Whoa. Wha? September?!

Perplexed that summer has flown by so quickly, I paused to reflect on what happened. Upon said reflection, I came to the realization that I had allowed cobwebs to not only settle around the apartment, but also upon the blog booth. Blowing off the proverbial dust along with the literal, I opened the apartment windows and windows vista (I think?), let the 70 degree breeze blow through, and decided to kick it with the laptop and a sponge.

Don't be fooled - if my experiment works, it will look as if I've been posting all along the last month or so, but I haven't! I may or may not have succesfully made it look like I did, but I didn't, really. Got that?

American Wedding with Chinese Tendencies

Two folks got married this weekend that I knew from Fox. Both had spent a fair amount of time in China, and had incorporated some of the dress, decorations, and food into the ceremony and reception. Being a bit of a China fan myself, I wanted to add something Chinese to my gift. Unfortunately my decision to do so came on an evening in which I had slept 4 hours the night before and had only eaten a couple of granola bars that day. Rather than the usual "The Happy Couple" or "The Newlyweds" or whatever the heck people put on their cards, I wanted something unique, dangit! In a state of mild delirium (or extreme, perhaps?), I decided I would use Mandarin characters to sound out "For the Happy Couple", aka Fo De Ha Pi Kou Po [foe duh hah pee kow poe]. Lame? Perhaps. Offensive? I sure hope not! As I placed the gift on the table, I hoped that they would find a fraction of the amusement I felt on that odd evening. At the very least, it made the coffee grinder a little more memorable.

Family Reunion

It's that time of year: bees in your soda, grass getting drier, long cool summer evenings, camping trips and family reunions: where good food, drink, and relatives come from afar to get together, catch up, and argue good naturedly over who's in which pictures or what a death certificate says about an ancient relative's cause of death. A group of twenty or so of us got together for a few hours that Saturday afternoon, and then about a dozen or so of us continued back at the homestead for the rest of the weekend.

Even though I'd spent quite a bit of time with some of the fam, it never gets old! Not only were the regulars there, but my cousin brought her new baby and a couple of their dogs. Story swapping, game playing, and dog wrassling ensued well into the evening. Sorry, no pics!

P.S. The flip flops are getting easier to manage. I've been using them for short jaunts such as getting the mail and taking out the garbage, although at first I was putting off taking out the garbage until it was out of hand due to me avoiding putting them on, but I hardly hesitate now. YES!

The Sounds of Summer: Movement 4: Prelude to Gritting Teeth

My laziness may finally be beating out my need for comfort. I have grown weary of sandals that have so many staps on them that you'd might as well be wearing shoes. There are times that I would prefer not to wear shoes or strap-riddled sandals, but have hesitated in getting flip flops due to my severe dislike of having something between my toes. In the past I have almost wrecked my car frantically trying to take my shoe off when a misguided sock worked its way between two toes.

But I finally broke down and got a pair, telling myself that if I just can't stand it I'm only out $4. Resolute, I headed for Alton Baker Park. Being in a masochistic mood, I chose a sawdust path that would take me on a 2 mile loop. Gritting my teeth, I walked/limped my way around, to discover that half a mile of it was also gravel. Trying to keep my mind off the current situation, I tried to focus on anything else. Wow, that tree is very, uh, leafy. That duck's really floating well. The sun's sure yellow today. I figured that if I can make it around this loop, I can do just about anything in these abominable devices. I made it around the loop, took them off, and threw them in the car none too gently. Sorry, Car!

A warm visit and a moving experience

It just so happened that on the same day a Portland friend was moving, a friend from Spokane (Kelsey) was visiting the Portland area.

Flexing my quazi-spontaneous muscle, Kelsey and I were going to choose where to go for the morning visit once we got up there. Having a couple of hours before the moving began, we chose to grab breakfast at a place that was recommended after a virtual visit online, called the Paradise Cafe in Bridgeport Plaza. The food was good, the fresh squeezed oj was great, and catching up and encouraging one another under some trees on a warm summer morning helped the cafe live up to its name a little more.

Then it was off to flex the quazi-moving muscles. Albeit an all-too-brief visit with the folks I used to spend more time around, it was well worth it. Since the move to and move from locations were there in the same city, we helped on both ends for about 5 hours or so. What could have been drudgery for a person on one's own turned into an industrious afternoon filled with laughter, food, sweat, and lots of water. And laughter.

Once all was said and done, I headed over to Laurelhurst Park to cool off and catch up with a

couple other local folks.

After a good full day, I headed back home to gear up for another week.