Under a Red Roof

Last Friday

December 2, 2011 in Being, Exploring, Feeling by Colleen | Permalink

I’ve been in a jumble the whole of the week. For a myriad of reasons, I suppose, mostly of the construction variety. The unpredictability of well meaning skilled laborers tinkering and toiling in the basement. The crashing booming banging of progress and regression, two fluffy cats and two haggard humans hoping for a sweet and peaceful end.

Then there is my own mind and its tricky machinations. Why do I feel sad and disjointed when, in November, in the wet rubber boot city that is Portland, Oregon, we are lavished with a spell of straight off the Colorado plains weather? Crisp cold foggy mornings turning to radiant sunglass afternoons followed by flamingo sunsets. It’s an early gift of Christmas, yet my fickle mind refuses to soften, no matter how I wield the hammer. Oh chemistry of my circuitry, you do vex me.

These photos chronicle last Friday. We walked, sat, sipped, and prattled all around the town, a visually stunning day with the best mate a girl could ever ask for. I love YOU, Gregory Spencer Cooper, heart and soul.

Astonishing what dazzling light

and lively conversation can do for a mediocre meal.

Truly.

Mossy sunlight, you are Portland.

I’ve said it before and will say it again, Saint John’s Bridge, you are my best loved. Beautiful verdigris soaring above the murk of the Willamette, into dreams and the sky. Wrap me in a shroud and toss my spent body from yours. I shall not fall to the water, but rise to the heavens, with your spires as my wings.

Forever

awed

by

the beauty

of the

everyday.

This is where we live, each and every one of us.

Ah, just there, I felt it soften.

…

Happiest of Birthdays to my Grandma.

Hugs and profound love…

Tags: Portland

Unexpected

November 8, 2011 in Being, Thinking, Writing by Colleen | Permalink

I knit that, or rather, am knitting that. It’s not exactly finished. It was an unexpected turn of events, truth be told. Seven years ago, after a botched attempt at knitting a sweater, I thought I’d given up the knitting needles for good. Then Maren made a cowl during her sojourn here in Oregon and I thought, “I want one!” So, off I went to buy a skein of yarn and needles and got the party started. Well, I wish it were that easy. I read the directions in the Reader’s Digest Complete Guide to Needlework (circa 1979), which is possibly one of the neatest how-to books ever, started, then ripped it out about ten times (shit, shit, shit), then got the hang of it, and here we are. I am looking forward to a warm neck. Our house is cold.

The cursing is another unexpected turn. I used to be a prim Polly when it came to such things, feeling enormous guilt when I let a zinger slip, most definitely left over from a childhood (who am I kidding, adulthood, too!) of wanting and believing I could be perfect and good and sweet and liked by all. Well, as it turns out, cursing can be fun (fuck ya, bitches!), needed, and appropriate, and being liked by all is not all it is cracked up to be. Besides, there are plenty of no good louts on my list of people to avoid. I might as well balance the scales. Yup.

I also never expected that right about the time I started to love my body as it is that it would go and change on me. Now I don’t know if this is at all tied to the fact that I am now forty years old, or if it is some sort cosmic joke (you should have done this sooner, honey!), but dang. The skin on my face continues to baffle me and at my eye appointment last week found out that I need to wear bifocals when I read or knit or write. Bifocals! The good news on that front is that I found an awesome pair of vintage frames, and if all works out well and they don’t break in the process of putting in new lenses, I will be kitted out like the sassafras I am now embracing. Photo below.

Finally and rather joyfully, after the quite unexpected suicide attempt of someone I know (such heavy news), I am reminded of the preciousness of life, the dazzling beauty of the everyday, and ever more gratified at the bounty of friends I’ve gathered together on this thin raft, near and far (Hef – get out your spyglass. I’m waving at you!). You are gems, and I love you all.

Small Doses of Fun and Funny

October 4, 2011 in Being, Friendship by Colleen | Permalink

The hubster has style.

Kelly has humor!

Matt has speeeed.

I am not a bowler. I bowl. I share shoes and forge community. We are strangers with a penchant for alternate identities. K-Gimmy and Bob Hughes on the line-up tonight, who are you? We are serious for the thirty seconds before the line, rituals combined with less thoughtful spasms of movement before hurling balls: at record speed, worryingly slow, and straight for the gutter. We erupt in joy, dissolve in laughter, or silently pump a fist in triumph, repeat nine more times, ten if you’re really good. Maybe drink a beer or eat nachos or both. Smile.

The Portland Timbers Corn Maize. Yup, we’re going in!

This makes total sense now. Turn left!

I’m all lost in the corn-maize. I can no longer walk happily. I came here for the special offer, a Groupon discount, that’s me! My apologies to the members of The Clash for trashing a fine song. I could not help myself. I really was lost and have a brain programmed for reciting song lyrics.

Random funny:

Lying in bed with the hubster, I heard a sound, while at the same time saw this drop onto the lamp next to the bed. The look of horror in my eyes made the hubster jump out of bed. The fact that it moved so quickly, and I could not see where it was going made me jump up on the bed and scream! I am not normally a jumper or screamer, but fifteen pairs of very long legs moving at high velocity changed my mind in a hurry. Besides, maybe loud noises will kill it. Hey, let’s shove the bed to the center of the room, sweep, and vacuum while we’re at it! You know, because it is better safe than sorry, even if it is totally harmless to humans. Just sayin’.

Random inside jokes for the hubster:

“It’s getting worse!”

“You look tired. I think you need a dough-nut nap.”

Me, Myelf, and I

August 25, 2011 in Being, Quoting by Colleen | 1 comment

Do you want to be a power in the world? Then be yourself.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

p.s. It’s also a great song by De La Soul…

Ghostly Preview

August 19, 2011 in Being, Decorating by Colleen | 2 comments

I asked my friend Michael (Hello! Are you there?) once, “How long have you been married?” And lightning quick, he replied, in a very deadpan voice, I might add, “One day longer than forever.” Whatever feeling Michael may have had about his marriage, I’m still not sure, but I can tell you, for certain, where my bathroom is concerned, this is not an expression of joy or exultation. No siree Bob.

Thanks be to the plumbing gods that we have a second bathroom, or I would be one very unhappy camper. Which reminds me, have you watched the Jim Gaffigan yet? In one of the videos he talks about camping (watch here), or rather his distaste for it. Bellyache funny. I love him. He’s weird.

Anyhoo, back to my bathroom woes. It’s taking one day longer than forever. We are at the almost phase. Almosts hinging upon each other. I’ll bet you didn’t even know this was possible. I sure didn’t, but here goes:

The cabinets are almost finished – one more layer of paint. The counter top is almost finished – they just need the cabinets to be done. The window trim is almost installed – they just need the guys working on the cabinets and counter top to finish. The tile is almost finished – they just need the windows and counter top to be done.

After they’re done, I’ll have some peace and a very long, skin pruning bath, and won’t have to worry if someone is going to drop by the house while I’m nekkid or in the middle of a yoga posture to do something I forgot, or something they forgot, at least until the new windows arrive in five weeks.

In the mean time, here’s what it looks like now. Ghostly, yet pretty, too.

Have a marvelous weekend!