Milwaukie

Before I begin, I'd just like to complain that spell-check hates Milwaukie.  Spell-check has no sense of history apparently.  

Baby Henry LOVES Milwaukie because that's where the gang from Apples to Oregon end up at the end of the book.  If you don't have a kid, then don't bother clicking on the link.  If you do have a kid, then definitely buy that book.  As a parent, I wish there were more Oregon-related childrens' books out there.  I started to write one myself called "The Christmas Bats," but I can't find an illustrator.  Also, it's probably not a good idea to glorify cigarette smoking in a book aimed at kids under 5.  Who knew?

Interim Mayor Jeremy Ferguson autographed our map of Oregon, but I have no idea why the "Interim" is in there.  Perhaps it's a a great story, but more likely it's a sad story so I'm not touching it.  Maybe the "Interim" has gone away since he signed it.  I have such a high esteem for the term "Mayor" that I don't know how to feel about putting an "Interim" in front of it.  It's kind of like "Diet."  Introducing Interim Pepsi.  

I wish I had met Mayor Ferguson at city hall instead of at the OMA because I am totally unclear on Milwaukie's boundaries.  I believe the north of town is basically lined by Johnson Creek; the west, of course, by the Willamette River.  I'm not sure where Milwaukie's eastern and southern borders are, and for some reason that sort of detail is really important to me.  Is Bob's Red Mill in Portland or Milwaukie?  Did I get pulled over in Milwaukie or Gladstone that weird night in '91 on the way home after the Rocky Horror Picture Show?  Maybe it's not that big of thing to some people, but I like to know exactly where one thing ends and another thing starts.  I get an overwhelming sense of ambiguous discomfort when I'm in, say, the Ardenwald neighborhood and I can't even tell which county I'm in much less which city.  I'm not sure why that means so much to me.  I'm getting old and boring and predictable.  That might have something to do with it.  

25 down, 217 to go.