Portland

In Steven King's epic novel, "The Stand," several characters in a post-apocolyptic world are drawn from all over the country to a farm in the Midwest.

Life imitates art. After seven or so years of the disasterous Bush adminstration, people from all over the country seem somehow drawn to Portland. The enigmatic Kathleen Callon left her home in the Mohave Desert and moved here a couple years ago. The even more mysterious Sister Novena ran out of Memphis to be here.

Now it seems that I've heard the call and am in the process of leaving Atlanta, my on-and-off home for 25 years, and am moving here. I've had to change the "About Me" text on my sidebar to read "The life and strange times of a typical 50-something Zen Buddhist" instead of "The life and strange times of a typical 50-something Zen Buddhist living in Atlanta, Georgia." And since Zen Buddhists do in fact seem somewhat typical here, the tag line "The life and strange times of a typical 50-something Zen Buddhist living in Portland, Oregon" won't have the irony of the Georgia line, so I'll have to think of something new.

I also had to drop the "Bill Richardson for President" link, as well as, oh, sell my house, pack up my belongings, and start a brand new life in a new town.

So, since my life seems to be threatening to finally become somewhat interesting, it's probably time to start this inactive blog up again. Thank for tolerating my prior clearing-my-throat posts.