Portland

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Tuesday

Tuesday was a good day. My friend Susan was feeling under the weather, so I chauffeured her to the DMV, where we discussed life, the horrid power of migraines, and chuckled about the inefficiencies and oddities of government offices, the people you don’t seem to see anywhere else. Then it was off to my favorite Indian place for lunch. I was reminded of the best signs of a fine friendship. No need for the fancy or the complicated. Let’s go to the DMV or the supermarket or sit on the front stoop and chat, the rest doesn’t matter. It really doesn’t.

After that, I wandered downtown, keen on finding the QUIN candy shop. It is tucked into Union Way (blink and you might miss it), which is reminiscent of a European style shopping arcade and very, very cool. The shop is about the size of my bathroom, but is jam packed with yumminess, nearly all of it made with locally sourced ingredients just blocks away, and without anything wince inducing like artificial flavors or corn syrup.  I had a grand time tasting and chatting with Caleb (Kaleb?), a most dapper and kind salesman if ever there was. I came home with out of this world Cherry Cola Gumdrops (a lot like gummies), Best of Oregon Caramels, and a chocolate bar with port wine in it. I love port wine!

To top it off, the hubster and I had dinner at Kelly’s Olympian, chockablock with neon!

A very fine day, indeed. Hoping the weekend is equally stellar for us all…

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Sunday afternoon, and it is rainy-drizzly and quite fall-like. I’m wearing a long-sleeved shirt and cozy cardigan with shorts, eking out summer as long as I possibly can. This was yesterday, celebrating the last of summer weather and the 100th Anniversary of Franklin High School. We’ve been a hop, skip, and a jump away for more than fifteen years but had never set foot in the building until then. Howdy-do Quakers! How beautiful and bright eyed are the girls at the window? And the trucks! Well, you know how much I love them. There was also a 1956 Cadillac like Elvis drove, but it will get its own post a little later. A real beauty!

We rode our bikes along the Springwater Corridor out to Gresham (24 miles round trip – toot, toot!), leisurely pedaling, hellooo-ing fellow riders and walkers, talking to the cute black bunny who did not give a whit about us, parking a time or two to glean the last of the ripe blackberries growing along the path (they were fabulous, Martha!), and, of course, taking plenty of snaps, as the hubster calls them. We stopped for a treat on Main Street, a scrumptious peanut butter chocolate and perfectly tart lemon cupcake at Bella Cupcake. If you are ever out that way, I highly recommend them!

Sayonara Summer 2013, you were mighty fine…

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Lobster Mushrooms with Chorizo and Parmesan Foam

Pulpo

Churros with Hot Chocolate Dipping Sauce

Isn’t it wonderful to have friends?

Last night, I rode my bicycle downtown to meet the hubster for dinner, and, quite likely, our last warm evening ride of the year. We went to Ataula, our new favorite tapas place, which, as it happens, is exactly where our old favorite place used to be, so there was no real need to lament the change, even though I did a little when I saw the space in the midst of renovations.

It is fantastic, with a very knowledgeable and friendly staff, and especially the chef, who personally made sure I got a bathroom key and came to our table while we were eating the lobster mushrooms (from Mt. Hood!) and chorizo with parmesan foam. We were the first to taste it besides him, and he wanted to make sure it was all that.  It really was! And come on, a place with churros and hot chocolate dipping sauce? The height of splendor, peeps, the height! Plus, there was pink bubbly wine and that smile. Jeepers. I am one lucky gal.

More luck in the form of timing. We rode to Chapman just in time to watch the Swifts! It was amazing and awe inspiring. Nature, I am in love with you!

Our route home took us down the Esplanade, where a multitude of like minded runners, walkers, and cyclists in shirtsleeves basked in the warm evening glow, of the moon and buzzing fluorescents. There were photographers with tripods, film makers, one man deep in conversation with Vera, and the awesome hush of reverence that this glorious city inspires. Portland, you are a gem.

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Inversion Plus Minus

Lead Pencil Studio

a m e n

Edith Green – Wendell Wyatt Federal Building

SERA Architects

Keller Fountain

Taking it to City Hall

First Congregational Church

Rebecca at the Well

Beautifully Braided Philanthropist

work in progress…

cardboard boxes + binder clips = beauty

Cargo

“If you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao

You ain’t gonna make it with anyone anyhow.”

seeing double

Tom Poirier

Local Choice Market

Hood to Coast

Best team name ever: The Third Leg is the Hardest

S.E.P. bitches!

watchers

the wedding bell, that is…

dinner

p.s.

I’ve been meaning to tell you about my exciting celebrity sighting. A few weeks back, while noshing on a treat from Dairy Queen, Sam Elliott drove by! We exchanged hellos! That voice…

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My baby brother visited us this past week. We drove and walked and ate practically ad infinitum.

From Mt. Hood

to Cannon Beach

where we saw barnacles, star fish, sea anemones, a jellyfish, TWO Bald Eagles,

a silent sea captain,

old buildings

and bouys hanging from trees.

We ate seafood, salt water taffy, and fudge.

We saw Ferraris!

They drank beer.

We saw Mt. Adams

and tall trees on Sauvie Island.

And an old advertisement on Fremont.

And chatted late in the evening and early in the morning. And napped and sat under an azure canopy in the back yard.

Life is grand

 

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