Strass Chapel, Austria

Maria Brettfall, a pilgrimage church above the village of Strass im Zillertal,Tirol.

Goodnight, Ladies

The old girl was gimpy, you could see it in her walk. When the farmer let her out of the barn, she deferred to the grassy places along the outbuildings, avoiding the gravel drive and maybe stopping for a mouthful of grass along the way. Her two little ones were springy like puppies, black and …


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Rant: On Bloggy Entitlement and Such

 More webby criticism. I’ve had quite a bit of thinky free time. Not interested in my opinionated bloviating on blogging? How’s about an odd little museum in Auburn, Washington, instead?

I’ve read a significant number of posts by bloggers saying, essentially, here’s a bunch of stuff I need if you’re going to invite me on your trip. Or, alternatively, here are a bunch of tactics you, blogger, can follow to get a free trip. And often, that stuff irritates the daylights out of me. No, truthfully, every time that stuff irritates the daylights out of me. Rarely, do I see anything saying “Do good, honest work. Strive to write well and love your readers. Everything else will follow.”

Honestly, when I get an invitation to travel somewhere I think:

ARE YOU SURE?! YOU WANT TO SPEND MONEY FOR ME TO DO WHAT, NOW? BECAUSE YOU WANT ME TO WRITE ABOUT IT ON MY BLOG? WHAT? ARE YOU SURE?

Yes, I do I think these thoughts in all caps.


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The Vanity Seven

Stupid memes. (That link tells you what the hell a meme is, if you’ve been lucky enough to avoid learning.)

Does anyone else hate them as much as I do? Then, wouldn’t you know it,  some person you like and respect is all, “Hey, I totally tagged you for the meme!” When that happens to me,  I go off in a corner and mutter about how I’m going to have to unfriend the oh so likeable Dan and Audrey, or that good natured Peter, and that is going to suck for me,  mostly, because they have plenty of fine friends who are much less surly.

The annoyance meme I’m crabby about today asks that I dig through my archives and find posts that fit each of seven categories. It also requires that I be somewhat vain and show-offy. Um. Okay then.

Memes.  Bah,  humbug. Here’s your seven posts, damn you.


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Guest Post: Night Train to Salzburg

My friend Ciaran put himself through all kinds of crappy travel so he could hang out with me in central Austria for about 36 hours. He sent me this email about the train portion of his return trip and I liked it so much I asked him if I could share it with you. He …


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