Why We Fell in Love With Portland & Oregon

Friendly rallies.  

                                                          

Mass transit. 

 Art shops with . . . CLASSES!

  

Meandering rivers and roads.

Extremely friendly natives.

And the most beautiful views you'll ever find.

Not to mention the best foods! 

And the most beautiful gardens. 

With homes to die for.

Sigh.

I'm Alive, I Promise!

I am so bad, I know. I apologize. I have photos from everywhere to share and I just keep pushing them aside. What is up with that?  Yes, Easter is around the corner, so you KNOW I'm decorating! I found these wonderful chicks stashed in the basement. Bought them at Harrod's this summer (on the 1/2 off table) and completely forgot about them. They are tooooo cute! (Note the Oregonian rocks I carried home?)

Earlier in the week, we got slammed with more storms. I noticed the doves hunkered down on the bird feeder and saw the storm coming (round II). The wind started whipping and I went to get something to tie the bird feeders down with and . . . 

Boom!  By the time I got back to the door, a wall of water hit. Literally. We lost shingles on the roof which I am still finding in the yard. Thank goodness I had already made an appointment for our roofer to come out and do some other work. Lord knows what's going on up there now!

We were so enamored with pancakes for dinner in Portland, we made them again. This time, I made fried pears. 

YUM! And yes, I'm soooo fat!

Recipe for 2:

1 pear

1 T butter

1 T honey

1/4 t cinnamon

1/4 t lemon and/or orange zest

spec of nutmeg

Easy peasy. Enjoy!

Portland, OR

We made it Portland, finally!  I already feel like I'm home.  We are loving it here.

I had my first (and last) Bloody Mary at breakfast.  Yuk.

We found Besaw's around the corner. Yum. Everything was great. Good thing I cleansed before I got out here, huh?

 Of course, we made a bee-line to the big toy shop in town, Finnegan's.

We ran into a peace rally. How cool is this?  Reminds me of my childhood!

Don't think you'd see this in Nashville.

Look at the dalmatian with a message!

 Lunch at Little Big Burger.

Then back to the hotel to look at our goodies!

 The kid's.

 Ours.

And my toys! Smurfs! I remember in high school German class, our teacher brought these back with her from Germany. I love them!

Ok, time for a siesta, now. I so seepy.

Spring is in the Air

You'd think, one day, I may just grow my own iris. I haven't planted them in the past two placed we've lived.  That's just not right. I adore them!

My daffs are blooming, so I've made the place look a little springy inside also.

I love these little fellows.

The basement  is coming along just dandy. (Don't look too closely at the smaller "before" pic. HOARDER!) I don't care to admit to how much junk I threw out or gave away. Why in the world do some of us do this? Lawdy me. I got it from my mom. Hope my kids don't catch it from me!

While we had wonderfully warm weather yesterday, there was a nip in the air today. The hub was given a wonderful gift of Chinese tea when he was in Beijing last week. It is perfect for these cooler afternoons.

Today we've had this spring forward time change, which is always a challenge.  I don't much like it.

Rainy Day

Buttons, buttons, who has the buttons?

Mom did! 

I found this wonderful old mason jar full of buttons. I cleaned the jar and replaced the buttons. Now, where will I put it?  Maybe in my bedroom.

 

 I'm still pulling albums from the basement and enjoying my turntable.

While listening to my old albums, I've been playing in photoshop.

I love rainy days.

My Obsession

Deary me.  First I find several boxes of albums (of the vinyl variety) in my basement. Then I find a compact turntable online. Boom. 1 + 1 = obsessed.

I've been bringing albums up all day and playing them. All dayeeeee! Thank goodness my brothers taught me, early on, how to take care of and keep the records clean. They are all, well mostly, in great shape. A little dusty in some grooves, but with a little cleaning, voila, beautiful sound. That's even after being stored in attics, basements and garages for over 25 years!

This is my first day's worth that I'm airing out (and did I mention PLAY??!). Ha. I'm having way too much fun with these.

The weather has been nice, so the doors have been thrown open all day.

The basement is coming along.I have been through every single box down there, thrown 2/3s out and now have the dastardly deed of really organizing. Like for the first time in my life!  Yay for me!

A Little Bit O' This . .

. . . and a little bit of that. 

Don't you love my "personal" wine glass? The teenager's girlfriend made it for me! She's a very sweet and kind young lady. Awwwww.

It's been a busy couple of weeks. I am still cleaning the basement out, with many trips to the dump, filling both wagon's up with JUNK! Just about there, folks.

I had a quick trip back home to get some Executor things done in the Arlington Co. courts for Johnny's estate. The hub had business, so I jumped on board of that train! (Wish we had trains--a car train would be perfect!!)

When we arrived, we drove into Old Town (Alexandria) to have a meal at one of our old haunts. 

I was born in Old Town and the hub lived here when he first moved to Washington. In fact, our first dinner together was here. Anyway, it was good going home this time. 

 Gotta love the old pubs.

The second night, I was able to meet up with Mary Jane, my SIL, and my niece Kelly and her two boys, my grandnephews. We ate wonderful American fare at Sweetwater.  Jack, the oldest, drew this while we were waiting for a table. Simply amazing. The kid has had no training whatsoever.

The second night, the hub and I were able to go out with my brother Jim and his family. These were not part of that dinner, we had Italian. Really good Italian, although you would never have guessed it coming from a place called Pasta Plus in a strip mall.  Ha, that's where you always find the best restaurants! I had the most delicious stuffed shrimp (with crab) on risotto. The hub and I had a quick lunch earlier in the day at a place that was near my mom's old house in Potomac Yard (where there are actually trains!), Hops. They have the most divine "rolls." In actuality, they are croissants with a little Krispy Kreme-ish drizzle. Oh my.

Staying in the old neighborhood (in a hotel) was a little bit of a trip. I have walked these streets many-a-time. Our house was less than a mile from here. This is Crystal City. To the right, in between the two buildings, is Pentagon City. In the background is Arlington Ridge, where my elementary school was. Pout.

To put things in perspective,  here's a map. I sure do miss it.

Unfortuantely, this trip, I was unable to meet up with any friends.  I plan on driving up next time so I can see my buds.

A Missed Birthday

Johnny would have been 56 today.  Missing him dearly.

This was taken in the 60s, probably waiting for a protest to start here at the Washington Monument in DC. He was quite the hippie.  We used to pile into the wagon as a family and actually drive him into town for the war demonstrations.  His hair was considered LONG here!

Miss you Johnny!