Ichiban Japanese Restaurant and the Panama Hotel

Ichiban is right next door a considerably more elegant Japanese restaurant where people stand in the entry waiting for their table. At Ichiban, there’s no wait. It’s a dumpy little diner of a place with vinyl booths, formica tables, and a small menu. I had the udon – a bowl of soup with fat noodles …


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Fly at Your Own Risk

The airlines in Britain are off the hook. A suit was filed against them seeking damages for deaths by deep vein thrombosis – DVT. Not their fault, the airlines say, that the plane was cramped and passengers developed DVT. The judges agreed. Airline travel has progressively worsened since I was a young lass off to …


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Strangers on a Train

If husband is here when it comes time to head south to Eugene, we get in the car and make a road trip out of it. We stop in Wilsonville for coffee and go shopping at Fry’s. With two of us, it’s the most efficient way to travel. But for solo travel, I take the …


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Now It’s a Peaceful Oasis

A few years back I was working in the Eastlake neighborhood. I walked to work almost every day, down the stairclimb, across the treacherous I-5 onramp, and down the hill to the startup by the lake. One morning there was a flyer posted at the top of the stairclimb – an Eastlake neighbor was looking …


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