Good Things

Leaf stamped cement. Yep, you rake everything away and what do you find? A network of shadows, leaves has-been, ghostly afterthoughts. It’s because the icy autumn rain causes each leaf to surrender its soul, and then here it is, emblazoned on the concrete for eternity. Or at least the next couple weeks.

When you’re trying to take a picture of your pet, and suddenly they stop squirming/skittering off and stare sweetly up into the camera, like they somehow decided that maybe just this once they’d throw you a bone.

Lance, at the skatepark. You see, he’s not a man of the parks—more of a street soul, but sometimes I make him come. We inevitably end up at Mini West Linn, where there are very few people—usually none. And then, well, then it all happens.

John Adams—a three-disc series starring Paul Giamatti. Unexpectedly fascinating. You see, he was a revolutionary leader. He was America's first ambassador to England. He was the first vice president and the second president of the United States. What have you done lately?

The Magnetic Fields. It’s hard to believe I never got into them in the 90s when everyone else did, but so be it. A decade later, I now find this jangley art-punk stuff especially charming, perhaps because I recently discovered how many songs are about cowboys, trains, and truck stops.