Ave Maria. Now say "cheese."

It's the annual Feast of the Immaculate Conception, and in the old days at least, it meant that Catholics had to go to church... For Catholic grammar school students, it also was a day off, and for their moms, it was a good day to have the kids' pictures taken with Santa. In our case he was at Bamberger's department store on Market Street in jolly old Newark... Then over to Woolworth's, hoping for a Coke at the lunch counter, and downstairs to where we got our Christmas stockings... The older I get, the more I marvel at how much my mom was able to make out of next to nothing. She gave her all. We were lucky kids...

I was enjoying a cappucino with a friend at the Guilder coffee shop in northeast Portland recently when I noticed a fancy video camera set up on a tripod... Later on, I discovered that it was CBS News interviewing the shop's owner, Laila Ghambari, for an "Eye on America" segment... She was complaining about tariffs, which were wreaking havoc on her business. Couldn't tell from the coffee drinks, though, which were excellent...

Finally got to a University of Portland women's basketball game the other evening, and it was a splendid outing as usual. Great scene, real people, real athletics, next to no money involved... The Lady Pilots are in a rebuilding phase, to be sure, and they were shellacked by the bigger, better, deeper BYU squad... But that's just reason to root even harder... The UP women are 4-5 so far, but conference play hasn't started yet... The Pilots will visit Portland State on Sunday the 21st...

Speaking of sports, the guy who does the play-by-play on the Sunday night football games on NBC, Mike Tirico, gets on my nerves... He adopts the same syrupy chirp that you'd expect from somebody narrating the Thanksgiving Day Parade... Give me some salty old dude with scars from his playing days, a rasp in his voice, and a Budweiser in front of him...

They caught the coyote that bit the nine-year-old in a backyard over here in inner northeast. The authorities put the beast to sleep... Its identity was confirmed by a DNA sample from the victim's sock... The child got away with minor injuries... I learned all this in the December issue of the Hollywood Star News, which continues to hit a nice stride under new management...

A moment of silence for Steve Cropper, the legendary guitarist from the Stax-Volt R&B hit factory in Memphis... He was the "Play it, Steve" on the Sam & Dave classic "Soul Man," and the backbone of the Blues Brothers' band, but so much more than that... Cropper died last week at age 84... His last appearance in Portland (and maybe his only, for all I know) was on a tour with Dave Mason back before Covid... A wonderful night at Revolution Hall, as all of them are in that remarkable venue...

They've circulated some artist's renderings of what's going to happen along the Willamette River over by the Memorial Coliseum, ostensibly as part of somehow restoring the old Black Albina neighborhood... In a few of the drawings, the old grain silos are left standing, raising the question of what they should be filled with now... Maybe it will be taxpayer money, with an underground conveyor belt to the Blazers arena...

I asked the robot for this week's Oregon birthdays, and here is what it said. Although I must confess, I don't recognize any of these Sagittarians, do you?... Today, former Deschutes County GOP pol Gene Whisnant turns 82, ex-pro basketballer and coach Will Conroy celebrates his 43rd, and retired Major League Baseball outfielder Kory Casto reaches 44... Tomorrow, Dennis Dunaway, Alice Cooper's original bass player, turns 79, while Kat Bjelland of the band Babes in Toyland has a 62nd birthday and former Oregon House member Bill C. Bellamy a 76th...  On Saturday, actor, singer, and Tenacious D collaborator JR Reed will be 58, comedian Rick Reynolds hits 74, and writer and filmmaker Don Roff will blow out 59 candles... On Sunday, former major leaguer Scott Hatteberg will be 56, and Portland politico John Minnis turns 72... And here's to a wonderful week to all who made it this far. Stay dry!

Jeff Knight is the former dining and entertainment columnist of the Jersey Journal. Send news tips to Jeff at jeffknightpdx@gmail.com.