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I was tired, having been all over Beaverton buying shoes, getting supplies, and running laundry. I had washed the sheets, and it was now closer to 11 than I wished, and I had to make my bed. I do the pillow cases first. I then put my hand on the bed. Soaked! Hank the Dog has marked a large puddle 3/4 down the bed. “F**k!” just does not describe that. Dawn dishwashing and sponges (all tossed) are applied to remove the yellow stain beginning on my newish, expensive, wonderful mattress!

Corwin drives over with spray and a steamer he owns. The steamer pulls out the pee and the soap but leaves the room smelling of cleaner, and the bed is, well, not available. I make the bed in the guest room, Leta’s room, as we called it. Leta’s picture from retirement is on the wall. I can’t believe I used to sleep on this bed. Wow, I am spoiled by my lovely new bed. I manage a few hours of sleep at best before waking at 2:45 to shower and dress.

Ugh!

The day started without dog pee or me being tired out. I make a list of the things I need as I write the blog. I am excited, as I have too much to do, but there is hope I will get through the list. This includes Brazil visa items. I wrote a short blog on Sunday, while the main events were a church service, a church Revival planning meeting, and then Dungeons & Dragons. The former is not that interesting to most, and the latter contains copyright items and cannot be covered. I managed to typo out 700 words or so and one photo.

I called the help desk and discovered that for $35 I could get some help from the visa service. I did not know that this was a paid help desk and that I was not hearing from Brazil. Later, I would get clarity that my photo image was too blurry (a lack of clarity) and, after talking to Deborah (who keeps being right about sooooo many things) there are digital options. I called another help line. FedEx helpdesk (who then asked me to rank their service; I did five stars) was happy to help after I connected, after two buttons, with services, and yes, they can do that, and gave me the address and local phone to call (I thought I had called the local one). A local-accented person picks up (after I selected, as I was told, 8), and yes, and after a moment, and yes, we can do a special Brazil version.

Laundry is in process while all this is going on. I get to the last load in the washer, and then connect with Emma, Susie’s niece who moved to Beaverton from Michigan, and pick her up for lunch. Happy Panda is a new experience for Emma: industrial Chinese-style food and old school, with a cup of soup and a spring roll or dumpling on the side. And portion sizes enough to feed two. Matty is our waiter; I am there once a week, and he puts up with my extra water chestnuts and bamboo request. This time, no veggies. Just piles and piles of water chestnuts and slices of bamboo. Emma enjoys her broccoli beef, and I have a strange cashew chicken.

Emma next tours our Trader Joe’s while I am photoed and charged for a pic (extra large for official Brazil standards) and told to use the plain digital photo when requested (and then to use the provided software to adjust it; do not use the processed ones). A new USB stick and photos in hand, I find Emma resisting all the products and wanting to save some of the plants. We escape without purchase.

Emma’s turn and I take her to US Bank near her apartments. This, no surprise, becomes an hour-plus odyssey as she gets checking, savings, and other services called in. I was proud that she mischievously let them think she was some kid in a T-shirt and shorts, and I noticed she was treated with respect. A typo also delayed her.

I traveled to AAA while Emma played with bankers, met Holly who booked our tickets, and found a good luggage tag for my bag. I have the silver Delta tag, but I wanted something I could slide my biz card into to add to the bag. I found one for $3.99 and a small first aid kit for travel. Next, I stopped by Target (heading back in Emma’s direction) and got more items on my checklist done. Emma was soon done after me.

REI supplied new shoes with their experts covering five different shoes to upgrade my footwear. Emma enjoyed the store while I explored shoes. I selected the Saucony Max Cushion version.

Next, we crossed the street in Air VW the Gray and went to the bar at Lake Oswego Grill and had happy hour items. We had drinks and split some happy hour items. It was a good ending. I dropped off Emma and was soon at a church meeting while also getting all the visa stuff fixed. I was multitasking full out and on a Zoom meeting like I was working again. Kathy, taking Missions from me as I was filling in, handled it well.

And now I am in NYC and just checked into my room. I think I will stop there. Thanks for reading.

I safely arrived at The New Yorker Hotel on Tuesday evening.

 

Returning to the older linear format, I rose after 7 and opened a bag of OPBeans, which are supplied by Portland Roasters, and every bag supports Oregon Public Broadcasting, OPB. I added that to the last of the beans from California and made coffee. I had some Palmers and a banana to go with it.

I got 80% of the blog done until I got a note from Pastor Ken that he needed color copies of his presentation for the meeting after church. I jumped in the shower, after saving my work, and soon was in a tie from Deborah, and my usual dress shirts, sweater vest, and black shoes. Today I picked the cheaper loafers, as the dress shoes are tight. I printed out Ken’s item, two copies, and headed to the UPS store nearby. For $1 a page, I made nine copies of the color work (the $42 receipt will be in my 2026 taxes). I collected cheapish mechanical pencils I use for gaming, but left them in the house by mistake. I did have my laptop and Ken’s item on a USB drive (on a converter from A to C USB).

The service was busy for me as I had visitors and had to walk through the church a few times after folks used the restrooms and left another door. We need to ensure nobody is still in the church, and I had to walk the first floor. Ken introduced the new Revival for the church and said he felt the drive to have people believe they needed to feel Christ in their hearts was missing something; this is a focus of many American church movements. More was to adopt Christ’s mantle and to work in the community. It should not be about the self but about the community and us. My words: pick up your cross, not to feel better. Thus, Ken calls us not to the altar but to the community here in our church since 1943 and about the church, the community of Beaverton, and further out. A revival of service.

I rushed out after drinking even more coffee. The meeting was scheduled for 12:30 at McMenamins Cedar Hills, our go-to place. I had a double local gin and tonic. Everyone else stuck to lamer drinks. We talked about plans and tasks were assigned. Mine is just money. I had the three sliders for lunch. Excellent.

With that done and the group broken up (I paid for the pastors and Dondreas’ lunch), I got a seat at the bar, got iced tea this time, and focused on my blog. The bartenders were chatting, and another man at the bar was, I believe, a former cook. They chatted about the food and the drinks. They were kind enough to include me in their conversation while I wrote and ordered a dessert. A cookie still hot in an iron baking pan with a scoop of ice cream. I should have done the cheesecake instead, but I will be in NYC soon, and nothing is as good as a natively grown NYC cheesecake.

I did talk to Deborah a few times as we both traveled and at her house. It is good to start our day together and try to end one of our days together. We miss each other’s company.

I drove home, took off the tie, and soon was headed back. Dungeons & Dragons at M@’s place tonight. We all were there this time (Jack, who was going to be a bonus player, could not get back from Idaho in time to play). We had a plan to use the D&D spell Wall of Stone and create stalactites that could be released with just some damage to fall on the would-be-god we were facing. The bad guy generates an anti-magic field, but boulders are boulders even when created by magic. We dropped them on it to various levels of success.

Later, starting a new high-level campaign, our group of adventurers headed to hell to destroy the evil artifact. Off to see the Wizard, or in this case, the ruler of D&D hell (since the 1970s original mention of him), Asmodeus. Kind of like going back to the old games.

I returned home, read more Civil War, and soon slept.

Thanks for reading…and sorry if this seemed rushed. It is 😉

 

My usual Saturday night gaming was out because Richard was traveling.

At The 649, Corwin and I tried out my new game from Orange Nebula, Vestige. While it lifts its structure from their older game, Vindication, it shows growth in game design and thinking since Vindication’s successful Kickstarter, as I felt I had more choices, there was no wasted space in the components, and there were few exception rules. It fits in a small box that would be more what I would expect to be an add-on and not a whole game. The small roll-up maps that fit in the box really cut the required space. The cards are small but, again, enough to make the game work and fit in a slot in the box organizer. I have the “wretched” version, which uses wooden tokens (quite nice for wood) and no “swanky” organizer or card separator (add-ons). It fits in the box well, and there is a bit of room for some add-ons.

I checked their website, and the add-ons and improvements are all sold out for the moment (I see as I write this that they are now available). I would enjoy the Chop Bot small mat (used in every play) and maybe a few more locations, but my experience in Vindication was that I left most of those things in the box. There is an optional Nemesis in the game, and I have two packs that come with the game and two from the Kickstarter; I have not learned the rules for the Nemesis addition. There is a treachery pack for the game too, like Vindication, which I always played with, as it is fun that not all random items are just good for you. It changes the emotion of a random draw! More to come as I decide whether to invest in some updates.

Corwin and I agreed it was an excellent game, with your decisions based on what you start with, the layout of the map, and options you acquire as you play. The game does end suddenly, using the same random end game conditions, but this time two conditions are required to end the game. I ended the last game (having been crushed as I misplayed while teaching the game and watching) and won by one point.

The cook at The 649, whose name I did not get, and our Lesley bartender were interested in the game, and I explained what I knew about the style of play and showed them the components. As it is from Washington State and across the river in Vancouver, everyone is happy to see the local game company’s stuff.

Before this, Corwin appeared while I was still writing the blog and not dressed. He grabbed some coffee and some cornbread while I dressed. I also talked to Deborah, who had some events I cannot share here. She is doing OK now. Dressed, we headed to Costco in Corwin’s car, Air Viking!, and there Corwin got a Costco card from my account, as he uses my address for his mailings and IDs. We then collected groceries; I got a few items, and we split a few (I grabbed a set of rolls of toilet paper from his mountain) later. I bought the full basket for just under $300, and then we got gas at Costco, showing Corwin the process. He was happy to see the lower price, but was aware this is a credit card place (and no AMEX). Air Viking! was ready for the next raid.

Corwin took his stuff home after sharing a few items and dropping me at the house. Later we would take Air VW the Gray to the 649 and see Crystal and Matt, whom I shared my plans with. It was good to see everyone.

After all this, even with two beers and two games, I turned to OCR scanning the First United Methodist History text. I have a copy of some scrapbook history. It has a few updates to 1999 but covers to 1985. Deborah was clear I did this the hard way. I was especially frustrated when my Canon TR4720 printer/fax/scanner forgot how to scan, and nothing I could find would restore this ability. I finally managed to photograph the pages wtih my phone, send the image into Adobe Acrobat on my Apple computer, and use the AI to OCR the text, though it was slightly scrambled. I captured this without corrections to a Word document (using special pasting each time to only extract the text).

Aside: Deborah was clear in the morning that she was unimpressed with my skill set and suggested that Notes and my phone would do this faster and better. I will explore that when I do the next pages and articles. Deborah is a former Apple employee and knows all the tricks!

Still with my mangled OCR’d text, I sent that off (I will fix it later), and went to bed and read about the American Civil War and found Bruce Catton’s The Civil War, willing to call the Southern generals brilliant, but their cause doomed and their efforts in vain. I am in 1862, and soon the Confederates will reach, according to the book, their high-water mark. Already, U.S. Grant in the West (the Ohio Valley was west then) has ended the expansion of the Confederacy and forced them at the Battle of Shiloh (and, according to many, taught Grant what warfare would be now).

Aside: After my visit to the South last year, I believe if you remove the pageantry and mysticism of the Confederate generals and army to a lesser degree, it is more of a desperate grasp of men trying to justify the loss of men and treasury for a cause that was impossible. I would point out that while his army froze and starved and was then thrown against reinforced positions to die, Confederate General Hood in 1864 was eating well with his staff, who, according to their own account, were amazingly comfortable. Look at these actions more as a better-organized insurgency on the Confederate side, and it would remind you of headlines from today. And the officers and elites living well while the people of the Confederacy and its army suffered. Not the story I learned in school.

I got too tired to finish the wonderful chapter on navy stuff. I soon slept and seemed to sleep without dreams.

Starting at 7ish, I made coffee from the Hidden House coffee, the last. I had a banana and cornbread I made a few nights before with that. I wrote the blog and also sent some Howard, my SciFi/horror character, to Emma. I then read part of one, spotted some typos from years ago, but liked the story. I added some lines and even a start of a Howard story to the blog. It was fun to write that morning. Nice to find my voice again.

And I think I can stop there. Thanks for reading!

I picked up Emma with the Air VW the Gray suggesting that it was 97ºF out on TV Highway in Beaverton, and I missed my turn and spent almost ten minutes in the chaos that is Friday afternoon traffic. Emma hopped into the car after I turned it around, and we were off. With the AC fighting to overcome the bright sun, the smoke was still visible at a distance but was below 50, and the light was bright and not yellow. There are three paths to the N Mississippi across the bridge in Portland, and, due to the usual parking-lot transformation of Highway 26 on Friday afternoon (I used to drive it every week to play games), the options were presented as only a few minutes difference. Emma and I agree on the over-the-hill Cornell Road, which would be shady and full of green. The road even has a wiki page (here).

We do the local until we connect to 405 to cross the Willamette River, and Emma is amazed as we then do this weird, both unpredictable and unimaginable, spiral of industrial streets that take us to N Mississippi. I point out the Cyclopean-like off ramps of the 405 that shoot out in various directions above us. “We were on that one, I think,” I tell her. Feeling like I am in one of my Howard stories (my hero in SciFi/horror), we locate our objective, Von Ebert Brewing, and I manage to parallel park the EV into a slot.

While not perfect — I turned too soon —I have enough space to rock the VW into the spot by going forward to a close, turning more, and slowly gliding in. No “cement” gray was lost. Again, Howard would describe that “While parking, I try to imagine the space in four dimensions, and usually then it the EV seems to ‘beam’ into the parking spot.” The rear camera and the forward sensors make this easier.

It is just a moment later that we are in the taphouse (no food sold and thus the name, “taphouse,” and outside food is welcome) and we are enjoying Potions and Substances. We are early, and I take a photo to send to Mariah, who had called this meeting. She finds a less complex parking spot, joins us, and, unlike us, picked their $3 special in a large mug. Still, my unusual IPA is good, and Emma approves of her potion.

We chat, and Mariah tells many stories, with us adding here and there. I give her the President and Betty Ford magnet for her collection. We did not pay the bill (open tabs will be charged a 20% tip if not closed by the end of the day, meaning forgetting to pay is OK), and we went on a quest for food in the nearby streets as the bartender said there was great food a block away. Trucks, pizza places of the edginess needed to make good pizza, and other places that require a pronunciation guide. Yes, Portland. Pizza is agreed on: Mississippi Pizza. We wait outside (with the pizza oven and fans; it was hotter inside, but the AC was streaming in from a lounge (Atlantis?) next door, and a band was setting up for a grayer crowd that I would easily fit in (when did I become part of the old folks group?!), likely Queen songs will be screamed out soon. I stay with Mariah and Emma (Odysseus-like, I survive the siren call). Mariah points out that we can eat this pizza at Von Ebert, and we carry beyond other food establishments, now with lines, that whisper to us, “next time, it will be great, come back soon.”

But the pizza is good, if not amazing, and is hands-ready; more beer, and Mariah and Emma have a beer slushy with various berry flavors. All goes well with the Spicy Boi slices (from their menu: “little pepperoni, sausage, fresh jalapeño, Mama Lil’s Peppers,” plus the sauce is excellent and the cheese isn’t too much for me). We check if there is something at OMSI, but the show is sold out, and we say goodbye to Mariah. We agree that we must access the Von Ebert across town (two traffic jams away) in Glendover that still serves the smoked chicken wings that are so good, it is reported that the chicken volunteers.

I drop Emma off and return to the house. I get a late, for her Eastern Time Zone, good night from Deborah. We like to start and finish our days together. I binge-watch the last three episodes of Season 2 of Ted Lasso. My mind is still bouncing around, and I often find myself not paying attention to Ted Lasso, not like me. I manage to focus on the season end and see my predictions match on Ned. The story seems to be that people are complex, with deep waters of feelings they are not sure they understand, but that people lean (mostly) to the best when we give ourselves permission to dream (but Ned shows that the dream can be poisoned with darkness that we need to avoid).

I read more Civil War and reach 1862, and the North realizes this is total war and not a dispute. The South believes it is safe and that the world will bring the war to an end for King Cotton, that Europe needs their cotton. It is a selfish dream that never materializes. Europe still remembered the Crimean War (1854–1856) and refused to be drawn into another distant, strange war. Plus, Europe recently agreed that slavery was banned and politically could not reverse this position.

Aside: I highly (extreme?!) recommend the story of the end of the slave trade as told by the book Bury the Chains. Adam Hochschild’s book changed my thinking about history and how to make change in this world.

McClellan appears in the story and is always one of the stranger stories of the American Civil War. Overcautious? Traitor refusing to finish Lee when given the chance? Right to conserve an army that will die (as did Hood’s in 1864) if attacking a reinforced position? A complex character in history. He runs against Lincoln later and loses as his own army votes to finish the war (now under “Unconditional Surrender” Grant) and not negotiate.

With thoughts of the coming two years, stories of slow erosion of the Confederacy, I put away the book, The Civil War (again without footnotes or references) and sleep. I do wake to return some of the liquid and manage to not rise with the sunrise.

Before this, it was a mundane day of me drinking reheated coffee until I could feel it in my veins. The morning was spent writing the blog and looking at some travel items. Linda, my sister, had decided to overlap my time in New Orleans. I had not finished my trip for that, and she needed some dates. I agree that I will be in NOLA on the weekend of September 19th.

I finish the blog and revive some frozen ham with hot water and then lightly fry slices to get the water and frozen flavor out of it. I fry two eggs and have some cornbread. Earlier, I had a banana with my coffee. It is unwise for me, I have learned while working for a living, to tank up on coffee without something in my stomach. I also chat with Deborah, and it is always excellent to chat; we miss each other. It fills in something missing in my day.

I then sit down and figure out my September trip. Yikes, weekend car rentals aren’t working, as I want a car for the weekend and to return it in Birmingham, Alabama. I also want to arrive in New Orleans on Saturday, which means traveling to Alabama on Friday. Grayhound has the answer, and I find it strange to use a bus in the American South, and more so when I find that while the buses are segregated by race now, the front seats are sold for a premium now. I buy one just behind them, and also, as a suggestion, I buy the seat next to me. It is a four-hour trip starting at 9ish and finishing at noonish. I skip the extra bag fee and believe I can manage. I am happy to try this out.

Next, Amtrak’s Crescent stops at Birmingham at 1ish, and for $36 I get an uncomplex seat in coach. First class comes with rooms, and for $200+ it seems too much for a bed for an 8-hour trip. I will ensure I have my own snacks! My experience is that these large trains have no WiFi and feel like a return to the 1950s. Still, it will be a chance to read and reflect. Or, more likely, a long nap to prepare me for the nights in NOLA!

Sadly, Le Richelieu Hotel in New Orleans has sold out of rooms with balconies, but at least I am not, again, paying a premium for a room with hard-to-lock windows a block away from the reported home of vampires (Old Ursuline Convent). It is built over the old barracks area from the American Civil War and thus is not haunted like other hotels I have stayed at that are built over execution sites. A new check for hotels for me.

With that done, I am close to having my trip done in September. I have to decide on a hotel in Nashville and Birmingham and book a few nights. I also discovered that Hope 2026 is ending late Sunday, and I moved my flight and added a day to my stay in NYC ($60 for the flight change and lost my Comfort chair, and then $240 for another night in Midtown Manhattan at the New Yorker Hotel).

And with that covered, I have covered Friday’s story. Thank you for reading, dear reader, and I hope the new structure works for you. Change is necessary, and learning is good.

I am looking forward to maybe a retired Howard headed to the American South and then to New Orleans. Besides the usual fear of salad and veggie parasites, flies that cause flesh-eating larvae in humans and bovines alike, H1N1 in the birds, and COVID-19 evolving a new version, BA.3.2, and nicknamed “Cicada,” Louisiana is reporting flesh-eating bacillus cases. Sounds like we need Howard to investigate this!

Howard, now older and sort-of retired, as much as a sorcerer, writing, and eldric detective can be retired, slides into his flight from Detroit, direct to New Orleans, his comfort seat. First class was tempting, but not for such a short flight, he agrees with himself. “Yes, perfect,” he says, and the might-be-sleeping person beside him ignores the comment, if they heard it over whatever is playing on their AirPods. He stopped in Detroit from Portland, his current home in retirement, in 2026.

A nice but generic hotel for a couple of nights over the weekend. Eastern Market is a pleasure to walk, and he met his source for some very hard-to-find ingredients from plants that were once extinct. Figuring out how to cultivate them is an unusual specialty that is available, at a price, from some growers. Howard is happy to support the local growers!

And it is a pleasure to have lunch there. Later, a cooking classes for Cuban-style food bring back memories and smells from a time drinking with Papa Hemingway and having a tropical suit made there. Howard still enjoys good clothing, and he smiles. Yes, Detroit is turning into an excellent break, and to visit in winter weather, often sunny and frozen, instead of the gray of Portland and rain. Snow and cold seem fun to Howard now, he thinks as he recalls the crunch under his feet.

But now it is New Orleans and work. Without much thought, he suggests in a language that was dead before humans learned to make cave paintings that “New Orleans needs to be polished by minions of Chtulhu.” The plane wobbles as he says that. “Oops,” he calls out and stops. The momentary “rough air” stops. Howard chastises himself for using spell languages while in a tin can in the air, being hurled at hundreds of miles per hour. “Don’t do that, Howard,” he says to himself.

 

Louise from the conference did our United Methodist Volunteers in Mission (UMVIM) training. This was just short of three hours of a Zoom meeting packed with facts and to-dos (many we will have to find the time and energy to do). It was like drinking from a firehose as we realized that we are on a mission trip and not a tourist trip or one led by others like our TELOS trip last year.

After hours of what felt more like an interview for a job I was not sure I wanted, we finished. At the same time, I noticed that my visa for the same trip was kicked back for more documents, but no email or other message seems to have been sent to tell me what to do (yes, I keep checking my junk emails). It may be that it takes a few days for the translated message to reach me.

At 2ish was the SPRC meeting for the church, sort of the Methodist HR committee, and we met for just over an hour. It was the usual stuff, and none of it can be covered here. It went well, and I had only two to-dos added to my list.

While I was enjoying all of this, I also assembled my usual goulash from a German recipe for a 1/2 sized pot of this favorite of mine. I also cooked it with potatoes (sliced) and carrots (rough cut) instead of making noodles or Spätzle (In German, nouns are capitalized). I defrosted a pound of chuck beef that I should have browned longer and maybe in a non-stick pan. I did have to scrape the bottom of the Dutch oven a few times and avoided burning it. This cooks on the stove (it was too hot to bake). I admit I rushed it, and the flavors did not settle as well, but it was still good enough, and I had two bowls while in the Zoom meeting.

It was a pleasure, even rushed, to cook dinner again. These weeks seem to be too busy. As I was having a mission meeting, I skipped the wine that usually goes into me and the food.

W.C. Fields: “I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food.”

Picture from https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/W._C._Fields_1938.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=index&utm_content=original.

Deborah and I talked a few times and watched another episode of Matlock together. We miss each other, and we were together often in the first part of 2026; it is hard to be separated and in different time zones, but we are making it work. While cooking, my watch did not alert me that Deborah had called, as she had a call and I was waiting for her to call me back. Not sure what went wrong, as my watch usually signals every call, text, and email, and it did when Deborah called again.

The smoke is less, and the colors outside are not yellow. There was still a “misty” graying when looking farther out, but it faded as the winds changed and we could smell less smoke. Unfortunately, what was left in the smoke made me cough and sneeze. While the risk count reduces, if the fire burned a field of poison ivy or other bad-news plants, it can still cause a reaction. Deborah reminded me to wear a mask after I was impacted by getting the mail and putting out the trash and yard waste (which I had forgotten to do the night before, but they were running late).

I paid $575 for the Supreme service on my furnace and AC. This includes the usual maintenance, 10% off fixes, and a degreasing process (?!). Classic, my previous level, does not have the degreasing process and only a 5% reduction. I like to keep both systems running well!

I reviewed more potential Call of Chthul role-playing (CoC) material, and some will only work in a campaign, but that is good for another play if I get a CoC campaign going at home. I have some for the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society on Friday set in Astoria, Oregon. And an excellent fit, I hope, for another gaming day. I also found my copy of the adventure I used in 2019, before the world went sideways with the pandemic, set in 1926 Istanbul. Sadly, the original text is missing on my laptop, and I only have an unfinished soft copy. Still, it would need some reworking, and I think I can get it back together for another adventure.

I rose at 7ish, made coffee, and spent the morning on the blog and the usual stuff.

Thanks for reading.