Category: Life

Lyza Reindeer Originally uploaded by ToddAlford I usually do well with my name. There just aren’t many Lyzas in the world and certainly very few Lyza Danger Gardners. But my arch-rival on Flickr? A Weimaraner. Minus 30 dignity.

There is a table next to David’s desk. These are some of the things on it:* Electrical bits in a bag* Champagne yeast and campden tablets* A book about the ghost towns of the Pacific frontier* A pair of binoculars* A matted print of a colored photograph of Portland in 1901* Noise-canceling headphones and a [...]

Saw this over on Blogtown today. Cracked my shit up.

Seen on Cute Overload…What a wonderful creature. Brett! This one’s for you.

I’m in my viticulture class and we’re talking about soil biology and our teacher started talking about nematodes. I turn to David and mouth: “What’s a nematode?” because I realized I don’t really know what a nematode is. Time for a quick sprint over to Wikipedia, but that just left me scratching my head: Nematodes [...]

I don’t like to admit that I’m a sucker for certain brands, but I’ve come to realize that there are probably three or so that I really am slavishly devoted to. I think these are: * Apple products. This one I’m least proud of, but it is what it is. I own a MacBook Pro, [...]

David and I had our first class last night at Chemeketa Eola Viticulture Center southwest of Salem, Ore. We’re taking Viticulture 101, a 3-credit class that will dunk us in the reality of how to grow grapes and keep them from dying or tasting real bad. That’s the goal. The bad news is that it’s [...]

Long weekend to celebrate my Dad’s birthday in the Okanagan Valley, here we come! So phenomenally busy, I can hardly even express it. This will be a chance to talk about relaxing under the specter of all of the things I’m not getting done. Time to read a novel poolside under the guise of a [...]

When we came home from our nice dinner tonight at Tabla, we parked and got out of the car and heard music. The trumpet-heavy, thin, monaural sound of 1920′s orchestral music, like flappers and early radio sets. It’s funny to think that in the 20′s this house was already in its 30′s, established. It continues, [...]

It’s Friday night and Mr. Pencil is out of town visiting family. The show I was supposed to go to sold out and I have absolutely nothing to do beyond 8pm. Normally I can happily handle a quiet night, but for some reason I’m climbing the walls. There’s a big party I’m not invited to [...]