Five months into the dramatic shift in daily life and one of the things that has helped me is an occasional cup of coffee. I’m sure you understand: life is often about the simple pleasures.  I’ve previously confessed in this space to binge-watching too many television shows since things went[Read More…]

I started wearing a camera around my neck when I was 15, and for 25 years, I took pictures. Faces interested me most. I studied portrait photographers and learned that the best portrait comes when you are close to the subject, sometimes too close, which means the subject doesn’t know you’re[Read More…]

July is harvest time for the Pleasant Hill Humble Bee Honey beekeepers. Since March, when the bees returned from annual pollination duty in California’s almond groves, the beekeepers have cared for hives by treating for mites, control for swarming, and installing stronger queens who produce the tens of thousands of[Read More…]

Jack with daughter Nancy. I want to wish one of The Chronicle’s loyal readers, Jack Connolly, a very happy 92nd birthday. Jack is the father of my wife, Nancy, her two sisters, Deb and Joan, and a man whose life has taken him around the world and into the lives of many.[Read More…]

Banana slug Since the start of the pandemic, I have been more patient. I’m home a lot, and I tend to projects with a steadier focus. There have been fewer “expletives deleted” when something doesn’t go right because I have time to deal with it. I built another gate this[Read More…]

The five smartest people I have ever known were all mechanics. Two of them didn’t graduate high school, but the three who did also went to college but only used higher education as a means of burnishing their already well-designed engines built upon mechanical knowledge. By smart, and with all due[Read More…]

Scott Bell calls the action during a Zucchini 500 race. The inspiration for this piece came while checking out at the Creswell Bi-Mart last week. There was an older man without a facemask on, bellowing his displeasure at Gov. Kate Brown’s requiring citizens to wear facemasks in hard-hit Oregon counties.[Read More…]

  Johann Faerber, better known as Johnny, has a “tail” to tell that gives new meaning to the old runner’s complaint about “having to haul my ass across the finish line.” We’ll get to that “tail” in a little bit.  Johnny is a lifetime distance runner, marathon champion, and running[Read More…]

Familiar stops on a regular route to the San Juan Islands of Washington’s coast were oddly different, and unmasked a certain amount of indifference to the pandemic. Above, patrons at a favorite coffee shop appreciate the food and java and a staff that wears masks, even though most are not.[Read More…]