More Roses

Back to the Test Rose Garden, this time with the girls. My next camera will have smell-o-vision. My favorite variety today: Rainbow Sherbert (pale pink with yellow inside), which actually smelled like orange sherbert!

Rose pics (both types)

At the International Rose Test Garden.

Rain damage from our recent spate of record setting storms is most apparent in the lighter roses. As always, click to embiggen. If you want *really* big versions for your desktop or whatever, email me. I have 40 more. :)

The kid isn't one of ours. I just thought she was adorable.

Return to Slobby Island

Sauvie Island is great place for pick-your-own, fishing, hiking, and generally sucking up the green. Matt & I had a great picnic today. The blackberry bushes are just blooming. We'll go back in August to harvest their tiny delectables. Raise your hand if you want to come along!

Faces to Names

Left to Right: Stephen, Tammy, Nicole. This was at a McMenamins (the one on NW 23rd), which is a local chain of pubs / breweries / restaurants. Some have theaters or hotels or other fun extras. They are often in historical buildings which are revamped and throughly decorated with whimsical paintings. God, I love Portland.

Note the intruding fingertip as I learn my new phone... It's red and flips open to a QWERTY and I can access my email now! I feel so high tech! I even got a Bluetooth thingy so the GPS lady can whisper guidance in my ear.

Settling in

So... we're here. Settling in nicely. Or at least we will be when our stuff arrives, tomorrow. It'll be great to have furniture again. Right now we have a blow-up bed but no chairs, so we eat sitting on the floor. With paper plates. :)

Our temporary apartment is wonderful: Very large, very open, with tall ceilings, a fireplace, and a cat window. Within 2 miles we have not one but TWO Fred Meyers (think Target + grocery store), Home Depot, Target, a great yarn store that carries roving, and Uwajimaya (sort of a Japanese Fred Meyer)... and it's half the rent we've been paying! It'll almost be a shame to move when we find our house.

Even better is reuniting with our friends. Nicole, Stephen, and Tammy have made us very happy. I went to a big social event this weekend and was surprised to see so many old friends from my previous life here. We've all evolved... gained and lost weight, or hair, and one even changed gender. I'm also busily making new friends. :) The one thing that hasn't changed is the love... I feel so at home and comfortable here. *sigh* It's good to be back.

I do have to make a quick trip back to Philly this Friday. The transport company finally admitted they had failed to even pick Wensleydale UP - they were supposed to collect her on the 10th. So I am flying back and will drive her home.

Diane, this pic is just for you. :)

Things that happened in Portland

a) [before we got to Portland] Another airline clerk fell in love with Matt's legs and bumped us to an exit row.

1) We saw the kids. Lopey Lou suddenly resembles Audrey Hepburn (when she's not grinning ear to ear), while Maddie is channeling Joan Jett. Laura and Ann (the Mommies) both looked happy and healthy, too.

2) Matt's interview went swimmingly. More importantly, he really liked the clinic and the staff and feels he'd be happy there. It's pretty far out (Firwood) but he says that gives him more time to enjoy his car. :)

3) We saw friends Tammy, Nicole, and Andrew. Bad pics, great conversations.

4) We rented an apartment!! No mean feat, since we were hunting for a month-to-month while we buy, and have 3 cattle! The place we found is full of light and has a perfect cat window - superwide and looks out on bird-filled trees. The boys will be ecstatic. It's a little further west than ideal, but only 10 minutes from downtown. And it's half the rent we're paying now. :)

5) No Burgerville this trip. But I did have a Redneck Benedict (poached eggs, country friend chicken, biscuits & gravy), which firebombed my work on the Wii Fit Plus for the past month but was still worth it.

6) Matt liked his breakfast bacon so much that when we couldn’t finish it he stuck it in his beef jerky bag for later. My husband is weird but assures me it will be consumed before it becomes a health hazard.

We will be headed out on the 10th, most likely.

Sock Summit & Portland

Portland, Portland... how I love thee... let me count the ways...

It was so great to see the kids again. I forgot my camera was working again (thank you Camera Fairy!) until after we parted ways so no new pics of them, but they are gorgeous and scarily grown-up (13 and 16)! :)

We ate at Burgerville. We looked at houses (Craftsman!!). We reveled in ambient temperatures compatible with human life. We saw our friends Stephen and Nicole, and they introduced us to Rock Band.

This is a game I did not want to play. I thought it would be stupid and auditorally painful. Instead, it was an awesome adrenaline rush and really really really fun! It actually made me think about taking up the guitar again, until reality resurfaced and I remembered I was "playing" a guitar-shaped Simon Says, not an actual instrument. The funny thing is that I screwed up on the easy parts but kicked butt on the trickier high-speed bits (well, on the Easy setting). I loved doing vocals on "Spiderwebs," too, but afterwards Stephen handed me the guitar back and told Nae "You should keep singing. It's really hard to find good singers." Hmm. Message received.

I had to check out Yarnia! They have racks of cones - you pick the combination you want, and they wind them together for you into a custom yarn. I made "Money," something Rach and I were thinking about dying but we couldn't find bare sock yarn with glitz in it. I blended sage, forest, and black wool, with just a hint of green glittery nylon. 450 yards for $8! It's pictured here along with some delightfully squishy Madelinetosh yarn. 2008 was all about the autumn shades - 2009 seems to be the Year of Green. I've been trying to upload a video but Blogger is being cranky, so it's here on Flickr instead.


at the Sock Summit, I continued my calling as Bodyworker to the Knitting Stars. Hanging out with Amy, Heather, Charlene, Tess, Jasmin, Gigi, and tons more wonderful people was just the cat's meow. I took a class on vertically stranded colorwork (design ideas are exploding in my skull) and learned more about what Knitty wants. I am submitting at least one pattern: Lips sealed and fingers crossed for now...

Other snapshots of the hectic fun: Brian knitting 7 pairs of socks at one time on one ginormous needle. Rachel and AJ at the Ravelry party (AJ is a skater chick and has a superawesome new tattoo, but I didn't get to spend enough time with her). Rachel and me at the Rav party, after dark, taken by Wondermike. Replica of a 1500 year old Egyptian sock. I'm not going to bore you with tons of pics from the Sock Museum but looking at how things like heel construction changed through time was really cool.