It is that time of year again. The leaves begin to turn and the rain returns to Seattle, and so do the alumni of the University of Washington for Homecoming. Except not this year, not if they value their health. Football was first cancelled, then delayed until November. Apparently a spike in the number of … More Homecoming
In line with the notion that folk songs all need to be updated, this tune came to mind driving through Ballard, the formerly Norwegian town which was consumed by Seattle at one point. Like Ballard, the song is completely original. It starts with a the Chorus: I want to go down to Condo Canyon. … More Condo Canyon
I picked up the guitar and started singing all those old folk songs American’s love, like The Hammer Song etc. I realized they were all all labor songs from an era that has passed. They do not seem relevant. So I wrote a song about modern life. The Costco Song is more about how we … More The Costco Song
My parents wed in 1956 and they went the distance; 62 years, until Mom died this spring. This is the story of the wedding. It is 1955. My parents announce their engagement and party is held in the house my grandparents built during the war. They set the date for July 14th, 1956, which is … More My Parents Big Fat Catholic Wedding
From ancient times, a place of refuge where you were secure from your enemies has been called “a sanctuary”. It is a place set apart from the profane and vulgar world. In Seattle that place has been known as “The Safe” and has served as a venue to forget your cares for an afternoon or … More Safeco Field – Our Sanctuary at 20 Years
Perhaps it was an ordinary Tuesday when David got up and walked around his roof and spied Bathsheba bathing. The worst of human nature takes over, according the the Second Book of Samuel, and as that nature took its course the sinfulness of man became manifest; he sent for her. Later Bathsheba announced she was … More The Old Testament Was A Tough Neighborhood
The Old Salt was a special man who came along in a time when he was needed most. A time that is now gone forever. When men believed and sacrificed, when hero’s walked the earth in mass. When patriotism was not just a word but, by what men lived and judged the worth of each, … More The Old Salts: George H. W. Bush and John S. McCain
Most of the time we go through life, day in day out, not thinking at all about the Big Questions or whether there is an end to all of this. Then one day the question is called. And you have to ask yourself; what have I achieved? While hospitalized this spring with a serious infection … More The Hero with the 1000 Cases
This past week we saw the President of the United States fly to the far side of the world to meet with the leader of a small, hermit country lead by a man whose family has generated, at great cost to his people, nuclear weapons which threaten his neighbors and now apparently, the American mainland. … More Real Nuclear Hardball- “Don’t Wait for the Translation, Answer the Question”
It is Memorial Day weekend here in the United States, is the official start of summer. The holiday resembles little in the way of the British Remembrance Day, held there each November 11th. The English have no car sales to mark the event, no barbecues, no catching up on yard work. It is instead a … More War and Remembrance 2018
