Urban Wilderness

The two women with dogs passed me seemingly effortlessly on the uphill climb. The path leveled out and I caught my breath and pulled the apple I had brought for breakfast out of my bag. As I finished the apple and tossed the core far over the steep, forested slope, the trail wound upwards once again. Disheartened at the prospect, I turned back for the easier return trip. I was attempting to photograph a flashy, orange turks-head lily when I heard a loud, high-pitched chattering. I looked up to see the unmistakable red crests of several pileated woodpeckers on a far-off tree trunk.

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Somehow the morning was magically transformed in that single moment. My nostrils were filled with the pungent, earthy aroma of the forest floor with its decaying leaf layer. The sweet, clear notes of birdsong filled the air, relegating the sounds of traffic to a distant, forgotten land. My eyes drank in green in shady tones and sunlit tones. Even the warm morning air, which had already caused me to shed the light jacket I had worn, seemed to soften; stirring the leaves and cooling my face.

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By the time the trail turned to limestone and the traffic noise began to crescendo again, my morning walk had become full of the magic of this wild place, so close to the city, and yet so far away.

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Rose

New Decor

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Ki'il wanted to get me a plant for a housewarming gift, so we chose these greens and potted them this afternoon.
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rc

Downtime

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After a nice weekend at work, I've just been relaxing and hanging out with Ki'il. We drank margaritas Sunday night, yesterday we went to the movies to see SATC, and today we went to Sauvie Island and picked strawberries. The weather has been perfect: sunny and breezy but not too hot. Tonight, Ki'il is making a curry that smells really wonderful. Oh, and I gave myself a nice short buzzcut for summer.
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Blogger is still working wretchedly, so I will attempt to post this prosaic post while it still appears to be functional.
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Rose

Friends and Food

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Ki'il and the Scholar have been here all week. Yesterday, Ki'il and I took the bus to town. We went to Powell's, where I bought a few small books to take with me on vacation. We walked up and down the streets, enjoying the architecture and people watching. We had lunch at a small Japanese restaurant where we shared delicious sushi. Then we strolled through Waterfront Park, taking in the boats, the geese, the bikers and runners and walkers, the yogis, and the ubiquitous springtime lovers lounging in the grass.
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Today we went out for Korean barbecue. We had all manner of delightful Korean foods after suffering through suburban traffic that was much worse than city traffic. Blogger has been fitful, and I've been lazy, therefore the dearth of blogging.
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rc

Dogs and Names

jc likes to say that our little Shadowhead is his shadow. She really does follow him around a lot. His comment on her name got me thinking about all the dogs we had growing up.

Happy: Mother and Father bought the house they still live in to make room for a second baby when the Baptist Nun was born. Big M was devastated by the idea of the move. He was really attached to the little upstairs apartment in Port Matilda that he'd called home his whole, short life. As a sort of bribe or incentive, Mother and Father promised that he could have a puppy at the new house. Big M didn't really go for it, but they got a collie puppy anyway. She was a friendly, pleasant dog, and I don't remember her causing any more trouble than running off to roam the woods, occasionally for a few days at a time. She was bitten by a copperhead once and the flesh on the bitten leg shriveled. One day we came home from somewhere and went around the side of the house to find Happy's body. It's one of the few times I've seen Big M cry. I think it's safe to say that he wound up liking her better than the apartment after all.

Bandit: I don't remember much about Bandit, our new sheep dog, primarily because she was a One-Man Dog. She was devoted to Big M and they seemed inseparable, but she was barely civil with anyone else. I vaguely remember that she didn't like Father much at all. One day we were driving the mice out of the straw mulch in the potato patch and ending their lives with softball bats. Paul Fisher was there with us, standing at the end of the patch, bludgeoning mice. Bandit must have taken it the wrong way and decided to bite him. That's an unforgivable offence where we come from, and Bandit got a death sentence without benefit of a jury trial. It's what we called "putting her down", but just amounted to Father shooting her. At least that's what I remember.

Deputy: I don't know exactly what breed of mutt Deputy was. Grandmother got Ringo from the same litter, probably from some local farmer. Deputy's besetting sin was chasing cars. That must have been around the time that Father put up the fence around the yard. I think Deputy was finally hit by a car, but I'm not really sure.

Lady: After such bad luck with dogs in a relatively short time, we got a puppy from my cousin's dog. Father postulated that she might grow up to be a nicer dog if she had a more pleasant name. He thought maybe Deputy and Bandit had turned out so badly because of the cowboy names Big M had come up with. So the new puppy was named Lady in hopes that she would be ladlylike. One day Lady treed a raccoon. Everyone knows that 'coons that come out in daylight are likely to be rabid, and there was a possibility that Lady had bitten the 'coon. Father worried about the possibility of rabies and decreed that Lady should be quarantined. He built a long narrow pen with wood floor and wire fencing for walls and put the doghouse at one end. Even after it became obvious that Lady hadn't acquired rabies from her alleged 'coon-biting, she was still confined to the pen. She didn't have much reason to be friendly. Finally Big M took Lady with him to his new house. She died naturally at an advanced age. We found her lying out in the cold rain, but at least she didn't have to die in that pen.

Frohlich: When I moved to Utah, I got a puppy. I wasn't allowed to have an indoor dog where I lived. I don't know if I had shaken the conviction that animals should be kept outdoors by then or not, but Frohlich lived in the fenced yard. She whined and cried so much the first night that I took my sleeping bag outside and slept beside her. She was a Sheltie/Dalmatian cross. She loved to ride in the car, and when she got a chance she loved to run around the neighborhood. The best way to get her to come home was to get in the car. We went for walks and hiked the canyon together. One day when I was climbing rocks, she left the friends who were watching her to follow me and got lost. She survived a week in the wild canyon with no noticeable harm and was finally returned to me. She went back to Pennsylvania with me. One day a neighbor, driving too fast down our narrow lane, hit her. Sometimes I still miss her.

Big M has two new dogs now, one of them an indoor dog. I have my kitties. I don't think the names we give them matter that much; I think the love we give them is more important.

Rose

Back to Sea

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The weather for the Rose Festival was so crummy, and I was so unmovitaved that I never made it down there. I did drive by the Waterfront Village on my usual route to and from work both weekends. The waterfront is always lit up and pretty at night, but it was even nicer with the ships and the Ferris wheel. The ships went downriver by the house on their way out of town.

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We finally got the loft bed together and found a mattress. We shopped around and got a pretty good deal. Mattress salesmen can be really sleazy. One guy's price went up $100 in 24 hours. That's worse than gasoline!

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Ki'il and the Scholar will be here next week. We missed them and can't wait for them to arrive. (I hope Ki'il brings some of her kimchi.) I got a Korean language CD to listen to on the commute, and that encouraged me to get the computer program going again too.

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Today is slated for housecleaning. When I get out of bed, that is.

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Rose

A Rainbow View

Sex and the City- movie review

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We hadn't been to the movies in years, but for some reason, when I saw this at our little local theater, I suggested to jc that we go. I got a slice of cheese pizza and a Black Butte porter and we found our seats. About thirty minutes into the movie, my cell phone rang. It was Robin. She had just been to see it as well.
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Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda, and Samantha did not fail to deliver. I spent the two hours laughing out loud and wiping tears from my face, and even at one point fighting the urge to break down sobbing. This long-awaited film is a satisfying and fitting finale to the series that we love so much.
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Favorite quote: Charlotte York: "I feel happy every day." Me too, Charlotte.
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Rose

Another View from Home

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If you considered the dearth of original photography coming from me lately, you might think it was December. I'm digging through old images that are still stored in the "Temporary" file, meaning that I was saving them to use. This picture was taken quite a while ago. The view is a lot more leafy now. If Portland can muster a sunny day this week, I should take a new one for comparison.

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All is well here.

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Rose

Rhodies in the Park

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After the ubiquitous rhododendrons on the coast, it is a pleasure to see that people in the city have used some creativity in landscaping, but these red rhodies in Cathedral Park looked just right peeking out from between some hardwoods.
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Enjoying a lazy day before going to work tonight.
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Rose

Four Seasons

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When we lived in Miami, it wasn't uncommon for people from back home to wonder if we didn't miss the four distinct seasons. The time I missed it most was autumn, but there was still a distinction, and my biggest gripe with southern Florida was always the unmitigated heat. The Oregon coast was a much more temperate climate, and I had the impression of seasonal change more there.
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It is only this spring, and now summer, that I have realized just how much the seasons have been absent in the last five years. The landscape seems to have changed completely since the trees leafed. I have had my tree guide out indentifying the types of deciduous trees that make up the fantastic avian habitat outside my balcony. And of course, I've had the bird guide out, identifying its inhabitants.
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Today, I sit on the balcony with my kitty friend. She divides her time between lolling in the sun and fantasizing about hunting my feeder birds. I sit in the shade reading or sipping coffee or just
drinking in the fluffy cumulus, the bright blue sky reflected in the river, the oak and locust and maple and ash, the grosbeak and finch and siskin and warbler, and the gentle breeze.
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Rose

Blogging at Work (gasp)

For a moment, I wonder why last week went by so fast, why I feel so tired, and why this weekend at work has been such an emotional whirlwind for me. Then I remember, oh yes, I decided to go back on hormonal birth control.
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I haven't mentioned the subject in a long time, but long-time readers and IRL friends know how much and how long I was obsessed with having a baby and how horrifically painful my periods can be. For years now, I've been staying in bed with the heating pad on the first day of my period and popping the occasional Vicodin and lots and lots of Ibuprofen. Given the fact that I don't appear to be getting pregnant anyway, I finally decided to go back on the pill: the one thing that has been proven to keep me pain-free.
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For at least a year now, I've been growing more and more accustomed to the idea that we won't have children, and made peace with the idea that that's okay for me. So this seemed like a good time to get rid of the pain, a move which it took me a while to become emotionally ready for. It took some effort for me not to be angry that, not only will my reproductive system not reproduce, but it is also a major inconvenience. I call it "worse than useless."
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But that wasn't the point. The reason I started writing this (really transparent and personal for me) post was to talk about a little problem I had at work. Only weariness kept me from writing a frustrated rant yesterday morning about the nurse who made morning report so terrible that I was in tears before it was over with. I composed it in my head on the drive home. I meant to write that if I had to give her report every day, I would quit my job. Then I talked to jc about it and remember that the extra hormones I'm taking are making me emotional.
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The surest cure for a bad night at work is a good night at work, so I was happy to come back to work tonight. I'm even happier now that several people have confirmed that the nurse in question is just a good, old-fashioned Meanie and has been reported for her Meanness on more than one occasion. You see, before I knew that, I perceived her behavior as a personal attack. Now I know better.
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I don't have a dictionary in front of me, but I think you could use the word "maudlin" appropriately to discuss my rambling. I better get back to work.
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Rose

Gingko

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I took this picture of wild gingko growing in a local park a few weeks ago. After working an extra day last weekend, when I really wasn't feeling well anyway, I feel like I could use some of it's reputed energy. I looked at the calendar today only to realize that the whole week had slid by already. I have been busily planning the details of my summer vacation. I'll be meeting Robin and A.E. in Boston for a week on Cape Cod, then heading for Mother and Father's in Pennsylvania, where Mr. Clean and his brood will be visiting.
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I'm also pulling out a summer wardrobe that I have had no need for in the three years since we moved from Miami. We had a record-breaking high of 97 degrees here last week, but it's been overcast and cool since.
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r connors

The White Countess- movie review

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This is the tale of a sad, blind, American diplomat and a sad, exiled Russian countess in 1930's Shanghai. The sets and costumes are fabulous, the music is delightful; and the fine acting makes a relatively simple story into something far more compelling. We found it exceptionally enjoyable and spellbinding throughout. I think this film deserves a place with the classics.
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rc

Under the Bridge

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I went for a stroll in the park under the bridge yesterday. Today was my routine yearly doctor's visit. I got an appointment with the nurse practitioner at a neighborhood practice, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that she was really super. It was a kind of gloomy day, but I'm going to try grilling a flat-iron steak on the deck tonight.
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rc

Mayflowers

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Pink Dogwood are prolific in our neighborhood. In this particular yard tulips and forest hyacinths bloom all around. I can't write anything good. It's my birthday, and I want some junk food.

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Rose

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p.s.- oh, and I'm going to see the Mayflower II this summer.

Shanghaied to Brazil

We took the bus to the Shanghai Tunnel in Old Town. We had trouble finding the place, it's not the greatest part of town. We walked by a dumpster, a street performer with his hat out, and some scaffolding. We finally found the narrow storefront with a few cafe tables on the sidewalk and a long bar inside with old movies playing on a huge flatscreen television. The bartendener wisely recommended a smooth, flavorful Xingu black beer, all the way from Brazil, for me.
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We walked down the metal steps, past the kitchen into the low, dark basement. From 1850 to 1941 as many as 1500 people a year were snatched from bars and dropped through trapdoors into cells in this and other basements to be sold on the waterfront as slave laborers, earning Portland a dangerous reputation as the "Forbidden City".
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We ordered macaroni and cheese. It came in huge bowls, topped by a fortune cookie. The flavor was indescribably and delightfully unlike anything I have ever tasted. I savored every bite of spicy pasta, tempered by diced, fresh tomatoes. The stereo played interesting music, including Koko Taylor's Insane Asylum. When we first sat down, I was doubtful about the mostly empty room and badly worn seat, but I was won over by the time we walked up the steps, back into a city glowing with the setting sun.
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R. Connors

Bolts

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I sorted out the bolts for the new bed this afternoon. I love to see them all lined up in a row. And I look forward to the assembly soon.

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rc

South Park Blocks

Greening

Bigleaf Maple Acer macrophyllum

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I've been watching the bigleaf maples blooming and leafing since we arrived in Portland. Finally the green is covering the hillside across the river. Today I sit on the shady deck in a tank top, a kitty lolling in the sunny patches and birds coming to the feeders and the blossoming madrone. Maybe later I'll do something. Not now.

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rc