Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Duck!

  A couple of days ago, during a walk, I saw three bald eagles in a tree by the river below the University of Portland bluff. I think they were dad, mom, and teen aged kid, and I was surprised to see them in such an urban setting. -- Very impressive birds. The sight of them reminded me of how the U.S. came to have the bald eagle as our national bird:

   (At this point I  launched into a story about Ben Franklin -- in honor of his birthday -- an eagle, a turkey and a duck. After dw read it, I asked: "Is that as sophomoric as I think it is?" dw took a delicate pause and said: "Yes." -- So I saved myself some embarrassment and erased the  story.) 

   I haven't thought of anything to replace the story, so I'll just leave in the ink and crayon sketches of the eagle and the duck. (Sorry, no turkey)
   



  
  

Books: Grants Final Victory (Charles B. Flood) About the last two years of U.S. Grants life when he was dieing of cancer and struggling to finish writing his memoirs. It's an excellent book and it reminded me of the memoirs themselves -- One of the best memoirs ever written by anyone, I'd strongly recommend them;  Dickens (Peter Ackroyd) This book has a modest word count and few biographical surprises but it's heavily illustrated and well written. I always enjoy seeing pictures of people and places mentioned in a non-fiction book and this one delivers;   Rats (Robert Sullivan) a natural history of rats with no great surprises but well written and consistently interesting;  and Pushkin's Button (Serena Vitale) Which is about the duel that killed Alexander Pushkin -- not as interesting as I'd hoped -- I'm half done with it and I just might be all done with it.  DA
  
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4 comments:

  1. BocceJanuary 23, 2012 at 9:59 AM

    DA...
    I had a dorm room in the Villa Maria dorm.( at UofP) overlooking the bluff.....loved viewing the occassional bald eagle among the industrial scene......Although the building was old and undesireable to some....I loved the premium view!!! Thanks for opening the memory file.....
    TG

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    Replies
    1. danddJanuary 29, 2012 at 6:54 PM

      Thanks for the note. I was surprised to read you had seen eagles when you were there as I never did when I was going there. (naturally, I was in a different dorm) But I remembered, when I was there, eagles were still being wiped out with pesticides and were, in fact, nearly extinct in the lower 48. How time flies, and sometimes in a better direction.

      Delete
  2. TonyJanuary 26, 2012 at 6:21 AM

    Lucky man: three bald eagles and.....
    see here

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    1. danddJanuary 29, 2012 at 7:05 PM

      Interesting article -- perhaps too kind but not far off. My specific neighborhood is close to the ones mentioned, and like them is gentrifying but still largely blue-collar merging to artsy.
      The blog is a bit of a teaser, but what I deleted will never see the light of day unless I vastly improve it. I don't like to think of my readers having to wash their eyes out with soap in an attempt to disremember what they just read.

      Delete

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