Better Late (Thankful) than Never

I rolled back into work on Monday, straight into an meeting, followed by an hour conference call and then six and a half hours of a meeting with out of town collaborators. All that talk talk talk makes me thankful for the weekend just past.

I am also thankful for:

• family (mine and Chris's both) - I got so lucky to have all these people to whom I am related by birth or marriage that I liketo be around. Also, my children are more wonderful than insane, though they are certainly a healthy dose of the latter as well. I never get over how good it feels to have three little people come running in at the sound of the opened door, yelling "Mommy's home! YAY! Mommy's home!"
• work - I continue to have a fulfilling job with people I like doing something I care about. Oh, and I have some flexibility in my scheduling too. 
• home - my house is warm and cozy, with a fire often in the fireplace and good smells coming from the kitchen. I live on a fantastic block with thoughtful, generous, fun neighbors, most of whom are good cooks too. My city is easy to love; interesting and filled with cool little discoveries. Plus, it has lots of bridges. The state is beautiful and often progressive despite itself.
• friends - from my closest friends to people we are getting to know, I feel love and acceptance. Often people laugh at my jokes and praise my children. 
• health - My body has continued to let me run without complaining too much, which gives me the emotional and physical balance I have been needing. It even stops raining for long enough now and then to make runs reasonably pleasant. 

What more could I want? Oh right, holidays that remind me how lucky I am to have so much.

Place cards from Thanksgiving dinner, by Ada with help from her aunt and uncle 

The kids' table at Second Thanksgiving dinner this past weekend.

Walks

I have been hearing a bit from my mother that I am not posting enough pictures. So:

I took Ian and Mira on a couple of walks last week, downtown and around the neighborhood. It was super fun (and not raining!) though at some point Mira always insists that I carry her.

I love this because it reminds me of some photos of me at this age.

No walk around the block is complete without a snack cup.

Mira remains exceptionally hard to photograph. She never sits still for a picture.

(Not Exactly in the Spirit of) Wordless Wednesday

For Karen:

Keep Thrilling Me

Just one more reason why I love Portland:


Video by goldensummitinc

Park, Preserve, Park

One day I will have stuff to say, maybe after I drop Ada off at kindergarten on Friday (YES, school does not start for Portland kindergarteners until FRIDAY. Pathetic.) In the mean time, some shots from our wanderings this weekend (park, nature preserve, park). I am just sad I don't get any photos of the amazing al fresco Japanese feast Ellen made for us on Monday night. Happily, I did take pictures at the lovely impromptu Labor Day bbq lunch we enjoyed at Mike and Steven's (grilled pineapple!). Both of which make me love my friends and neighbors and want to cry that we are near the end of the summer (as evidenced by the torrential rain that coincided with veggie pick up on Tuesday).

Oh, guess I did have some things to say.

On to photos:

My big girl.

Never have a bummer with...watermelon.

Chris thinks this is the shot Ian should use to apply to become a J Crew model. 

for Ian, it is face first down the slide, always

Lemonade (but no Burritos)

Working at home yesterday, I started thinking about the sweet potato burrito from Magnificent's, a trailer near my house.

Portland is currently in the throes of a food cart obsession.

I walked over at lunch, to find this:

You Can Find This Post At Every Blog In Western Oregon

It snowed on Sunday.

Whoopie, right? Half of the eastern seaboard was without power last week, so what do you care about a couple of flakes out here? Portland gets snow once or twice a season, and it invariably wrecks havoc. People abandon cars in the middle of the street because driving is too stressful. Stores close if the owner sees more than three flakes. Everything grinds to a standstill.

That was fine with us on Sunday, it is not as if we had anywhere to go. Looks like Wednesday will be another snow day (Portland Public Schools, and thus Ada's nursery school as well, are already shuttered at the mere thought of snow). As I was planning on working from home, I can't really call in sick. With help from Chris and our friends, I think Ada and Monkey Boy will get some childcare, and some of us will get some work done. And in a few days, after the temperatures rise back out of the low 30s, things will go back to normal.

For now, a picture of Chris' snowball tutorial:

The Muddiest Corner of the World

After a quick descent into rain, Portland has been basking in the joy of autumn sun for the past few days. We enjoyed some time outside with our pals.

They did warn us.

Pumpkins and mud = child paradise

Ada, contemplating which was the exact best pumpkin

This one didn't have to get down in the mud, but still looked concerned about it

Post-pumpkin purchase (king of the hay-bale hill)

Amusement (Park)

In a previous moment of navel-gazing I mentioned that I am not sure how I well I will share with Ada the amusements that my parents taught me to disdain. Well, maybe their training was not as thorough as I previously imagined, because Ada and I had a fantastic time at Oaks Park, an old-fashioned (in both the good and bad senses) amusement park on the south end of town.

Through this month, Oaks Park offers pre-school aged children two hours of full access to the kiddie (and as they refer to them, "intermediate") rides. For $6 every Tuesday and Wednesday, the kids can ride the carousel, train, "rockin' tug" and other rides.

When Ada rode a carousel 18 months ago, she looked half dazed and half frightened. Both those emotions are gone, replaced by a joy so complete that she almost shakes.

Please note I have sacrificed here, showing not the "best" picture, 

but the one that gives a glimpse of Ada's permanent carousel-grin.

This week's trip to Oaks Park is our second in as many weeks. Last week Ada cried when we got off the carousel the second time, saying "I don't want to get off. I want to STAY." This week she realized that some of the other rides are just as fun as the carousel (if less picturesque). The balloon ride was a big hit - we rode it three times today. The whole frame rises a few stories into the air, and spins the balloons in a circle. Each basket also spins independently, to Ada's great joy.

The balloon ride may be Ada's new favorite.

A purple motorcycle, what could be better?

Last week, 11:30 came too quickly, and we were caught unaware that the end of ride time was upon us. Not anxious to repeat the tantrum that followed the abrupt end, this week I was careful to tell Ada that the rides were ending soon.  For her last ride, Ada chose the Rockin' Tub, a boat that swings and sways and looks like this (image borrowed from the oaks park website, which OP management should not be upset given all the nice things I am saying about the park):

Before climbing up to the boat, Ada told me I should wait outside. What? My cautious child, telling me to hang back while she climbs in to shake and shimmy? I was floored. Since this was the last ride, I convinced Ada to let me on, albeit two rows behind her.

The family in the row between us commented on how brave she was. She looked very proud of herself. I was thrilled for her, but to be honest, I could have used someone holding my hand a bit.

Why didn't we do this before?

After several years of chatting with neighbors about having a block party, two of us finally arranged one. We got permits, official city-approved barricades, food and an honest-to-goodness bouncy house.  The bouncy house was borrowed from a neighbor's suburban friends, but now that we've had one I am not sure you can have a block party without a bouncy house.

Or without goats, for that matter. One of our neighbor owns a pair of pygmy goats, and nothing says "Portland Block Party" like goats on leashes. To be fair, the goats are very well behaved, leash trained and only tried to eat my plants a couple of times. Plus, they are cute.

The jazz musicians who live on the cross-street moved their practice session onto the porch so that we all could enjoy their music. Meat was grilled, children got pumped up on sugar and ran around until their tongues lolled out of their heads, and I met neighbors I have never seen before.

No one called the cops, but a local conifer did stop by to urge us to plant trees this winter. So I'd call it a win all around. We'll be doing it again next year. Maybe next time with a parade.

One of my neighbors, making nice with a local conifer. 

Ada and a friend hang out in the living room set up on the street, 

complete with couch, rug and lamp.

One Fine Week In July

A quick peek into a very busy week:

enjoying the park with a neighbor

Ada and Thing Three, picking their way through the wheat

Kruger Farm has trees just the right size for climbing

biscuits with friends old and new

Plus, a trip to the firehouse museum

the firehouse's resident fire-fighter/historian

then some time at the park

and the rest of the bacon from the biscuit

a trip to the farmer's market for berries and carnitas tacos

Monkey Boy's 4th birthday celebration

and a night bike ride that had us up late into the night,

with stops for movies, a dance party and DONUTS!

I Heart Portland, Revisited

It is almost spring, when a woman's heart turns to thoughts of . . . how much she loves her town. Yes, that again.

I love walking Ada to nursery school (a mere 7 blocks from our house), past our neighbor's yards, hipsters heading to the coffee store for that first cup, trees starting to bud. Ada and I speculate about what is in the delivery trucks, aided by the pictures of donuts or milk jugs painted on the trucks' sides. Ada engages the orange-clad construction workers, informing them that we are going to school. She and I discuss the kids and their parents. (Ada sees a second grader and her toddler brother. She wonders aloud, "is she going to school? is he?") On the walk home I call out to a neighbor and smile at other parents herding their children to school.

I love that for the price of a cafe au lait or three, my colleagues and I can work for hours at a local cafe. The space is only half-full in the morning, and no one looks askance at us for staying too long or not buying enough (or shamelessly talking like the policy wonks we are). Plus, we get to admire the toddler with the beautiful curls eating breakfast with her mother.

I love walking down the street and seeing this:

It isn't my thing, but I love that Portland is still not over the hippie, earth-worship pagan fest. Can someone else go and let me know if they really raffle Michelle's heart?

I love that every year, in the middle of our notoriously rainy winter, for a week or more the rain is replaced by sunny skies. This year we had almost three continuous weeks of sun and warm weather. I keep telling our thrilled neighbors (recently relocated from San Francisco) that a reprieve lasting this long is NOT NORMAL. Three weeks is a amazing stretch of good weather in February and early March. Not that I'm complaining; it has been really nice.

Every day that it does not rain, Ada runs out the door and down the street to see her pal Lila. Even when they argue or Ada has a meltdown because she wants the mama monkey, no not the baby monkey! she still wants to run down the block for more time with her friend. Lila charmingly runs back and forth yelling "Play! Play! Play!" It is part exclamation, part instruction. All this outside time offers me a chance to work in the garden, a bonus on an unexpectedly sunny day.

What do you love about where you live? (I am interested, whether or not you live where I do.)