Category: Life

Car conversation near Millersburg, Ore., I-5 Southbound “You know what I’m going do to?” asked David. “…?” “I’m going to go to the bars near us: Roadside Attraction, Squeez, that creepy bar and grill we never go into.” “[acknowledging sound]” “I’m going to ask them what they do with their used frying oil. And then [...]

To get to where we’re going this weekend we are going to travel through the Hart Mountain Antelope Refuge in southeastern Oregon, where I have not technically been. We were driving south on I-5 near Salem and I had anticipation. I asked, “Do you think we’ll see ‘lopes?” “Probably,” said David, “unlike bighorn sheep, which [...]

Mosquitoes with such animosity that they happily bit me on the face. Literally the densest, most aggressive mosquitoes I have ever endured. I am ridiculously allergic to mosquitoes–each bit I get swells to a tumor the size and hardness of a quarter. Sunburn. Oh, hell ouch. Totally our own fault. Look closely at this photo [...]

Of all the blasted-out storefront parades of small town America, Oakridge, Ore., always seems one of the saddest. Timber times gone, everything pulled out. Rectilinear faces of buildings saying “pick me, pick me,” before giving up entirely. It’s a soft and pretty landscape, treed and mountainous. But sad. (Bridge Near Oakridge; over the North fork [...]

Not just an epic blog post coming up about the Pencils’ trip to SE Oregon, but a  series of epic blog posts. It simply has to wait until tonight because I have work to be gotten dones. But please, don’t change the channel.

It’s mini-vacation time, Pencil-style! I’m off to southeastern Oregon with David for the next four days. We’re staying in Frenchglen, which is sixty miles from the nearest town or service of any sort. So, no internets nor much of anything. It’s going to be most excellent.

A visit from Catherine, my aunt, and her partner Annie. They live in Cork, Ireland. It’s always great to see them. Annie discovered a face in one of my framed photographs that will now haunt me forever. They pronounced Pencilhaven “a grand house. Just grand.” Pretty much everyone has read Tana French’s In the Woods [...]

Reading John Kelly’s “The Great Mortality” last week reminded me of a thought experiment that I have to go through every time I think about the Black Death. Given what we know about infectious disease and the transmission methods of plague (via flea bites; directly contagious in its pneumatic form, etc.), if you were plunked [...]

Look at that monstrosity. It was the first thing we swore we’d get rid of/set on fire/throw off a cliff when we moved into our house, but it took us a year and a half to do so. What could possibly be more inappropriate for a 120-year-old Victorian than a circa-1990 Home Depot special? I [...]

I hate saying my own name out loud. Especially paired with my last name. Especially in the sense of introducing myself to a group: “I’m Lyza Gardner.” Gives me the shudders even typing it. Feels too self-referential. Is that messed up?