This is my first entry, a test really. I can no longer say I quit my job last Friday because another Friday has since come along. Escaping to Oregon has helped in distancing myself from that now closed chapter. That same distance, however, also takes me away from my love and companion, Dana. With this and other electronic communications I feel the distance can remain physical and nothing more.

I arrived Thursday afternoon, and the sun has not let up. This is a welcomed change from this past Winter's harshness and negligible Spring in New York. Time here has been mostly supporting my love of food and leisure. It's nice to have no agenda. This morning it was difficult to ascertain the time because the guest house I'm staying in has no clocks. Rob's mom told me this was intentional when I inquired. Her answer was quite delightful. I stopped wearing my watch some months back, and I'm fighting to keep it off. Appointments are beginning to take on somewhat of a burden-like characteristic with their punctuality. Parties are really nice from this perspective because people simply come and go as they please. Start when guests arrive and finish when they leave.

My buddy Rob lives currently with his mom, Sharon, and his step-dad, Peter, in Newburg, OR. The property is dedicated to many different loves amongst them: roses, food, and family. The Willamette River runs all the away across the back of the property. It's quite the lovely river to swim in, without drinking any of it, but it does carry a somewhat unsettling odor. I guess the city life took me away from nature a little too far. I'd rather be in that river any day over simply telling tales of the Hudson.

That ought to be enough to see if this works.
Ciao.