yep, not a backspace) page is more readable. In the morning will be my time to take off on my “vacation” for the summer. First a southerly drive to Gold Beach, Oregon where I will pick up my mom. After a couple of days there we will return to Portland and spend another couple of days before heading east to Billings Montana with a stop in Grangeville, Idaho to visit my sister and her family. Actually, she and her family will join us for the trip. We are off to a family reunion. This will be my Mother’s family. My Mom, five siblings, and I do not know how many cousins (of mine) will be there. My Mom was the oldest of her family. I am her first child. [In age my closest cousin is six years behind me. I must admit I do not really know most of my cousins. I will be meeting some for the first time.

There is a chance to make a stop in Butte, Montana. Just Over six hours from Grangeville with another almost five to Billings. Why? Because Butte is the home to the Perkins Noodle Parlor, the oldest continuously operating Chinese- American restaurant in America. It was built in 1909. Aside from chop suey (-American!!) they also have Szechuan, Cantonese, and Burmese-style dishes. One way or another I think I will be stopping there.

Packed up a bunch of books and returned them to the library. I am reading so slowly these days. No longer “a page a minute” rate. Morel like three or four minutes to a page. Kafka on The Shore was only partially read. I ordered a copy from, as she calls it, The Great Evil, it was a used copy. So it will come via Media Mail. Maybe this month?

Slow reading leads me to watching a lot of videos, YouTube mostly. Some Nebula. I end up feeling as if I have wounded eternity. Even with mostly educational items, but still…

-— MichaelRpdx :: rm :: 2022-06-08

Yes, it seems I will take this typewriter along on my travels

This Cold Pear

A Portable Typewriter

Hello all! I am a new to you typewriter: A Royal something or there, or other, manufactured in Japan. I think this will go with me me to Montana in a week or so I think, perhaps, maybe. We will find out as it gets used in the week between now and then. I think. Now to find some thoughts to transcribe onto paper.

I am reading Kafka On The Shore.,. It has me entranced. Does this work now? (the ribbon had come out of the vibrator (?) when I switched to red inking. Now we are in red and the ribbon is staying there, Figuring out how a ribbon threads through can be a quirky thing to do. At least if you have not had to do it very often. Much like hitting the backspace key when it is on the right instead of the left lie like it is on so many of my other typewriters.

Will I acclimate to this beast?

If you have not read Kafka on the Shore … well shit. How am I one to recommend a book?1 (errant 1s are artifacts of my automatically going for a backspace key. (no eraser on this machine today) (I hope this stream of consciousness works for you.)

Fun today: I was for a bit of time a person that loaded the cart to take groceries out to the car. You know, the person that takes freshly rung up items and puts them into a box or a cart at Costco. A bag of baking soda I had picked u up that a slit in it and was leaking. The person, ok a guy, Who had the job was running off to get me a replacement. Costco is good about that kind of thing. So I returned to my high-school days and loaded my stuff into the box and cart Fun? Well, yeah. I did enjoy it.

Let us see if this typing will continue tomorrow.

—- MichaelRpdx :: rm :: 2022-06-07

Typing Fixin’

If you watch YouTube, or spend too much time there, well let me take that tack. Are you aware of Joe Van Cleve ‘s YouTube channel? There is a lot of good stuff there on typewriters, hand made cameras, office products (as in a self described Office Product Junkie (junky?), a brief flirtation with fountain pens, and (as I am sure more. Today he had (has?) a feature called “Typing Corrections”. (by the way, the period, the “.” should be inside the quotation marks according to USofA conventions. I am not a Brit, where they say that the dot, the period, should be on the outside like I just did. This bit of one of the things that “drives grammar people nuts, like putting two spaces after a sentence terminator. More on all of that later.) About “Typing Corrections”/ Joe, JVC, talks a bit about the history of correcting typing and the going into the options we have for fixing our typos. He even shows examples of this correction from One Typed Page. Perhaps you will remember the pieces. To wrap up the piece he asks for people to talk, to comment on what they do to correct issues in their typing. My comment was for him to check here today to get my response. Of which yo u (extra space in mid-word left as an example) (that usually happens after an L on my Royal KMM. ) As you may be able to tell I take a number of approaches provided I note their presence. I have great, strong confidence that all of you can figure out what I mean. Can/doyou? (lack of space, once again, noted but not corrected.) I am aware that many of you have absolutely pristine typig typing. I am just trying to get things out of my brain and onto paper. Fixin’ it? Not for something here or any other place where I type. Thank you to all of you who do not just puke up on the page even if I do not do that I do love to read then.

Day before yesterday I read the first tow pieces and had to — stop for a break. The first was an unsigned piece by a typist who specifics paper weight and had purple ink. It will do you good to check out his list of photographers And then spend time with them. So much beauty and challenge are found in tem. in them. Baldwin? Someone to look up. And then Keep on Truckin’ Mike asked about #### our approach to typing. As you may be able to tell I treat One Typed Page writing like I do Morning Pages. Start and as much as possible keep going until I run out of paper or ideas of the day. Sometimes I have things I want to type on, like fixing/correcting typos today, but even then I just start and keep at it.

— MichaelRpdx :: 2022-06-06 :: ih3k

PS – JVC, I hope I got enough of a response to your piece.

Wandering Thoughts

There was a time when rage boiled in my veins. As I got ready to type many, very many images came to me. I spent the day studying and practicing. Then the time came to type my thoughts and … the rage was gone. All of it had disipated. Dissipated. It was gone, completely. While I do not have a bunch of stuff to type I do feel better. Now for non-raging things to type.

Did you watch or listen to Joe Biden speak about the state of USA and gun control? I did not. I did read some bits about the talk. The talk about the thing that we all accept. There was a quote of Biden that I wish to repeat
here.

Over the past two decades, more school-aged children have died from guns than on-duty police-officers and active-duty military combined.
~ President Joe Biden

Until we change things we are all complacent in this.

§      §      §

I cajoled my wife to go out for breakfast this morning. The Arleta Bakery Cafe was open again! Well, kinda sorta. Same location, same decor, but shit those are the remains of the – wait, I forgot to say “same name” – the remains end there. I forewarn you to not take a reopening as a resurrection of a place you used to love. You are warned. On the bright side, we did go out into the world and we now have a place we no longer need to return ~ to. Again, ever again.

As a point of confession, we have plenty of food here in our place. Lots of variety, and just lots of food. I also like to go out to eat. The food scene in Portland is fantastic. Even with the rebirths into yukky-ness. There is the 28 Tigers – Dumplings, Noodles, BBQ and specials. I am drooling. Dan Dan Noodles, great with a beer at the Holy Ghost a “modest neighborhood haunt.” It is the bar. Not a cheap bar. But damn are their cocktails good. At least from the descriptions. We have yet to go there. We will. When we are ready to walk, Drive home after that place? That is what living in a
city is all about. Walking home.

— MichaelRpdx :: ih3k :: 2022-06-03

Another night of just typing with no planned things to say.

Hot Dog What a Day

Sometimes it rains and sometimes it rains. It will rain all day with light drops all of the time. At other times the heaven open up and dump down water so thick you pull over and wait it out. We had the latter and I did. God it was fun.

Hot dog! The cafe is reborn! A favorite breakfast cafe has reopened. The “New Arleta Café” is with the Portland area again. Now to show up at a time when there is not a line feeding business to the Space Monkey Coffee House ~~ next door. I bet they are happy too. Can you recall Biscuit n Gravy with your choice including corned beef hash as part of the “biscuits and gravy”? Or your choice of mushroom or sausage gravy? If only the lines are not too long.

Like my new erasure?

Today at noon I was meditating. I was interrupted. Why? Because there was a peacock wandering up our street. What? A peacock? Yep so it seems. I went out to find it with its tail in full fan. And then I had another it never happens again event. My phone’s camera did not work. What? Well shuckums. I had to enjoy the bird’s wonder..

One day with two wonders.

Now it is time to work on “If I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate”, go search it on YouTube. It is fun, real fun.

— MichaelRpdx :: ih3k :: 2022-05-27

Birds be Good

When we first bought this house and moved in we saw what I assumed to be bluebirds. Not so. Bluebirds are not common in our area. What I had seen was a scrub jay. The blue coloring is interrupted by a white patch on its back and the belly. They are common in our area. And we do see one or two pairs each year. There was one flitting about as I mowed the lawn. Yes, another mowing day. This lawn was now nearly as thick as the front area so I got enough cut down. And it was getting close to the end when I got a treat. A stellar jay appeared. It is not like they are not found in our area. Just not in Portland. Or not in the densely populated part of Portland that I live in. I would see them in abundance in my in-laws house. Jut hare? No, no sighting of the dark blue with a prominent creast, crest. Yes that was a treat.

A stellar jay made my day.

I am going to go watch something. Something.

— MichaelRpdx :: ih3k :: 2022-05-25

Sitting Around

Sittin’ on the couch. It could be the edge of a bay. But it is not. It is the couch. Actually we have two. One full sized and one “love seat.” Well, three if you count the futon downstairs that we are planning to give away. As soon as we figure out how to get enough room to move it out of the basement. If you are familiar with the puzzles where there is just one space and you have to move the pieces around to get them arranged, from one to fifteen. I think they are called warehouse puzzles. Now I get to play it in real life with real items to move around to get the room to move things into.

Sittin’ on the couch letting thoughts flow through my mind spiraling around bringing memories to mind and I wonder why. Gol darn, how was that for a run-on sentence? That is what sittin’ on a couch just letting thoughts flow is like. Well, for me and my thoughts are like. Perhaps you have a more ordered mind and your random thoughts are concise bits of subject, verb, object constructions. In my language studies, there are some in which that type of thinking does not work, not even to the way proper English does it. (Latin and Esperanto being the examples.)

Sittin’ on the couch. It is a way to spend a day until I decided to get out and cut off the dead pieces of a fig tree and a white lilac and a volunteer hazelnut tree. There would be not hazelnut trees volunteering if squirrels remembered where the put the nuts and were hungry enough in the winter. It took the place of mowing * today. All of them would be there tomorrow. The lawn lost, or was it won?, the what gets to be done today.

Sittin” on a couch today I did do some things. Word puzzles, studying Esperanto, Morning Pages written, read a bit of Kafka on the Beach, practicing Ukulele playing, meditation, those are all the things I did while sittin’ around today.

-—- MichaelRpdx :: ih3k :: 2022-05-23

And all of that comes from typing “Sittin’ on the couch” and watching where it would go.

Mow Mowing

The battery lasted all through the day today. It lasted all through the second day. On a summer day they batter would last for all of t e front yard and a good chunk of the back yard. But this lawn was thick and high. “No mow May” was or rather is the motto for those of us who have heard that it helps the migrating birds. So we gave it a whirl. But I saw we had close to a week of no rain days and took the chance to mow it. There was knee-high grass. There were no longer dandelions they were crowded out by other plants a week or two ago. But golly there was a lot of grass out there. It is about 1000 square feet in the front. Stopping to empty the lawn bag, that was six or seven times. A couple of those were so full that clumps of grass followed the wheels it was too full and bunched up and mushed down and went under the high-placed lawn deck. Each day left me exhausted.

There was a time when I did not need to mow my lawn. My father-in-law did it for us. Back when I weighed 50 pounds more than I do now. Back when I answered the medical person’s question “Are you allergenic to anything?” with “Only to lawn grass and kittens.” I was not making this up. When I dated a nurse she worked in an allergen office and got me in to see what I really was allergic to. Johnson and Bermuda grasses, and cats. And that was when I weighed 60 pounds less than I do now. But anyway, I mowed the lawn before my in-laws came to visit. They found me prostrate on the couch, sneezing, eyes running, it was bad. My father-in-law said he would come up and mow our lawn. As it turned out he, freshly retired, did enjoy it. I am a very lucky: guy:

Tomorrow we attack the backyard. It, fortunately, is level from side to side. But oh geez, there are some clumps that are knee high.

-— MichaelRpdx :: ih3k :: 2022-05-22

PS Yes, as an adult my weight ranged over 100 pounds. I used to say “healthy weight” but I learned that was not the case.

Chocolate, Bus Stops, Mowing

“We eat a lot of chocolate in the parking lot.” She laughed as she said that. Her mom joined her in the laughter. There is a grocery chain called Grocery Outlet. It seems to be limited to west coast states, Idaho, Nevada and Pennsylvania. It seems to buy items that for whatever reason do not make it to the big chains. They would get all sorts of chocolate. They started to eat it in the parking lot after taking home a lot of Hungarian chocolate. It was terrible. Uneatable bad chocolate. After that experience they would try it out in the parking lot. This morning I had a breakfast sandwich of sausage, egg, and cheese all on an English muffin. It was fantastic. And Vegan. Vegan? Yes. And there was just one. I am the household guinea pig. 1 returned to buy all they had. And I went to another store to buy more. We have eight now. On days when we need a quick and easy breakfast we are ready.

Last night when I was not typing a page I went out with friends for the monthly “let’s have a beer” night. OK, so “a beer” turned into three of them. But that was pretty normal for a once a month get together. What makes this month special was I vowed to take a bus to and from. I used to drive. Then I would take a bus there and a Lyft home. Getting there was easy. In fact the bus let me off at the front door of the Steeplejack place- I had never been there and will not go out of my way to return. And, AH, I should mention the group is a west side group. That seems like it is far away. It certainly seems like that. According to Google it would take about 20 minutes. On a bus, 55 minutes. But that is one the way there, with commute traffic. Coming home at 8:00 or so the buses run much less frequently. I had lots of time to consider my inebriation and all the other things that one can consider when feeling cold because this area has not yet warmed up. It also gave me time to look at the bus shelter. I think it is a one of a kind.

You have heard, perhaps, that there was a No Mowing May thing going on to support migrating birds: I am beginning to become convinced it is a being put out by lawn mower repair people. I cannot take it anymore. I will be mowing. Where we are going to put all of the clippings I do not know. There will be a bumper crop of it.

— MichaelRpdx :: ih3k :: 2022-05-20