Monday, April 27, 2015

The Lobby of the Algonquin Hotel on a Tuesday Afternoon in April

Where are you when I need you Mrs. Parker?
With your gimlet eye and bitter truths,
A glass in one hand, a pen in the other.
Where are your louche friends, your lost afternoons?
What has become of your devastating, lacerating wit?
The Times Square tourist trade filters into the lobby of the Algonquin Hotel,
Fresh from their Disney matinee.
Overstuffed shopping bag in one hand,
Candy-colored I Phone in the other.
Held rapt by their 4 x 4 screens,
All is silent absorption.
Where are your intellectual insults, Mrs. Parker,
Your lazy debates, your grudging laughter?
The long, literate afternoons of hard-fisted drinking
Are vanished and gone.
Conversation is a lost art.
Too many boozy regrets, too many mournful mornings.
But I will drink a toast to you, 
Here in the lobby of Algonquin Hotel.
Ball point pen in hand,
I raise my glass
and listen for the muse.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Joni

“I can be very long-winded, and I can digress all over the place; I remember too much.”

So sayeth Joni Mitchell, but that's me, in a nutshell...

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Colestin Camp Out 20th Anniversary

Colestin Camp Out
Friday, July 24 - Sunday, July 26, 2015
2390 Colestin Road - a.k.a "Two Creeks Road."

Come for the day or stay all weekend for camping, disc golf, hiking, music and fun. As always, we gather in a well-loved mountain meadow on the banks of Cottonwood Creek. The property is located about 40 minutes south of Ashland Oregon, outside of Hilt California. Directions provided upon request.

There is drinking water at the site but no electricity, hot water or indoor plumbing. There is an outhouse next to the meadow and a bathroom at the house, about a 10 minute walk uphill. 

Disc golf tees off around 9:00 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday; BYO Frisbee. Potluck dinner served @ 7:00 p.m., please bring something to share. This year's menu theme is "Let's Keep Dogboy Out of the Kitchen." Keep it simple and D.I.Y. Grills and camp stoves are available, but we can always use more. We provide a keg of beer that goes fast. We also provide paper plates, plastic cutlery, plastic cups, a few kitchen knives and cutting boards.  Bring your own breakfast, lunch and snacks.

We ask smokers (tobacco and marijuana) to please be considerate of those around them. 
Dogs are welcome and most are off leash. Please keep an eye on your pets.
Expect cold nights. We may or may not have a campfire, depending on the fire conditions.

We first saw this wild and undeveloped 147 acres of land early in 1995. We bought the property on the spring equinox and held the first camp out three months later on the summer solstice. Twenty years; so many changes. The trees are a lot taller now, the babies have grown up and gone off to college. Who knows where the time goes?