When I taught English at the high schools in Lake Oswego, the kids referred to their lives there as being “inside the bubble.”  I came to believe this as well, as Lake Oswego is an interesting place of money, privilege, power, and very little crime.  Unlike our neighborhood, the homes are all nice, with manicured gardens and expensive cars in the garage (not on the lawn as a select few do around here, sigh).  My kids, so accustomed to life “inside” were often quite worried about my safety as I lived in Portland where the terrible things happened.  “Oh Ms. Sohn, isn’t that a bad neighborhood?  Aren’t you afraid?”  In response, I would thank them for caring and assure them that I was rather fearless by nature (I did teach high school, after all) and felt safe, too.

Though they had many things I could only dream about at that age, my students were typical young people.  They were sweet, smart (though sometimes altogether stupid), hilarious, sassy, sometimes unruly, and exhibited all of the behaviors associated with teenagers: trying to find their place in the world, the drama of relationships, and getting into all manner of trouble.  In spite of or despite this, I’m not sure which, I loved them all, and did my best to teach them everything I knew.

Anyhoo, we ventured to the bubble for the 46th annual Festival of the Arts on Saturday afternoon.  It was a perfect day – warm and sunny.  As for the festival itself, it is quite nice, not too big, but big enough not to have Mama’s weird homemade junk, though I did see some rather creepy looking sculptures (to each their own).  Our friend Jamee was one of the many talented artists there and had her usual display of beautiful paintings.  I hope she did well.  The highlight, however, had to be the incredible showcase of mosaics with many unique interpretations of the ancient art.  I said “Wow!” a lot.

After perusing the art and buying a neat vase from the Yoga Goat, we completed Portland City Walk No. 18.  It led us through a tour of the town, wandering down roads I had never taken when I taught there.  It is a beautiful place with homes classic to modern and small to gigantic (I should say small for Lake Oswego because what looks little there is pretty normal, even slightly big, in our neighborhood), lots of mature trees, lovely views of the lake, the surrounding hills, Mount Hood, and many, many birds, like the Song Sparrow above, singing happily.

Ahh, another perfect Saturday – hope yours was too!