However, I wanted to post here because I wanted to say how much I admire Evan - in one of the pictures they've posted, he's wearing the best shirt. It says, quite simply, "FUCK CANCER"

This made me quite happy.

However, we did make it to the Farmers' Market at PSU, where I bought salad mix, green garlic, the season's first asparagus, a half dozen eggs, artisian chevre (she had pictures of the goats who produced our cheese!) and the radishes which I am now more addicted to than I ever was potato chips. It's a toss-up if any of them will survive cleaning and trimming to put away, they all seem to find their way into my mouth.

While we were there, we saw Dave from Dave's Killer Bread. He looks exactly like his packaging, it's startling! I eat Dave's killer bread as toast every morning for breakfast. It was like seeing someone you've only seen on TV before, only working at the farmers' market.

Took a picture of a piece of art on the side of PSU (Portland State University):

Later, we walked up to Concordia to get a beer or two and discovered they don't do their tasting tray all the time. It is probably for the best as I am trying to limit my beer intake now that I'm trying hard to lose weight. *sob*

Sunday was completely and fabulously beautiful. I got up and went to an elderly neighbor's house to talk to her about her computer. She's trying to get online, and I know sometimes it's easier if you have someone you can ask questions. She's come up with a list of things she'd like to do with her computer, mostly check out books and email, but also keep a list of words she'd like to learn and recipes to try out. Very cool.

I walked up to Alberta St to see if I can find a summer dress. Katie met me at the Alberta Teahouse and we wandered in and out of the stores on Alberta. My favorite one is still the one where the owner is working on making dresses as you are looking in the store. A fun day altogther, and a nice walk (about 3 hours of walking all told).

It becomes a game to find a pool in which I can stick a picture I've taken, and I love the back and forth in the comments.

Today, Miko from a website I frequent posted a link to this set, and I am really enjoying looking at late 1970s British teens. I love the black and white of the pictures, and how self-possessed most of these kids look. Posting the link here so that I remember it.

Saturday night we went to see Rilo Kiley. It was a great show - neither Brian or I thought they could live up to their albums, and of course they did. We got great seats at the Roseland - the people who drink sit upstairs, and we got the front row, so we had a great view of the stage and of the crowd. Not to mention a place to put our MirrorPonds.

Whispertown2000 opened for them and Michael Runnion before that. Can't say I liked Michael Runnion. Brian said he's a good guitarist but his music wasn't doing much for me and he's not the greatest showman yet. Think he'll probably improve with time, but I wouldn't go out of my way to see him.

Whispertown2000 on the other hand was soooo good. The women singers were really awesome - their voices, their showmanship, their clothes. Two guys too, one on drums, one on guitar. By the end of the show, everyone had played the drums except the leadsinger. hehe. Brian said with some amazement, you know, I think that's the only time I've ever seen someone play drums and guitar at the same time. I looked up and yeah, wow, that's got to be hard, hehe. Really a fun show, if they come through again, I will make a point of seeing them. I'm going to download the album from iTunes. O, and there was a kazoo! And a jamboree!

Rilo Kiley managed to play every single song I love and more. Jenny Lewis is a rockstar and lives up to every expectation of that. She was fun to watch, gracious to the crowd, reacted well when some idiot whipped jewelry at her head and put on an amazing show.

What I didn't expect was that I'd be blown away by Blake Sennett as well. I came away a huge fan. His guitars were great, he can really play but he's also awesome to watch. He gets what it takes to put on a show. I should have written this Saturday night because I know there's a ton more I wanted to write about him, but ah well. They had huge balloons in the middle of the show, full of gold confetti that the crowd played beachball with until they popped, showering everyone with gold.

We decided they also have *the* hardest working roadie of all time - he was constantly fixing things, switching guitars, tossing the balloons back out to the crowd (wtf, front row? hit it back, NOT at the band). There's no way they pay him enough :)

I've mentioned to some of our most recent guests that while Oregon gets some fame for its wines, and the microbreweries here will make a beer-lover weep, there's also a good number of local vodkas, gins, rums, you-name-it, that we've tried and really liked.

His last line summed it up nicely.

If things get quiet or you are unable to see things for a bit or, gulp, you get an email bounced back, it might be what's going on.

Will report back when complete.

So, I guess what I'm saying is that if any of you want to join me in seeing these, speak up :) and I'll wait to see them until you are able to join. Because I am almost certainly going to get tickets to see them.

Ashland is only a five hour drive from here, and it is a *pretty* drive. Of course I say that a lot, Oregon is shockingly diverse and beautiful.

When we lived in Madison, we were lucky enough to get free tickets to the American Players' Theater (APT) which is the outdoor theater in Wisconsin. It was lovely, and the actors were amazingly talented, and somehow we managed to go not nearly enough. We were down to once per year, and we usually didn't even have to pay for tickets! And it was only an hour away from where we lived!

Two summers ago, Dean and Michele and Carrie and Todd and Brian and I all agreed to get together and drive down to see a play. We brought a picnic for dinner before the play. Because all of my friends are so thoughtful and neat, each couple brought 2-3 bottles of wine, and everyone brought two or three times the amount of food that any of us could eat. We had a wonderful picnic outside, got slightly tipsy and definitely full and then walked up the hill to the play as the sun went down.

It was a wonderful night - surrounded by friends, wine, and summer air. The bats swooped the lights as you watch the stars shine brighter and brighter. You lose yourself in the play, it's amazing. We meant to go last year with those four again, but with all the craziness of moving, it just didn't come together. I hope they start another group to do that at APT - it is probably one of my favorite summer memories of all time.

I think it was a success, and I think I should get a job as a private tour guide, because I know the history of the areas (mostly from growing up here, somewhat from all the reading I've done) and I love Oregon in a way I can't explain.

With Dean and Michele, the first day was cloudy and a little drizzly, which they enjoyed because they had just spent the previous few days in Arizona, where the sun tries to kill you.

We went to Por Que No for lunch (they liked it & we sat outside) and then wandered around downtown until we felt like a beer. After the beer, we went to Montage to grab food (liked it again) and finally to Pix for sweet things (mmmmm. But the first time I've not finished Pix's dessert, just because I was sickly full). I think I managed to get in four bridges this day, hopefully impressing them that I know the bridges' names, hehe.

We got up the next morning and drove to the coast. Mo's for lunch (we have to!) and then off to wander the beach there and watch the harbor seals watching us. Michele was collecting "things to make a necklace" for a friend of hers. It turned into a clear, gorgeous day.

We headed to Boiler Bay, where we could see some grey whales migrating (yay!) and look at the kelp beds swaying far down below.

We took the Otter Crest Loop so we could be terrified by the drop offs (o wait, that's just me) and pull over to admire the cliffsides and oceanviews. Ahhhhh.

Devil's Punchbowl (it was high tide by then, so we just looked down) showed us a bald eagle and one surfer who didn't get to surf much due to the calmness of the day. Dean admired the daring of Oregon squirrels running along the punchbowl and then we continued on to Seal Rock.

After finding many crabs, some shells, a huge strand of kelp and lots of sunshine, we went into Newport to grab a beer at Rogue Brewery. It wasn't a good stop this time - the bar area was full and too smoky, so we sat it the restaurant where they proceeded to tell Dean "No" to anything he ordered. It got so bad that the last time the waiter came back, Brian said "look, do you have potatoes?" hehe. It's too bad, that's a favorite place of ours and it definitely didn't impress anyone this time.

We rounded that up with the obligitory sea lions, and headed to Kyllo's for dinner before heading home.

Friday, Brian needed to get some work done, so we left him and went to Multnomah Falls after getting doughnuts at Voodoo. It was a flawlessly beautiful day to drive the Gorge, but I probably should have told Dean and Michele to not wear shorts - it's cool in the mists. We were going to hike to the top of the falls, but I learned a very important lesson that day: Never hike up mountains for the first time in spring with two Iron People (both Dean and Michele compete in IronMan). I made it a little more than halfway up (they were very patient, but I felt bad holding them back) before sending them on to the top. I sat on a rock and talked to my aunt and looked out over the Columbia River, truly beautiful as always.

We went to Bonneville Dam again, and then over the Bridge of the Gods to get to the Washington side of the Gorge (not worth it at that point, you don't get the beautiful views of the Gorge the way you do East of there).

After a leisurely lunch on our back patio, Michele and I drove to the airport to get Jess and Steve while Dean and Brian went to the Kennedy school to secure a table for all of us. The Kennedy School was fun - we sat outside and drank beer and ate a good meal. We headed back to Brian and my house for a fire, and lots of conversation over more drinks (I gave up at 1 a.m.).

Brian took Dean and Michele downtown - they were taking a pilates class that morning in the Pearl and then catching the train to Seattle. I think we convinced them to visit again so we can do farther flung things in Oregon - Eastern Oregon, and Mt Hood and Crater Lake and the myriad of other things that make my heart sing when I am here.

When he got back, we headed over to Voodoo again (yes, I am on a diet this week) and then we were off to Cannon Beach.

What a beautiful day - by the time we made it back to Portland, it was 84 degrees. The four of us ate at Cannon Beach's Mo's, and then wandered down 101 to look at the views. We headed back to Portland and drove through all the districts we could think of to show them a taste of Portland, and then went back to the house to freshen up.

Dinner was at Rogue on 13th and Flanders because they were in the mood for a cheeseburger, and I had mentioned the Kobe burger there. It was good but wow, is that dining area warm when it's hot out, I will have to remember that. Their kids were not pleased to hear how beautiful it was by us while we were drinking beer because it was snowing and nasty in Madison.

Steve wasn't feeling the best after all the sun we got that day, so we headed back to the house. We ended up playing Wii tennis, golf, bowling, etc. until it was time for bed.

Their plane took off at noon exactly, so after we dropped them off, Brian and I took a two hour walk through Laurelhurst park and the SE neighborhoods (Belmont, towards Burnside, Hawthorn, it was a nice long walk).

So that's why I've been quiet (and since that walk I've been to Seattle and back too!)

There's no coffee? How can there be no coffee? Surely there's coffee here somewhere....what? No coffee? Really no coffee? Not anywhere? There's got to be coffee somewhere here. What?