This week in The Pearl – August 13, 2026


Our main purpose in going to Mukilteo last week was to help our Parisian friends, Shirley & Jim, sort through their storage unit. Like we did when we moved to France, they got rid of most everything but also kept a lot in a storage unit in Mukilteo. Since they plan to stay in France…

This week “not” in The Pearl – June 18, 2026


We have been back in France now for 18 days, and in Paris for the last week. So how does it feel to be back in Paris? The first word that comes to my mind is ‘familiar.’ Though it is quite a different vibe than The Pearl, it does not seem foreign. I am doing…

TheTravelsketcher’s Tuesday – Fine dining


“And asparagus? My father would sooner have carried a twenty-dollar bill to his grave than spend it on some glamorous weed coated in cheese. But for me, dinner at a fine restaurant was the ultimate luxury. It was the very height of civilization. For what was civilization but the intellect’s ascendancy out of the doldrums…

This week in The Pearl – April 24, 2026


We had some nice weather this week, with just a bit of rain to remind us that it is still spring, not summer. Walking is our major form of exercise and we are blessed to be in a place with so many options. Just a few blocks away is the Willamette River Walk, our favorite….

This week in The Pearl – March 6, 2026


We had a wonderful weekend. Saturday we celebrated Alexis’ birthday by going for high tea at DOJA Tea Lounge in Tualatin. It is next to Tualitin Lake at The Commons. Tricia had the ‘Vegan’ – the rest of us carnivores had the ‘Citrus Menu’, though there was only a tiny bit of chicken on one…