Art School Rules: A Political Photo Essay

Walking downtown near the Pacific Northwest College of Art we came upon a unique display of political art, sorely needed in this time of distress.

Kid Runs Fast

Scrapbook Of My Recent Life

Our neighbor, who takes Halloween, as well as his civic duties, seriously, flew a pro-vote skeleton in this tree.

The daughter, who was never keen on pumpkin carving, carved a pumpkin. Perhaps she did it ironically.





Thanks to the New Yorker, I was alerted to the football analysis of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, former president of Iran.

I continue to make friends from all over on social media.  

Graffiti A Harbinger Of Something

I saw this written on the sidewalk while walking near the river in downtown Portland. I took a picture of it, thinking how creativity is a form of therapy, if it doesn’t kill you, of course.

There’s a message here somewhere, but it’s beyond me at the moment.

I’d like to think someone experienced some kind of therapeutic value for writing this message. Who knows.

It was a good day to be out.

I Am Still Making Breakfast

I am still making breakfast for my teenagers. I like doing this when they get out of bed and eat the breakfast. When the food is uneaten, I enjoy preparing food less.

Above is my special concoction that I invented myself -- melted cheese on bread, or pita pizza, alongside of a banana-orange smoothie. They may look rough, but these items get the job done.

Other morning classics include: bagel, burrito, and the favorite, leftover Chinese food.

It really is the most important meal of the day.

Damaged Tortilla Poses Dilemma

The kid takes tortillas to school most days. However, one tortilla was damaged and so was uneaten for a week.

I thought about having a small burrito but couldn’t come up with the ingredients. The next best idea was to wait until more of the same type of tortillas were purchased and try some sort of half-quesadilla.

I hate to waste food for cosmetic reasons. But this one got away from me. I waited too long.  

I vow to do better next time.

Respect

Bonus rat video:

Halloween Comedy Arrives

The kid has been working overtime to move Throckmorton the skeleton around the house and give him interesting poses.

Yes, this is a skeleton in our closet.

True Story Of Life With Teenagers

The pie gets eaten, but its packaging remains, perhaps as a reminder of someone else's good fortune.

More likely, once the pie was consumed no energy remained to dispose of the packaging. So thoroughly satiated, the person could only compose lyric poetry in some sort of fugue state.

All to say that I should have eaten the last piece of the pie, for I would have thrown the packaging in the garbage.

Rat Exploration #12

We have hardworking therapy rats who never shirk from a video shoot.

Proclaiming Stoke For All The Blessings

This is one of the many words which signals scrappy play. For academics and serious amateurs, please refer to this post for further explanation. 

The Gorge, one of my favorite places.

Jonah and the Whale Radio Skit

My friends at Congregation P'nai Or did this excellent radio skit which aired on KBOO recently.

Great work!

New Toilets Bring Peace of Mind

This is the vessel of my salvation.

Our house was built in 1992. Our three toilets were of the variety that all the solid waste had to pass through a 2-inch diameter opening in the bottom of the toilets. The result was a failure rate of around 3% for flushing away solid waste.

A 3% fail rate sounds acceptable, but it is not. No. Not even close. No way. Each month brought a serious catastrophe that grew ever more upsetting.

More recently, as the kids are now teenagers producing ever more poop, a pattern began to emerge. One would flush the toilet and not notice the low water level in the bowl indicating it had clogged. The next kid would flush the pot and the floor would be flooded.

It got so bad the ceiling we had redone just a few years previous began to stain.

I remember getting into bed and falling asleep only to be awoken by an angry kid, who reported the toilet had overflowed because the other kid pooped into it. 

I reached that point where I lost concern for how much it would cost to replace the toilets, just get them out of the house now, or better yet, yesterday. 

Fast forward six months after that point of utter desperation. We finally got the new toilets installed and all is well. My wife made the decision to buy an Icera toilet after watching a video where it handled 15 large hot dogs. For those who need to know, here it is.

Onward to the next issue of family life.

Important Moments In History Carved In Stone (Literally)

The Portland Zoo Max stop has a wry wit which I appreciate.