Last Weekend of September

Yesterday I went to Gresham with Laura; the Parkrose Cheer squad was in the Teddy Bear Parade. It was funny to see all these people, young and old, carrying teddy bears. Horses and dogs had them too.

We went to Mcminnville yesterday and watched the Ducks demolish WSU.

Guys and Dolls was great and I've been humming tunes from it all weekend. Came home afterwards and watched the rest of the debates.

This time next week I will be done with the marathon!

I think Hud is my favorite Paul Newman movie. What's yours?

Guys And Dolls

Michael and I are going to see Guys and Dolls on Friday at Portland Center Stage. I can't wait.

Parkrose won its first football game in a long time on Friday!

It's autumn everyone!

Weekend!

I ran 20 miles today. That means I can run the marathon, unless I trip or something. My goal is to come in under 5 hours, which I can do. Who knows maybe I'll run it in 4 1/2 hours. No, I don't think so.

Michael and I saw the movie Tell No One yesterday. It's a French thriller! I thought it was great.

Laura and I saw Willy Porter and Raining Jane at the Alladin Theater Friday night. They were really good and I'm looking forward to seeing Raining Jane and Sara Bareilles in October.

Max was on t.v. Friday night, showing his Parkrose pride! His first football game is Wednesday.

I'm reading Empire Falls and looking forward to meeting Richard Russo on Thursday.

Here is a link to poems by Reginald Shepherd that were in Caffeine Destiny a few years ago. I was sad to hear that he died.

Thursday night

I want to find time to mess around and make silly collages.

I want to write some new poems.

I want the marathon to be done with.

I want my office to be magically cleaned by little elves.

I want to have time to bake bread.

I want to miraculously lose 20 pounds, just by thinking about it very hard.

I want someone to take my poetry manuscript and publish the hell out of it.

I want Obama to be elected.

There!

School Starts!

Laura starts high school tomorrow, and Max begins 7th grade on Wednesday.

Carly starts First Grade this week! Congratulations Carly!

We had fun this weekend in McMinnville. I had the most enjoyable run of my whole marathon training on Sunday with Amy.

It's hard to believe summer is just about over, but it is.

Not National, Still Poet-ish

I got my letter from the nice National Poetry Series people today and my manuscript has not been selected as a winner this year. Which would have been exciting, but hey, Frank O"Hara never was a National Poetry Series poet either. I like this picture of him!

I was a finalist and they told me in May that I was a finalist so I've been waiting. So I heard today but I will press onward!

I ran 15 miles yesterday. I was supposed to run 17, but only did 15. (note to self: how embarassing - I already mentioned this in the post from yesterday. People who are training for marathons are BORING!)

I wonder if Frank O'Hara ever ran 15 miles.

I appreciated this interview with Chase Twichell in the current Poets and Writers. I read it in print but here it is online and it made me think that Caffeine Destiny could end eventually and that would be okay. At what point is enough enough?

Here's a little Frank for your Monday evening:

My eyes are vague blue, like the sky, and change all the time; they are indiscriminate but fleeting, entirely specific and disloyal, so that no one trusts me. I am always looking away. Or again at something after it has given me up. It makes me restless and that makes me unhappy, but I cannot keep them still. If only i had grey, green, black, brown, yellow eyes; I would stay at home and do something. It's not that I'm curious. On the contrary, I am bored but it's my duty to be attentive, I am needed by things as the sky must be above the earth. And lately, so great has their anxiety become, I can spare myself little sleep.

Back from Eastern Oregon

I had a good time in Enterprise and La Grande. It's beautiful out there. It was good to see Zanni - and Rich, and David and Jody.

Today I was going to run 17 miles but only did 15. The Portland Marathon will be interesting! We'll see how long it takes me.

Laura and I saw Hancock last night. Laura's going to Mcminnville later this week, and Max has football camp.

Okay, just a few more papers to grade.

Fall 2008 is online

It's here!

Max and I saw The Dark Knight last night. I liked it. He's 12 now!

Back to work for me tomorrow.

Laura has daily doubles.

Michael has new glasses.

I need to finish some poems.

My tomatos are starting to ripen.

I hope you like the new issue.

Friday

I was supposed to run 8 miles this morning but I only ran 3.8.

The Augen gallery here in Portland has an exhibit, Bande à part: New York Underground 60's, 70's, 80's that I am going to see, either today or later next week. I read Andy Warhol's Diary a long time ago.

Tomorrow Max comes home from camp - hooray! Laura and Lily have their showcase for Rock and Roll Camp at the Wonder Ballroom.

Max Winter, whose work has appeared in Caffeine Destiny and many other places, as well as in the fabulous book The Pictures, will be on The Joe Milford Poetry Show on Saturday. You can listen to it live or it will be archived after the show.

Three Day Weekend!

We're going to Seattle tomorrow to see a Mariners game.

Then Sunday Max is going to Camp Collins for a week. Laura starts Rock and Roll Camp Monday.

I have Monday off. I'm going to take Laura and her friend to Rock and Roll camp and then come home and write. Not grade papers or post to blogs or anything. I'm going to get writing done.

New Caffeine Destiny is going up by the end of the month.

It's August, the month of endings.

and Max's birthday!

I haven't made a collage in a while. Maybe I will Sunday.

Last week it was Frank Bidart, this week's picture is of Frank the horse! At least his ears. I took this photo when I was riding Frank in Colorado. It was my second horse ride. We rode up a rocky path and then down a rocky path in the Rocky Mountains. I was worried he would stumble, but he never did. We rode up Glacier Basin and looked down on Glacier Creek. It was one of the best parts of our trip to Colorado.

The photo on the right is Michael and I in our fashionable bucket hats at Bear Lake. You can't see from the photo, but they say Colorado on them. Maybe I will start making bucket hats with the Caffeine Destiny logo on them. Would you buy them? I know you would!

If you are wondering if I saw any elk, I did not. Max saw a herd of them. My brother-in-law Howie saw a bear. I am envious, but I saw lots of bunnies, and I got to ride a horse!

I'm reading Plainsong by Kent Haruf. Laura and I went to see Mama Mia on Wednesday. I never really liked those Abba songs when they were popular, but I loved watching Meryl Streep sing them!

The photo on the right is the view of the Rockies from the YMCA at Estes Park, where we stayed. Colorado was gorgeous but it was good to come home to Oregon.

Leaving Tomorrow for Colorado

Last night I went to hear Frank Bidart read at the Tin House reading. He was great. He read outside and it was dark by the time it was over. He said something - which I am no doubt misquoting here - about how the most important thing for a poet to do is to figure out how to get on the page their own understanding of how they determine meaning.

Yes, I have totally mangled that. But it makes sense in my head!

I stood in line to get my book signed. He knew Robert Lowell, so I read some letters to Frank Bidart from Robert Lowell this morning, in my Letters of Robert Lowell.

Tomorrow we are heading for Estes Park. Laura is going to cheer camp at OSU, so she won't be with us. She'll be cheering! 

Here's a link to an Estes Park web cam!

I ran 14 miles today. Now I need to pack!

The Police and Elvis Costello

We saw Elvis Costello and the Police on Friday night!

I ran 9 miles today.

I am reading Anil's Ghost by Michael Ondaatje.

More soon.

4th of July!

It's the 4th of July and Max is in Washington D.C.! Laura and I bought fireworks today and I saved some for him.

I ran 6 miles today. I made a pasta salad to take to Holly's and we're leaving soon. Debbie's in town!

Summer!

We had fun camping although the weekend sure went by fast. That's Michael and Laura at the campground! Bats came out of the trees at night and that was kind of cool.

Max and Laura have new bikes and I rode Laura's last night. It felt great to be on a bike again! I used to ride a bike everywhere in Eugene.

I am reading Without End by Adam Zagajewski. I am going to read The Ghost Writer by Philip Roth once I get my hands on a copy.

Debbie comes to visit next week! My tomatos have yellow flowers on them.

Where I'll be this weekend

Leaving tomorrow for Timothy Lake! Camping with everyone.

Tomorrow is summer solstice.

I have been running a lot. Writing poems in the early morning.

Yay for summer.

Weekend

The weekend is winding down and I had a good one.

Max's team lost yesterday, so his season is pretty much over. But they had an 18 win, 3 loss record which is pretty fantastic. We are going to a Mariners game in Seattle in August!

I watched a lot of the O.C. on Saturday night - season one. Laura wasn't feeling well, so we watched several episodes. Sometimes nothing else will do. This is Laura's last week of middle school.

I'm going to start taking the Max train into work more I think and I was thinking, maybe I should get a bike and then I could ride the bike to the Max. Just a thought. But then I read some things about how it's kind of a hassle during rush hour to find a place to put your bike on the Max. Although I still wonder what it would be like to have a bike again.

I ran 8 miles yesterday. I pulled a lot of weedy grass in my backyard today. I cleaned my office. Worked on poems.

I am reading Strangers by Taichi Yamada. It's a Japanese novel about a man who gos to his hometown and finds his parents living there. But his parents have been dead for over 20 years. It's kind of spooky and I like it.

I Am Supposed to Be Grading Papers

Look, it's the new WITS director at Literary Arts! That's Portland's own Mary Rechner.

The new Deschutes Brewery in Portland is just like the one in Bend. Sort of.

Monday I start my marathon training. Wish me luck.

I brought home some cactus. Tomorrow Max has a baseball game.

I have no quote for the day because I'm supposed to be grading papers.

Here I go.

Quack

There is like four baskets of unfolded laundry in my basement. Maybe five.

I haven't called my mom in like two weeks.

I finished When She Was Good.

Monica is getting ducks! I'm very excited for her.

Very Smart Kids and Queen Cows

The picture is a Rauschenberg painting. I hope he is having fun, wherever he is. Rest in peace!

Max and Laura are very smart kids. I know because they showed Michael and I at their student-led conferences at school tonight.

I am reading When She Was Good by Philip Roth.

Baker City was fabulous. The streets are gorgeous there - wide streets and mountains in the distance. People leave their bikes unlocked on the sidewalk. It's true, I'm not making it up!

I have been reading about cow etiquette. It's really fascinating! There is always a queen cow. Cows who are higher in the social heirarchy don't have to walk as far for their share of the grass.