Allan wrote...

Sunday was a delightful walk in the Powers Ferry Park with my sweetie.  We did 39,600 steps -- about 3 miles -- with all kinds of people, their kids and their dogs out enjoying the almost 60-degree weather in Atlanta. We had lots of nice, deep discussion as we walked along the Chattahoochee River, then went home and had dinner and off to bed.  Nice! Here's Becky standing on a bridge with the river in the background. Pretty lady, yes?

Today (Monday) was a 505 mile jaunt from Marietta, GA to Hammond, LA -- on the way to a house sit for a couple in San Antonio. I wish there were a lot to say about the trip, but it was freeway all the way and nothing remarkable -- except that almost all drivers are very considerate and safe on our Interstates.  Most of the trip was 70MPH, so I put it on cruise and listened to Becky's A Course in Miracles CD's.  Wonderful. And even better on hearing some of that wisdom again.

I booked a hotel in Hammond, LA a few days ago, but arrived at the hotel at about 2:40PM CST. I could have driven a LOT more had it not been for the pre-paid hotel I booked through Hotels.com. Next time I do a long haul trip I'll just drive 'til I'm too tired to go on, then check into a wi-fi at McDonalds or Starbucks somewhere and book a nearby hotel -- thru Hotels.com, Expedia or some such-- to find a place that's close by, inexpensive and near the Interstate. (Live and Learn!) That would make for a lot more flexibility, rather than just cooling my heels in a hotel room for half the day and all night!

Well, it's Monday night. Maybe after Becky and I catch up on the day by phone, there will be something worth watching on TV. If not I've got Parts 4-16 of the Course in Miracles "The Forgotten Song" videos still to watch. They were produced in the 1980's by the BBC and tell the history and the content of the Course. Check it out at http://acimexplained.com/the-forgotten-song-documentary-on-the-origins-of-acim/

For anyone who might want to know, the Colonial Inn in Hammond has had good reviews as a "basic" place to spend a night or two. $67 with tax and a comfortable room. Right next door there is a Pilot gas station and refueling facility for 18-wheelers, and they have been coming and going in huge numbers since I arrived.  Hopefully it won't be too noisy tonight. When I checked in they gave me the password to their wi-fi (yay!) and the remote for the TV!!!  LOL  I can't imagine why anyone would want to take/steal a TV remote that probably only works with this particular model of Sanyo CRT-style television!  Who can say???

 The room even had a little microwave in it so I could re-heat the veggie dish I made at home last night. Complete with Texas Pete hot sauce, grated Parmesan cheese and yellow curry.  Good!

The trucks never seem to stop coming in for fuel. I can't imagine how much diesel they use. Their fuel costs probably add a HUGE amount to everything we buy in stores -- from groceries to...you name it.









A very typical little hotel room.  Clean with free wi-fi.  It's OK!

On Tuesday Allan wrote this...

"Well..." (like Ronald Reagan used to say), here we are still in Hillsborough, NC.

Saturday night we had fun meeting Bob and Karen, long time friends of the home owners here.  Becky cooked up a big roast complete with carrots, onions and celery (not mirepoix) along with some spices and flavors that made for a superb meal. Karen brought along her fantastic blueberry pie made with only the freshest ingredients, topped off with a little Bryers (not "carb smart" -- instead, the real good ice cream that's not good for you) -- vanilla ice cream.  To say the red and white wine and the dinner were all good is a gigantic understatement. More like "deliciouso."

This pic, taken with my iPod, reveals that we were poor hosts....
their wine glasses are empty! But that didn't mean that the
conversation waned or that our wonderful guests were not
at their peak of interresante et amustante

We talked about history, about North Carolina, about one anothers' lives -- so many topics. It was a huge amount of fun getting to know Karen and Bob, even just a little bit.  By evening's end we hugged warmly, said goodnight and wished one another good fortune.

Karen and Bob - super folks!

Now, the other day when we met Joyce, she advised that we should really take time to get into Hillsborough to check out the art galleries. And if hungry, to eat at The Gulf Rim.

So we did.

I tried to buy Becky a pair of crocheted silver wire ear rings at one of the art galleries, but she said she's already got too much jewelry.  (But hey, where can you find crocheted silver wire made into jewelry??? That is so rare and so neat! Just imagine trying to crochet with silver wire!  My friends, I can't even imagine how the artist came up with that idea...much less actually accomplished those beautiful pieces of jewelry she made.) Instead I bought a small print of a very cool acrylic painting from an New Age-y artist known as Carmen. As we left, the sweet lady at the art gallery suggested  we visit the hardware store in town.

So we did.

It's been there for over 60 years. It's a total mess inside. There is no known computer program that could even approximately keep track of the inventory in that store. The only way to know what's there is to ask.  Then, the man who's run it for the past 40 years will say, "Well, give me just a minute." When he comes back he's got exactly what you want. Only he and God know where he found it among all the piles of stuff, junk, flotsam and jetsam that stock his shelves. It's an amazing place and I'm so glad we went there.

And there Becky found a fuzzy paint brush she needs for some of her art work.  She asked me, "What do you think of a woman who turns down a $40 pair of ear rings for a $3 paint brush?"  I told her, "Hey babe, you're a cheap date."  hahaha

So downtown Hillsborough was fun.  We had lunch at The Gulf Rim -- Becky had a hearts of palm and avocado salad, I had the seafood mix. Wonderful.

All the style guides for freelance writers tell you to never begin a sentence with "And" or "But."

But, Monday was probably the high point of our trip to NC. We drove about 2-1/2 hours to Wilmington, a sea port city and the largest city in NC. My only prior experience with Wilmington was back in the 1990's when my son and I drove over from Atlanta to go deep sea fishing.  Neither of us caught anything worth noting, however I did "catch" a gigantic, miserable, unrelenting, disgusting, never-ending case of sea sickness that lasted about eight  hours and drained me of virtually all life, all energy and all wish to continue living.

This trip was much more fun.  Becky and I went to the visitor's bureau and talked to Mary Ann there about  the entire Cape Fear area. We checked out the board walk ( a 2-mile walk along the Cape Fear river that eventually dumps into the Atlantic ocean.) We got some ideas on where one might want to live in the area. And we collected a duffel bag full of literature.

Kure Beach, one of four or five in the Wilmington area

You see, this house sitting adventure has been largely about finding a place we'd like to move to and live out our lives. Maybe, after just a couple of house sits, we've found a good place:  Wilmington and its environs.

More to come.  And in the meantime, many BIG THANKS to our wonderful hosts and home owners (Chris and Jeff) here in Hillsborough -- for choosing us to watch over their property.  It has been a great pleasure and we've enjoyed this visit to a wonderful part of the USA.

On Thursday evening Allan wrote...

Becky is still wearing the cast on her right arm from having broken her wrist. So I'm writing for both of us today.

We're house sitting in Hillsborough, North Carolina, enjoying a beautiful home situated at the edge of what the owners call "The Hundred Acre Woods."  And indeed, there are well over 100 acres filled with cedar trees, hardwoods and -- due to a hurricane that blew through during the mid-1990's -- quite a few downed trees. The owners have blazed trails all through the woods where they walk their dogs a couple times each day.

On Tuesday, our first night here, Becky and I played a few hands of cards then retired for the night. "Retiring" included getting the two dogs -- Maggie and Blue -- situated on their very own leather couch. They like to sleep with blankets and stuffed toys.  So we put them to bed and said "good night." Then, about 4:30AM we were awakened by their footsteps in the hall outside our bedroom. In a flash both of them jumped into bed with us, followed a while later by one of the two cats. Neither of us ever quite got back to sleep.

Maggie snoozing with Becky

Blue just had to get under the blankets

The cats eat on the counter top to
prevent the dogs from getting
their food.

Becky and dogs walking in the woods

One of many historical memorials around town.

We went into Durham today to look around and found a mountain of information at the Visitor's Bureau. So we took a short walk around some of the downtown area. The city has some of the feel of Portland. For example, we ate at a restaurant that is very green -- they recycle almost everything, use only LED lighting, buy locally and make virtually all their own ingredients.  Further, with the huge campus of Duke University, Durham is a top example of a college town. There's lots of culture here and plenty to see and do. Durham just might make our short list of places we'll eventually move to. Time (and more travel) will tell.

This is actually Stop #41 on the Walking Art Tour of Durham. Either
that, or something a little kinky (LOL)

We decided to explore a bit on Wednesday by visiting Seagrove, NC. It's a small town that's home to dozens and dozens of pottery makers. We walked through a couple of the galleries until Becky found the piece that she says goes so well with the colors in our living room.

We're having a local couple over for dinner on Saturday and hope they can tell us a bit more about North Carolina and some of its cities. Maybe they'll give us some ideas about which cities are "the best." Becky and I are both curious about the coastal and Inner Banks towns. Maybe we'll drive over to the coast one day next week.

Portland Saturday Market...

On Saturday, October 8 Allan wrote...


Today we had a beautiful sunny day in the mid-60's after an entire week of gray clouds and rain, day and night. We headed out to the Portland Saturday market, which is all about crafts, artisans and--oh yeah--more dreadlocks, tattoos, beards and hippy styled folks than I've seen since 1965. Nice. Peaceful people. Social conscience.

The market runs from March until Christmas eve every Saturday and Sunday. It's on the Willamette riverfront and was filled with people seeking sunshine after a dull week of rain. Becky bought a skirt and I picked up a tie-died t-shirt for my little four-month old grandson. After some wandering we stopped at the Mayflower Cafe for an early dinner, then headed home.

_______

I've spent quite a bit of time writing articles during the last week, most of it for IdeaLaunch and Constant-Content. I've had a lot of help from Bernie--the cat who likes almost everyone he meets.

Bernie seems to think (if I can wax anthropomorphic for a moment)
that sitting on my keyboard will somehow get him even more attention
than usual. Or maybe he just wants to get his POV into the article.
I don't know, but he is very determined.

Then, if dominating the keyboard isn't
enough, he climbs up on my shoulder and
just hangs out while I think and type. Hmmm.
Some kinda wonderful cat companion.

Today I took the dogs for a walk up the long hill that leads to the blackberry patch. There's an uncut field that runs along-side the path we took. Right at the margin of that field there are occasional stunted, scrappy blackberry bushes growing--in spite of having been bush-hogged the last time the field was cut. They're only a couple feet tall and have very few berries on them.  Yet Diesel, the lab/retriever mix, must have had a hunger for fresh fruit. He happened to pass by one of those tiny bushes, sniffed around until he found a berry or two, then ate a few of them right off the plant. To my surprise, he walked another 20 yards, straight over to another lone bush, and again snatched the berries off the bush. And again a few yards further up the hill.

I've never seen a dog eat blackberries. He does like raw carrots, and always searches for a certain kind of grass to eat when we take him on his walks up and down the road.  I was curious why dogs might eat grass and things that grow from the dirt. One web site had this strange explanation:  "...because dog diets are primarily made up of herbivores, that grassy taste [dogs seek] may be reminiscent of the cattle or lamb product they had for dinner." Personally, I think he's eating to get the balance of fresh food and fiber. Who can tell?

Loving the Pacific Northwest

On Saturday, October 1 Allan wrote...

Becky and I have been in Kalama, WA for exactly two weeks now. We're enjoying the picturesque scenery replete with mountains (The Cascades), the Columbia River in the distance and countless towering Douglas Fir trees with branches so thick they stand like giant, bristly brushes ready to scrub the sky. Or something like that.

One foggy morning around 7AM. A beautiful day followed.

Columbia River at the Kalama river walk area. Late afternoon.

The two dogs and cats we're caring for are sweet and affectionate little guys.  One of the cats has befriended me and claimed my lap and my shoulder as a couple of his preferred places to hang out. Diesel, the retriever mix (see pics on prior post), is a giant puppy in temperament. He seeks out affection at every turn, loves to run like the wind and is a big-time grass eater on his daily walks. Guess he's at least part vegetarian. Sandy, in spite of her age, is spry, active and accustomed to getting up close and personal -- standing with front feet on your lap while she gazes into your eyes as if she's just found her new BFF.

Today we went to one of Portland's seven farmer's markets. It's on the campus of Portland State University and thus is known as the PSU Farmer's Market. See portlandfarmersmarket.org for much more info. It's not as big as the Fiere Libre market in Ecuador, but had a decidedly different feel.

Almost everything here is organic, free of all chemicals. Locally grown.

For those who love meat, this guy has it all.
We passed on the meat but have to admit that
we were curious about the yak and elk.

Here we had a "Moneyball" breakfast. Shitake mushroom gravy
over delicious biscuits with an egg over easy topping it off.

Yes, a different feel...

There is something about Portland. It feels like a throwback to earlier days in this country when people smiled at one another as they passed on the street. Where no one is a stranger. On the free streetcar ride yesterday we watched a woman sit down next to a man and strike up a lengthy conversation about cats, just as if they'd known one another for a long time. That doesn't happen on the subway in NYC. Or on the MARTA train in Atlanta. Drivers motion you to "go ahead, take the turn" to let you into traffic. Shop owners are always ready to chat. People here are polite and friendly. Just this week there was a newspaper article about descendants of Lewis and Clark, of expedition fame, who decided to make amends to indigenous American Indians for thefts committed by the original Lewis and Clark hundreds of years ago. The little Portland newspaper has an entire column dedicated to charitable events happening this week, highlighting socially conscious people doing things to help their brothers and sisters--with complete details on how you can get involved. Finally, yesterday while we were eating lunch at a Bridgeport Brew Pub, Becky started a conversation with a waitress about her beautiful hair. Another customer, a lady sitting by herself at the next table joined in. After a few minutes of discussion about shopping, this lady named Jane offered to drive us to her personal favorite shopping area in the 23rd Avenue district. And she did, saving us a half-hour walk. When we arrived at the shopping district Jane showed us how to take the streetcar back to where our car was parked. Sorry to say, that would probably never happen in Atlanta. Not the "striking up the conversation in the restaurant" part, nor the "I'll drive you there" part. THANK YOU Jane.

Yep, it's different than the ATL.  I like it a LOT.  

I'm just  beginning to find the great food here. Becky and I had lunch yesterday at Bridgeport Brew Pub (which, BTW, runs its own charitable activities). Check out www.bridgeportbrew.com for info. I was tempted by the "meat pie," as I've got an on-going interest in what is commonly called "Shepherd's Pie." But I stuck to my veggie dietary focus and decided to go for the "Vegan Extravaganza" (not their words) and ordered one.  

It's what I call the "Veggie Extravaganza"
Sooo good.

I'm glad I did. If you read any of Carlos Castaneda's books about don Juan back in the 1970's, you might remember how Carlos described don Juan's eating habits. He said that don Juan became totally focused on his food and its eating. Nothing interfered. Nothing intervened. The great master, don Juan, was eating...and doing nothing else. That's how this meal was for me. Lots of "live" food including kale, black beans, corn, avocado, peppers, quinoa, sweet potatoes, a bit of soy and more--all heated to perfection.  Deliciouso!

Yesterday while in Portland we also went to Powell's bookstore. Amazing place. Becky picked up a few art books at great prices, while I succumbed to a Robert Heinlein scifi story I don't think I read 30 years ago: Tunnel in the Sky. The store has several stories in two buildings. Here's a map of the store. It came in really handy because the place is huge.

Powell's Bookstore gettin' around map. Amazing place.

We wrapped up the day in downtown Kalama where Becky did some antique shopping and found some neat stuff. Kalama is a small town but it's got several antique shops, a grocery, a Subway, a liquor store, drug store, Poker Pete's (super pizza place) and all the basic things one could need. Here's a look down "Main Street."

Kalama WA main street

That's all for now. Time to stir up some of that great food we bought today at the PSU Farmer's Market!

House Sitting - Day 1 in Kalama, WA

On Sunday Allan wrote...

Once again the anticipation and waiting for a certain date has "reached fullness," as Michael Valentine Smith said in Stranger in a Strange Land. This week we traveled from the hot-box that is Atlanta to the cooler climes of Kalama, WA to house sit for almost seven weeks. Our hosts, who left yesterday on a nation-wide grande voyage trip to visit friends and relatives, greeted us Friday night with a great "meet the neighbors" get-together.  They've been very thorough and thoughtful. They gave us a complete tour of their home and property; left us a "quick start" document that details all the workings of their house; a variety of flyers outlining things to do in the area; a link to their travel blog; and a vehicle to use while they're away.  I can't imagine any host being more thoughtful and welcoming.

This morning at 7AM I let the cats and dogs out, fed them, walked the dogs (although didn't make it to the top of the 34% grade that runs 1.5 miles up the "foothills"), brushed them, cooked breakfast, chowed down and...now...will get back to some writing jobs that have been waiting for a quiet day. I think the animals are all ready to lazy around on this rainy afternoon.

Diesel is stretched out under the dining room
table, at my feet, as I type.

Sandy has her favorite place downstairs and is just relaxing.

Bernie (left) and Cinder are recovering from a busy
morning hunting. Cinder was seen with something brown
in her mouth as she crossed the back yard early this morning.

On Sunday Becky wrote...




Allan and I have care of the home and pets, and we are getting down the routines our hosts requested.  We feed the dogs--walk the black lab mix Diesel and little blond dog Sandy in early mornings, brush them and give them a treat.  Bernie and Cinder are gentle, mature cats, who hunt and prowl and then nap indoors part of the day.  They sit on our laps at night for TV watching.  One big yellow/white and the other dark gray.


The environment this morning is so quiet, I can hear only rain draining off the roof, the dog's breath, and this keyboard right now.  Neighbors, a dozen of which we met at the cookout welcome, are widely spread out over Green Mountain acreage, some of the homes upscale, mansion-style.  Friendly people at first, and then friendlier after a few more drinks. (I provided Red Diamond and Bogle Merlots, and we drank it all up.)


The landscape around this beautiful modern cabin is heavenly with the giant Douglas firs, rolling mountain views that seem endless. The whole property is surrounded by dark rail 3-slat fencing, nice for the dogs. Plenty of pasture land, tall wheat grasses, and sitting areas on every side of the house, including around the workshop and office building about the same size as the house and just as pretty.  Amber colored wood paneling makes up the entire 3-level house inside and outside.  LaDonna is a Master Gardener, and has tastefully arranged pebbles, creek rocks, boulders, moss, and varying ground covers in and around her flower gardens, making it appear as though it has all been here forever.
I'll be brushing up on my watercolor painting skills, since this medium required the least bulk of tools and paints to pack and transport.  Everything around here already looks like a watercolor painting, so it should not be too difficult to get the hang of the watery medium over the next six weeks.  Visually, it's pretty much perfect here. The temp high is about 70 degrees today, and we aren't using heat or a/c.  We have a wood stove in the downstairs TV room and a shed full of aged wood that has that pungent woody scent all of us has enjoyed in our fireplaces (that is, before we switched to gas logs)....


The towns around our Green Mountain retreat are small--2,000 to 36,000 population and only 9 to 20 miles away. We are very near Mt. St. Helen's volcano park and will visit on the next sunny day this week.  We will be taking pictures in the next few days when it is predicted to be sunny and mild.  Doug says it rains here about 60 percent of the year, so we have to be patient for those blue sky days, but when the light finally shines on us, it is worth the wait.


Carry on, Southerners.  Talk soon.

Writing for the Web - A Learning Experience

On Sunday afternoon Allan wrote...

Now, at the end of August, I've got some info to share on my "new job" as a freelance writer for various web properties. Back in July I began investigating various sites like TheNovicesGuide.com, Skyword.com and Yahoo's AssociatedContent.com. Since then I've written a couple dozen articles for them. I continue to find other sites that also look interesting, so I decided it would be worthwhile to build a simple web presence that provides samples of my writing. Just as Becky and I used Google's excellent "sites" service to build a house sitting and pet sitting web site, I've again used Google to build a site filled with writing samples.  I call it "Allan's Words."

I've posted links to articles, sales pages, press releases and documents in other formats--even including some samples (as PDF's) from the manuals and advertising brochures I wrote during my eleven years as a writer and editor for Picker International, and as a freelancer working with (now defunct) Dimension Studios in Cleveland, Ohio. Hopefully the site helps prospective clients decide whether I can help them create the written content they need.

I've learned that various web properties each have their own method of calculating how they value an article and, therefore, how much they pay the writer. For some, like Yahoo, it's a combination of a few dollars "up front" and the number of page views one's article receives. For TheNovicesGuide.com it's a flat $20 per approved 1000-1500 word article. At Skyword's Gather.com news site, pay is based entirely on page views: Once a threshold of 150 page views is reached, Skyword pays a couple dollars for that article.

What I find a bit disappointing regarding page views is also a commentary on our human nature.  Let me explain...

The number of people who view my articles is largely based on the popularity of my subject matter. So while I might have expertise in a particular area, or might find a topic that I can passionately write about, those often are not popular enough to garner a substantial number of viewers. The result?  Little or no revenue from those fun-to-write or otherwise informative articles.

To discover what is popular, the web offers some great tools. One is the Google Trends page that shows what's "hot" on any given day. Another is Yahoo's Buzz Log. Check either of them and you'll find that perhaps 17 or 18 of the top 20 search terms have to do with people in the entertainment industry. As testament to the popularity of entertainment industry topics, I found that the top writer for Yahoo has over 20 million page views. His topic: "Hollywood Gossip." Of the articles I've published, the top page view earnings came from a review of the American Idol tour show when it came to Atlanta. Climate change, political topics and news commentary came in very distant seconds.

What does that say about human nature?  To me it's a sad comment that a gigantic majority of Internet searches are about topics that have almost nothing to do with one's everyday life and the issues that are important to one's well being and that of our neighbors. I find it a bit disappointing that people are so focused on those "fluff" articles rather than meaningful topics. Of course, any critic could find many reasons to say "Hey Allan, that's just your opinion."  And of course they'd be right.

But personal observations aside, the heavy focus on those topics makes it a bit harder to find subjects that will reliably get page views. Skyword.com has some well-designed tools in its Gather News program that help identify popular topics, but the program manager advised me that those tools are "still new" and might not be as accurate as one would hope. So rather than spending a lot of time hunting for "popular" topics, as I did for about a month after getting started with Skyword and Yahoo, I'm going to focus more time on writing where pay is based on the quality and word count rather than page views.

I'll update this blog in the next month with a couple of sites that look extremely promising, after I've had some experience with them.

Until then, the next excitement Becky and I are anticipating is the upcoming house sit in Kalama, Washington. We've been fortunate to find that Becky's son will live in our house while we're gone. It won't be sitting empty as it was during our month in Ecuador, and that gives us both a sense of comfort and security.