Once more, into the merry breach, my friends! Join me and Paul, Kurt Beattie, Marianne Owen, Bill Ontiveros and Pineola for our annual evening of roguish cheer, short stories, music and delight. Although Town Hall is closed for reconstruction, the show must go on! We’ll be in full celebration mode at the Taproot Theatre, tomorrow at 6PM.
Category Archives: Jean’s Schemes
The Tourists were Unimpressed
Total Eclipse near Lime, Oregon + A Visit to Lime!
(click to enlarge photos)
So Karen, our son Noel, and I joined the hordes and drove to a rest stop just north of Lime, Oregon, arriving about 4:30 Monday morning. And any lingering doubts we had about the advisability of the enterprise were put aside after the event. Following are photos documenting our conversion.












Afterwards, we had a picnic and then decided to drive south a few miles to visit Lime, where Paul Dorpat told us an abandoned cement factory still loomed. We wandered an apocalyptic moonscape of graffiti, art, and lost children – a perfect aftermath comprising melancholy reflection and an exquisite sense of mortality.




Moth, with thanks to Nabokov…
Perhaps you came for the Now & Then, which, never fear, is just below. But a couple of days ago, I came across a moth the size of a mouse, in its final hours, resting in a doorway. What a gift of watchful shadow and light.

Click to enlarge to full size:

Photos from Yesterday’s March
LaPush, December 30th
Stu Dempster at 80
A Visit to the Columbia
Thought I’d toss up a few photos of the Columbia Gorge for perusal and enjoyment. This past week, we drove down to Maryhill and explored that section of the Columbia – but it was Thursday last, when most of the following photos were taken, that thunderheads chased us east, providing some dramatic photo ops.
(Click to enlarge!)











In Memory of Dawn Sears
John Owen of Pineola, who gave a stellar performance at yesterday’s Rogue’s Christmas show at Town Hall, remembers the great Dawn Sears:
“On December 11, 2014 one of the greatest singers who ever set foot on this planet left us. Dawn Sears was an unassuming, humble person who you could easily walk past without even noticing…unless she was singing. If she was singing, you couldn’t notice anything else. She could make every person in the room feel like she was singing directly to them and them alone. Dawn was best known as a member of The Time Jumpers and as a backup singer for Vince Gill.
“Here is a link to a YouTube clip of her performing Sweet Memories with Time Jumpers. This clip pairs Dawn with another great who passed on not long ago – John Hughey on pedal steel. Both Dawn and John left an amazing amount of beauty behind. Live fully.”
Paul and Jean at Town Hall

Join us for an evening of entertaining yet erudite edification at Seattle’s Town Hall, 7:30 PM, this coming Friday! Historical whimsy mixed with a whiff of sulfur and a touch of elysium.
Also, come early (or stay late) to explore the redecorated North Lobby, jam packed with Now and Then comparisons hot off the presses. Reception follows the (very) illustrated lecture.