R.I.P. 2017-2020

This blog goes to the archive.

If I start a new blog after moving, I will add a note here. 

Big changes

We're moving into Homewoods on the Willamette, a not for profit retirement community on the river, not far from our present apartment. Since Harriet's cardiac arrest over five years ago, I have been chief cook and bottle washer and, well, I'm burned out. We're ready to get our meals, laundry and cleaning done, and so on.

After the move, I think I will put this blog to rest. It has been pretty inactive in recent months. However, maybe, or maybe not, I will start another that addresses the issues of old age and, well, dying. Maybe it should be called Meeting the Maker.

Mainly I want to have as little responsibility as possible and to spend many, many, many hours staring at the river.

Portland prayer

Read the story

Protesters seeking justice for George Floyd marched across the nation over the weekend. In numerous viral videos and photos, police appear to contribute to chaos and violence, including against both bystanders and protesters. There have been widespread reports of journalists being targeted by police while covering protests, as well. In the Flint, Michigan area, however, protesters marched to Police Headquarters, carrying signs and chanting. According to local outlet NBC News 25, police originally had on riot gear. Protesters reportedly sat down to show peace, and Genessee County Sheriff Chris Swanson actually joined the protesters and walked with them, as reported by local outlet ABC 12. Swanson, who according to Detroit News has been on the force for two decades, removed his helmet. Other officers chatted with protesters, and some exchanged fist bumps.

“This is the way it’s supposed to be,” Swanson said, as reported by MLive. “The police working with the community. When we see injustice, we call it out on the police side and on the community side.”

 (Daily Kos)

Wonderful accident

I threw together what was available for a breakfast omelette and it turned out to be one of the best I've ever had.

Cipollini onions, scallions, chestnut mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, cheddar, eggs.

Really good!

When it works

Email from former student, "you were the most inspiring teacher at PSU," which bslances the negative in this zero sum universe.

Reflections on death

This is an excellent documentary film focusing on attitudes toward dying and death. A wide spectrum is covered.

And yet my personal point of view is ignored, which suggests how radical it is.
And it is this:

In a sane culture, the self-management of death would be institutionalized. Like a baptism, like a birthday party, like a wedding, something like "a farewell wake" would happen at the end of life, hosted and managed by the individual who has decided s/he is ready to pass on. This would be a natural part of the aging process: creating one's own death with dignity. Death as a celebration of life, after which the individual would administer painless chemicals provided by a doctor, with or without witnesses as desired. Suicide, yes, but a kind of suicide that consciously and spiritually honors and celebrates a life.

My last three novels have dealt with this theme. So did a digital movie I made.

Last Rights, a novel

The Farewell Wake, a film

Q.E.D.

Variations on scrapple

I grew up on scrapple and have loved it ever since. Decades ago, I made my own scrapple the traditional way. For example, in grad school in the early 1970s I came home one day to find a cardboard box on our porch. In it was ... a pig's head! Aha, my good friend John Basham had kept his word, saving the head for me when he slaughtered his pig.

Later in life it got too difficult to make scrapple the traditional way. After research, combining recipes, experimenting, I came up with an "easy scrapple" that I made for years. I posted the recipe online and it got included in a scrapple cookbook.

My Easy Scrapple Recipe.

I keep experimenting and this morning I made a true winner. Not sure what to call it. It goes this way ...

Cook half a pound of commercial scrapple in a frying pan, breaking it up, until it is mush. Add pre-roasted cipollini onions, sliced portabello mushroom caps, chopped scallions. Cook together. Top with eggs, up for me. A DEFINITE WINNER!

In My Old Age: Poems

A reading of the book (individual poems)

A review of the book

1913 Massacre

Peggy Seeger