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
Road sign English is bad, bad, bad. Take warnings of children at play for example. Shouldn’t there be a comma after the command: “slow”? Otherwise we are singling out children of diminished capacity for warnings which seems unfair, even derogatory. Or how about this expression to warn drivers their cars are a bit … More Bad Road Sign English
I decided to drop my portable digital recorder into one of the Ford’s cup holders again and give a running commentary on my commute. Hey now, that’s entertaining; Pete Patterson drives to work; some fun, some serious events. One woman in an aging sedan honks at me as she speeds past. Her bumper sticker: “Co-exist.” … More The Pete Patterson Commute
In 1993 we drove south from Nashville on I-24 into rural Tennessee and into another world. The objective was a visit to the Jack Daniels distillery in Lynchburg. It wasn’t much like the film Deliverance, but then the people we encountered were not that far removed from the cast either. Soon after turning right at … More My Visit to the Jack Daniels Distillery
My children grew up in Lynnwood, Washington. I am afraid it didn’t have the same epic warm feeling to it as Robert Redford’s A River Runs Through It. Lynnwood is not Montana and there is no fly fishing there. By the time I heard lawyer Jeff Tolman of Poulsbo Washington tell us he had driven … More Lynnwood; Where My Children Were Raised: A Freeway Runs Through It
It’s winter, and the wrecks are piling up at the Swamp Creek Interchange. The term “interchange” is the short version of the confluence of Interstate 5, Interstate 405 and Highway 525. Like great rivers meeting the tide of commuters, the crossing is dangerous. More and more it seems I find cars and trucks discarded on … More The Swamp Creek Triangle
It must be hell down there. Abandon all hope, all ye who enter the on ramp. Souls trapped in cars, bladders screaming for relief, precious fuel burning while the motor wears as it idles. Trapped in the end game of the myth of the open road. Some bought the fast car, when the truth is … More The Airborne Traffic Report
It being the holidays and my daughter having flown home I loaned her my Subaru and borrowed the older of two buicks my parents drive. Driving the 2000 Park Avenue is a little like piloting the aircraft carrier in Everett’s harbor, and as such we began calling it the USS Nimitz. There comes a time … More My Dad’s Buick
I was astonished to wake today. The Mayans said we should be dead by now. Instead it is like any other day; a commute in the rain and clients waiting in person, via e mail or telephone. Then it occurred to me the world as we knew it has already passed. We are in the … More It’s The End of the World As We Know It
You may find yourself living in a shotgun shack, And you may find yourself in another part of the world, And you may find yourself, behind the wheel of a large automobile And you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife. And you may ask yourself “Well, how did I get … More Same As It Ever Was
Lawyers Road Review 