I admit I am not much of a critic. I know what I like, and honestly I like just about everything, so don’t expect your standard, everyday review of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Twelfth Night.



I further admit that for me Shakespeare has too often just been words on a page – a cognitive exercise in appreciation of the work of one of the world’s great…

Our English-speaking tour guide at De Halve Mann Brewery in Bruges makes a point of telling us as we ended our visit, “I don’t care what the boat men tell you, we don’t use canal water to brew our beer with.” Then pausing for just the right effect, she added, “Well, except for the dark beer that we sell to the French.”

Her well timed shtick brings a chuckle from the…

Above: One of the Abbey of Our Lady of Guadalupe's sumptuous fruitcakes, awaiting an evening snack down.…

by Rusty Rae and Sheila Hunter

There is another “Greatest Generation,” although mostly long forgotten — the 300,000 men, women, and children who made the 2,200 mile trek from Independence, MO to Oregon’s Willamette Valley and beyond between 1846 to 1869. You can experience the trials and tribulations of these Americans by visiting the…