July on spin cycle...

Been a busy, busy month....every weekend except the last has been wrapped up with something. I mentioned our trip to a wedding in Spokane - which was quite a deal with the long roadtrip and fine hospitality, but have neglected the other pending weekend reports...

The first July weekend was spent up in Astoria for an opera-related gig at the newly restored Liberty Theater. Alex teamed up with a bevy of sopranos and mezzos for an evening of arias, showtunes, etc. One of the singers was former Miss America - Katie Harman - who brought her 4 month old son, Tyler to the gig. At one point, Katie had her mom bring the baby up on stage to sing him a Brahms lulluby. Not a dry eye in the house. As usual, Alex tore the roof off with her Delilah and Carmen pieces - garnering many kudos. All in all, a nice overnighter in Goonieville.

In addition to my notes on Spokane, I should mention that the city made another great impression with it's accessable waterfront area and old school architecture. I walked next to the river on Saturday morning, enjoying the public art, waterfowl and unexpected chamber music coming from the central park area. Very cool. If it weren't so far away from everything (and deeply conservative), it would probably be an interesting destination option....as long as you stopped at Dairy Queen for a Key Lime blizzard while driving through the Tri-cities.

This past weekend, I made a break for the Deschutes River and a little raftin' with some friends. Since Alex has no desire to raft, she stayed home with Greer, while I hit out to Bear Springs Campground for an evening of campfires and way too much imbibry. This year, most of the party happened on Friday night - with much less drinking on the river. My crew of seven made a nice mix, taking instruction and helping to drive the 8-man raft through Boxcar and Oak Springs rapids with minimal trauma (despite one overboard on O.S.). After we pulled out at Sandy Beach, I made a suprise stop at the folks for some dinner and conversation. A nice followup to our Spokane trip - and well worth the sidetrip. On the way out of the Dalles, I handed a drifter alongside the I-84 entrance - a bag of trail mix that got lost in the epic pile of food/drink available to us. A little redistribution of the food supply made me feel much fuller than any restaurant meal.

I would have photos for this trip, but Photoshop hosed the image formatting when I tried to look at them on the disk. Lesson learned. Always copy over first - and then check what you've got before monkeying.

Ok...so there it is.

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VISUAL - Saturday Night Live music retrospective
AUDIO - Rock Against Bush - Disc 1
BOOK - Kingdom of Fear - Hunter Thompson
EVENT - Rafting the Deschutes w/Rob, etc...
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Live from Spokane...

In the lovely city of Spokane to celebrate the marriage of my third cousin, Melissa Murphy. Drove up to The Dalles on Friday with the folks and got settled in....but ended up leaving my shirts/ties back in T.D. Ugh. A quick trip to the downtown mall Nordstrom - and I had the necessary duds. Still, a minor pain in the butt.

We have an interesting crew this time around. We've got 10 people from the Portland Hamilton/Michener/Duffy clan. From 4 months to 87 years - a real spread.

All and all, it's a three day affair. Last night's wedding and reception were very personal and enjoyable. Melissa and Cody were prince and princess and we had the privilage to share their day. Beautiful venues and friendly faces abound. We're gearing up to attend an event at Hayden Lake in Idaho with more of the family.

More to come....

The other shoe drops in London

Here we go again...

First New York - and now London. Much like Madrid.

Ah...the self-perpetuating terror war. Will it ever end? Unlikely. As much as I abhor the violence brought about in these bombings of London, I can't say I'm terribly suprised. While curious George and Mr. Blair keep hammering on the notion that instigators of such acts of terrorism are freedom-hating monsters, blah, blah, blah.....they still refuse to face facts. What you see here is retaliation for our illegal wars and militarized terrorism in the Middle East. Right or wrong - the violence wrought today is largely a consequence of US/UK occupation. We brought the war to them, and they are just returning the favor. This does not exempt those who created the violence, but it does explain why it's happening.

The tricky part is how this incident will be used by those in power. My guess is that we will see the Prez move up in the opinion polls - as the frightened masses seek to support him and the UK during this ugly time. From that point, it's more of the same - and a continued crackdown on rights and liberties in the name of national security. That....and George will use it much like he has 9/11 - to perpetuate the myth that Iraq and the war against terrorism are the same fight. While that wasn't the case to begin with, Bush has lied enough that it has become the truth. Traq has become the rallying cry for those who would fight against the U.S., and so, ironically, we have created our own terrorism.

The other irony of this is....this stuff happens every day in Iraq and doesn't get half the press coverage. Are those peoples lives worth any less?