Fellow Oregonians: We live in a wonderland. I just got back from a 2500 mile motorbike ride with an old friend around Oregon with a couple of dashes into Washington and California. We went to many places that I had been before but then to many that I explored for the first time despite having …
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Note to self: When beachcombing, check the tide tables. On March 11, 2011, this piece of floating dock was attached to Misawa in Japan and was being used by local fishermen to offload squid catches. The tsunami broke it loose and last week it washed up on Agate Beach in Oregon after a 5,000 mile …
Cloggies in Seattle Walking in Seattle yesterday we came across the Northwest Folklife Festival. We had no idea what this was but wandered in to follow the strains of music and the smell of the food. Imagine my shock when the FIRST thing we came across was the North by Northwest Morris Men – Lancashire …
Delightful at the time but absurd upon reflection. We just came back from a short trip to sample the cuisine at The Willows on Lummi Island – an eight minute ferry ride just off Bellingham, WA. Chef Blaine Wetzel is a “rare and amazing talent” and The Willows was declared by the NYT as “One …
Roger Waters – The Wall Last night at the Rose Garden. This has to be the most over the top spectacular shows I have ever seen. Building and destroying a 30 foot wall, crashing aircraft, attacking floating capitalist pigs, massive puppets, and astonishing graphics. Oh, the performance was breathtaking too and the themes even more …
What happened to Main Street America? We have been living part time in this part of Paris for about 12 years yet every time I walk up Rue des Martyrs I am struck by how unique this place is. One street with everything you could possibly need to equip and feed a household – no …
Have you ever thought how hard it must be to cut off your ear? Most forms of bodily mutilation seem to be quite easy to pull off; get drunk, get pierced, look cool. Or not, depending on what you had pierced. But to chop your ear off, that takes time and determination. Even the Japanese …
A very sweaty end to Keep Portland Weird week in Paris with an electro-pop dance night at Le Gaite Lyrique. This is a fantastic venue with lots of room to mingle and talk outside the Grande Salle and impeccable acoustics inside. Brainstorm and Miracles Club were brilliant and YACHT blew the roof off the place. …
This is “Keep Portland Weird” week in Paris; a collection of music and art and discussion events built on the reputation and people and good things of our home town. So we came several thousand miles to see local artists. A couple of nights ago there were Lovers and Tender Forever and Vanessa Renwick with …
My Mum and Dad were brought up in Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire but, after they retired, became adoptive Yorkshire folk. I think this may have something to do with having honeymooned at Scarborough but we’ll never know for sure – we didn’t ask and now they cannot tell us. They did end up with a holiday home …
Colin's Travel Journal 