A few random thoughts that are on my mind:

1. Every February for Aria’s birthday, I make a two-minute video slide show using the pictures we’ve taken over the last year. Two things stood out to me about the latest edition. First, most of the photos were shot around the house. We didn’t journey far during COVID-19. Second, a lot of the pictures were taken in my studio-office where she hung out quite a bit. She still visits frequently, and I love it.

2. There haven’t been any new ukulele videos since Christmas, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been practicing. Videos will appear soon of new but difficult material. I’m working on a well-known classical piece, which has a complicated arrangement with a lot of movement. I’m also working up a major hit from a popular duo in 1970. The song itself is simple, but I added an intro, outro, and solo that aren’t in the sheet music, so it’s taking me time to nail it all down.

3. Lately, I’ve revisited the music of Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, and Starship. From psychedelic rock to slick pop, they covered the gamut of popular music through the decades. Throw in a heap of drama and egos and there are crazy stories to consume about life in those bands. I recently added former lead vocalist Grace Slick’s memoir, Somebody to Love?, to my reading list. I actually found a used copy online that shipped from San Francisco, which seems appropriate. Slick was, and still is at 81, a fascinating person, measuring up to the idiom, “crazy like a fox.” It’s remarkable she lived to tell about her life, but Slick is whip-smart even after all those years of chasing white rabbits…

4. I realized that today is the one-year anniversary of my cat Stormy’s passing. Her kidneys were failing badly, and it was an awful day of awful decisions. She was a beautiful Himalayan seal point mix, born in a barn (yes, really!) on September 8, 2001. Tom Brady was still the backup quarterback in New England, LeBron James was in high school, the Twin Towers in New York still existed, and Windows XP was a few weeks away from being released. She had a difficult personality with feral tendencies, but we made it through multiple moves, jobs, and vomit mishaps. She is missed.

A few random thoughts that are on my mind:

1. Every president faces a crisis while in office. It’s inevitable. What is unfortunate is that our current president is not remotely up to the task of dealing with our current crisis — the coronavirus pandemic. My concern was always that Donald Trump would make a harrowing foreign policy miscalculation with dire consequences. While his management of foreign affairs has been witless, it hasn’t gotten us killed. His handling of the COVID-19 outbreak is another matter entirely. Trump is just as advertised: an incompetent prevaricator who creates more problems every time he opens his mouth or launches Twitter. He owns this mess. Unequivocally. Now that he is being held accountable at his daily campaign rallies, which masquerade as press briefings, he is quick to lash out, pointing fingers at everyone but himself — the thin-skinned bully who won election in 2016. Countries get the leaders they deserve. Let’s hope we’re done with the self-flagellation and realize this November that we deserve better than the ignominious dumpster fire we’ve been subjected to the last four years; that goes for enablers in the Senate and House, too.

2. Why are Florida and Georgia so interested in becoming COVID-19 internet memes? Opening beaches, barber shops, nail salons, restaurants, gyms, and theaters within the next few days is asking for what will come. Serious question: When infection rates shoot up, will the governors have to reinstate shutdown orders, or does the rest of the country simply need to restrict travel to and from these states?

3. There has been quite a bit of ukulele playing at our house over the last month. I have a technique problem though. I bend the wrist on my fretting hand way too much. It makes my playing less fluid and creates pain from the tension. This is not good. My teacher started working with me to correct the problem, but it requires relearning what I’ve been doing wrong for two years. Muscle memory is great…but not in this case! Ugh.

4. I introduced our daughter to my old Nintendo Wii. Aria has found a ridiculous amount of joy from Excite Truck, which was a console launch title in 2006. Her laughter is infectious. I steer while she presses the accelerator and “helps” me with stunts. We’ve destroyed quite a few trees, totaled numerous vehicles, and flown through the air more than some planes. I guess this is a warm-up for driver education in 10 years.

5. I just celebrated my first birthday in quarantine by working from home, taking a lunchtime run in the sunshine, supplying tech support for Aria’s distance learning Chromebook, enjoying a homemade dinner of chicken cacciatore, partaking in a few truck races with Aria, and watching an episode of Bosch with Lisa. A memorable day for happy reasons. Those are needed during a health and economic crisis.

A few random thoughts that are on my mind today:

1. After a terrific start to the season, the Portland Timbers have hit the skids. The team hasn’t won a game since April 22. They’ve dropped from first place in the Western Conference to fifth and are no longer in serious contention for the Supporters’ Shield, falling from first place to 12th. Setting up residence yet again as a midtable team in Major League Soccer is disappointing. The vaunted attack is sputtering and the defense simply isn’t good enough. The wheels haven’t fallen off the metaphorical car yet, but a couple hubcaps have been spotted in the middle of Morrison Street. Tonight San Jose comes to town, a squad that embarrassed Portland with a 3-0 rout at the beginning of May. Here’s hoping for a reversal of fortune for the Timbers beginning this evening. June is an important month that sets the stage for the rest of the season.

2. My wife and I started watching the fifth season of House of Cards. I don’t know when shooting for this season started, but there are overtones that give a nod to our current political climate. I remarked that the real life White House could resemble the fictional version if there was competence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. After yesterday’s curious vacuity on display in the Rose Garden, announcing the withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, that’s not likely to be the case anytime soon.

3. What happened to the Portland Rose Festival? When I was growing up, the celebration was a really big deal and lasted a full month. The coronation of the queen took place the Friday night before the Starlight Parade. It was held at the Keller Auditorium, then called the Civic Auditorium, and televised. The Grand Floral Parade and Fleet Week came next. (There were always jokes about a small baby boom nine months after the U.S. Navy arrived in town.) The second half of the festival included the Indy CART GI Joe’s 200 at Portland International Raceway and the Rose Festival Air Show in Hillsboro. Many of these events, and others, still happen but lack the buzz they used to generate. The queen’s coronation, for example, takes place a few minutes before the Grand Floral Parade — almost an afterthought. The air show is no longer sanctioned by the Rose Festival. CART went bankrupt, as did GI Joe’s. While there are sanctioned races at the Woodburn Drag Strip, nothing has replaced the GI Joe’s 200 in magnitude. I moved away from Portland for 14 years, and when I came back it was noticeable that the festival no longer has the same cachet in the community. A friend of mine, a former Rose Festival princess, also notices the difference. I wonder if changes to Portland over the last couple of decades have caused the festival to no longer resonate as it once did. Newcomers may not view it the same way, or maybe I’m just being nostalgic. All that said, the weather is great right now, which isn’t always the case for the Rose Festival. Enjoy some of the offerings over the next couple of weeks if you’re in town.