Some photos from the Banks, Oregon High School graduation and Portland Coummunity College’s 2025 Commencement ceremony. As with high school sports, it’s impossible for me to take pictures at one of these events without getting caught up in it. The huge meaning it has for so many people radiates so strongly the power is impossible to escape.
There are going to be a lot of different kinds of photos here, from lots of different places. I’m still working out many of the finer points of posting photo galleries on WordPress, so this is just a teaser.
As you would expect, click on any photo to see a full-screen version. Sports photos are Copyright © Valley Times 2024-2025.
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The process can be a lot smoother and faster if you come prepared. You can do the most time-consuming parts before you get to the store. More importantly, you can avoid having to go back to complete the process.
I recently changed back to my original carrier after trying out a new one. (My neighborhood has awful cell reception, being blocked by a hill.) It was a case of, “I should have learned from the last time,” I didn’t, but here’s a simple rundown of steps so you can.
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Edith stood up abruptly and smoothed her skirt, though it was the kind of pleated wool, tartan plaid that had no need of smoothing. It was just an unconscious motion she performed, like a nonverbal paragraph break. It let her remove herself from the preceding few minutes and begin a new subject. She was doing what she was brought up to do. She turned and looked down at him, still sitting on the park bench and told him matter-of-factly, “As I said, we’re just friends.” She only looked at him long enough to complete that brief statement before she turned to walk away down the quiet path that led out of the park.
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Though this is indeed a bit morbid, I couldn’t think of a better place to start off something called The Boomer Blog. If it’s gonna’ start with a bang, it might as well be a big one. It shall begin with them, or at least our generation’s innate fear of them.
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Hello. My name is Ric and I’m a Boomer. In fact, being born in 1950, I always had the feeling that year was peak boomer”. It was ground zero for a population explosion the likes of which the country had never seen. The people who returned from World War II, came home and reproduced like crazy. They went at it like bunnies.
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With all due respect to Rick Steves, et al, I found some glaring omissions that would greatly help a tourist get along on their first visit to Iceland. These were picked up on a one-week visit, so there are probably more.
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Having gone untouched for countless years, rgetter.com (a.k.a. ric@large – I’m not even sure if I’m going to keep that name, what do you think?) is finally becoming active again. I was afraid my stories were going to be lost in the crowd on SubStack, so I figured this may be a better place for them.
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She seemed to like him in a lot of ways. Sure, they went places and did things that you would normally call “dates,” movies, the Joyrides amusement park by the river, dinners out, and all that. But he simply enjoyed talking with her and being in her company. She was interested in so many things and always wanted to learn more. When he talked about football, she apologized for knowing nothing about it and then bombarded him with questions to understand it better. He took her to one of the games at his high school alma matter and gave her a running commentary about what was happening on the field and impressed him with what she had learned already. And she told him all about the jewelry design she did. It was something that never quite engaged him, but the enthusiastic way she explained it, he found himself getting a real interest in it.
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