This site is divided into three sections:
The first is memoir, short stories about events in my life.
The second section contains poems and fiction.
The third section is journal entries and correspondence.
Scroll down and click on a title to bring up the item.
If you enjoy these stories, please suggest this website to others.
CHILDHOOD IN EUGENE, OREGON
My brief experience of being a Boy Scout.
An effort to save stranded fish had a much larger objective.
A gold miner on the Rogue River of Oregon, had invented a machine.
Retribution comes with loss on both sides.
The combination of pre-adolescent boys and rotten apples can lead to trouble.
Have you ever heard someone say “This tastes like horse-shit.”?…
A story told by a guide to the boy’s at a summer camp, becomes real.
How I bought and lost my first car.
What can happen when underage boys take the car keys.
The importance of school records.
A fifteen year old’s chemistry experiment and its consequences.
A childhood adventure can, many years later, harm your high school girl friend’s father.
What can be done with two gallon jars full of straw and mice?
COLLEGE YEARS
Hitchhiking to Montana in December.
Love of an object, like love of another person, can fade.
Certainly, there were good aspects of living in a fraternity, but the bad ones come to mind.
Making a carrier choice is the result of a painstaking process. Or it can be instantaneous.
A short story about a secret Russian recipe.
It was to be a perfectly wonderful evening.
Crossing into Mexico was a cultural eye opener.
I went there for work and found a fiesta.
Life changing experiences taken from three months in Mexico.
This story is about child slavery in Mexico.
Crossing the border with a rabbit nearly sent me to jail.
The draft physical calls for getting away.
You’re not a hero if you do what is expected of you.
Constructive criticism is an essential part of all creative endeavors.
The event which gave me my life.
This is a story about a love affair with a painfully abrupt ending.
My friend asked me to join him in an experiment with peyote.
“I am willing to try anything once” I said, and soon regretted it.
Mine was a great dad who left.
LIFE EXPERIENCES AS A YOUNG MAN
Occasionally the right choice works out to also be the profitable one.
How to buy as used car for summer travel in Europe, and sell it when done.
Timothy Leary’s book store in Manhattan, and the fate of its manager.
Growing marijuana in Manhattan in the 1960s
Good things can happen when we act in contravention of social norms.
It was not easy to find companyonship in New York City.
How I was fired from my first architectural job and the fortunate consequences of it.
Friendliness can not always be trusted.
This is a short story about harvesting hemp in Kansas.
An extraordinary fourth of July with electric punch providing the fireworks.
This is a short story about an abandoned house.
Ground nesting wasps tunneled under the children’s swing set.
A five year old boy’s sense of values.
The loudest bragger is the biggest fool.
What is so mysterious about smoking a Thanksgiving turkey?
A story of self-deception.
SOJOURN TO SAUDI ARABIA
A trip to pick up crates at Dammam Port had an unexpected turn.
If you must drive in Saudi Arabia you are advised to carry $2,000 crash cash.
Some Saudi drivers seemed to get a thrill out of beating out other drivers at the light.
There were risks, when driving, which were unique to Saudi Arabia.
Ahmed is an extraordinary man who happened to be my teaching assistant.
Some traditions in Arabia are starkly different from ours in the West.
Wedding traditions are unique in Arabia.
We knew not to eat them, but circumstances forced a different choice.
Dealing with childhood diabetes in a developing country is dangerous.
From the desert a white Toyota pickup approached the huddled women.
Minor surgery on the kitchen table.
There are times when one should not agree to keep a secret.
A story about a fraudulent faculty member.
Panic in a desert cave.
Like many of us expats, Dave enjoyed eating at the small ethnic restaurants in Al Khobar.
This is a short story about Saudi mores regarding private property.
Expatriates find a way around the prohibition of alcohol in Saudi Arabia.
Few are brazen enough to cheat the King.
Living in a foreign culture will change you.
RETURN TO PORTLAND OREGON
Participation in a clinical trial can be gratifying but painful.
Truly a one man woman.
An influential friend can be helpful. But not always.
An unexpected opportunity with dire consequences.
A sixteen year old girl’s quest for her first car.
Trapped on a two story high roof.
Renovation of a blighted urban neighborhood.
“Your building’s on fire!”
One of childhood’s unasked questions is answered.
A slumlord’s side of the story.
A short story of how a rural community became more inclusive.
This tragic event happened to a friend.
RETIREMENT ON THE NORTH COAST OF OREGON
My retirement savings was stolen by the company for which I had worked.
Brambles’ second life.
One who lives by a lonely stretch of road and comes to the aid of desperate travelers.
On the North Coast of Oregon we live among herds of elk.
Four octogenarians make a potentially deadly error of judgement.
We had no place to sleep in an ancient Moroccan village.
A father, me, inquires about his daughter’s new love.
A bus ride indelibly inscribed in my memory.
This trip to Portland began as a routine visit to the doctor.
She sang as she wandered through the woods near our house.
Rats may help me avoid developing Alzheimer’s disease.
“You can tell a man by the shoes he wears.”
The starling is a small black bird with speckles.
A tribute to comfortable old clothes.
Trepidations on a monumentally important election day.
To find a treasure in an old cardboard box.
There are two memoirs here about raising honey bees.
POEMS & FICTION
Strange things can happen when you go beyond the forest.
A poem about effect of time on memory.
A small paper bag, left on the bus, becomes the key to a lasting friendship.
A hope for love, a poem.
There are situations when one must do the unthinkable. (A poem)
A poem about the fear of covid.
An expression of confusion in these troubled times.
JOURNAL ENTRIES & CORRESPONDENCE
A letter to my daughter about growing old.
A philosophical look at life from a black berry patch.
I thought that I could see clearly but now find that I am partially blind.