Gardeninja

growing a good volunteer wheat crop
most veggies going strong
lost okra early in, not sure why (do we really care?)
orange cauliflower has slugs

halp!

cherries are ripe
raspberries are starting to come on
pear trees' fruit developing despite aggressive pruning, thankfully
don't know about apples

Film returns from pdx mini-vacation

Walking under a different sky

Orofino

No one wants to read a play-by-play of someone else's vacation, so I'm distilling it.
We ate a lot.
Lots of food reviews follow.
(Real reviews will be on Yelp whenever I get around to it.)

[I took over 4 rolls of film, not many digital pics. Will post the good ones (hoping for a lot of those) when they get developed.]

...................
Left Wednesday night. Just in case.
Strange sound coming from front of Renger...
Didn't quit...
Got worse...
We pulled over in Plummer, deduced it was a bad alternator.
The Renger is/was left behind like a sinner after the rapture.
My sister drove 4o min. to pick us up and took us to the airport the next morning.
Thanks, Nanner!

Plummer

Got up Thursday early, coffee and a walk down around Coeur d'Alene Lake.
Beautiful.
No camera. Of course.
Keith says it's ok b/c vacation doesn't start yet.

flying metal tube

Got on a puddle jumper in Spokane.
Bad crazy turbulence.
Despite this, arrived in Portland whole.
Keith does not require defibrillation.

Checked in early at hotel.
Had drinks on the patio.
Vacation has begun.


Walked around the old 'hood in Northwest.
Saw our old mailman.
Had drinks on NW 21st, waiting for our friend.
More people watching.
Dinner, drinks @ Pizzacato. Watched first half of Lakers-Magic.

Went with above-mentioned friend and a cast member to see the world premiere of Summer of 69 at the Clinton Street Theater (part of the Portland Underground Film Festival, "the drinkiest film fest in town").
Excellent time.
Drinks (pomegrante greyhound, yum!) afterward @ Aalto Lounge.
Nighty night.
Sleep tight.

Brekkie at Brunch Box food cart downtown. EXCELLENT.
Keith: bacon-egg-cheese on english muffin, $1 16 oz. french press coffee.
April: veggie sausage-egg-cheese on english muffin, coke in a can
Ate at Waterfront Park.

Overheard on the MAX: "Wife divorced me for my own damn brother. Still mad about that. Took everything!"

Grendel's Coffeehouse - everything bagel and very excellent hummus.
Cheap replacement roll of film at market on Burnside. $1.29/roll!!!
Waffle Window @ Bread & Ink Cafe - Rose City waffle: fresh strawberries, rose cream, and rhubarb sauce. Raspberry lemonade. Again, excellent.

Really Good Stuff (on Hawthorne) for treasures!!
Old photos by the file cabinet.
Scored.
Had to limit treasures to carry-on capacity.
Total: $5.

Dinner - "Crab" rangoons, orange "chicken" and curry "chicken" at Vegetarian House. Excellent.
Vegetarian health channel from China satellite channel is on the huge LCD TV.
Owner was out front smoking.

Maybe we'll see a movie.
Too late by the time we get there.
Okay, how about Portland Cello Project?
(Today I found out we had FREE tix to it!! Arrrrrgh!)
MAX and bus across town.
Can't find it, too late.
Back to movie theater. Across town.
(repeat this theme throughout the entire weekend)

Ice cream and people watching (crazy ice skater guy!!) before show @ 10:10.
Air hockey (Keith, 7-6) and Skee Ball (Keith, 270-210) @ arcade.
Killing time.
Terminator Salvation featuring copyrighted digital representation of Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Back to hotel.
Band downstairs plays until after 1 a.m.
No prob.
No ghosts! (hotel has haunting legends)

Brekkie @ Farmers Market: peanut butter rice krispie treat dipped in chocolate from Black Sheep Bakery and lemon cake from Tart Lady.
Best. Lemon. Cake. EVER.

Saturday Market: lentil appetizer combo at Horn of Africa and strawberry lemondade from the lemonade guy.
Also, a guy selling pre-made signs for homeless people.
(Hopefully I'll have a photo of that to post next week.)

Back to Really Good Stuff.
More treasure hunting.
Food carts @ 12th & Hawthorne: Perierra Creperie - Nutella and banana crepe. Excellent.

Back to hotel for R&R.

Plan on eating pizza @ Laurelhurst Theater before 6:45 screening of Hud.
Paul Newman. *sigh*
Laurelhurst isn't open yet.
Wander down the street.

What's Esparza's?
Delicious Tex-Mex!
Keith: Special (chicken mushroom dish with beans, mashed potatoes; "best BBQ chicken," Keith says)
April: cheese and onion enchiladas
Excellent chips and salsa!
Good service, sat at the bar.
Several good national reviews on the wall. All from 10+ years ago.

Back to theater for Hud.
Keith: Total Domination IPA, $4 ("second best IPA ever" - first is Eel River IPA)
April: choc. chip cookie, $1.50

Coffee @ Stumptown.
Voodoo brekkie to fuel up for long day going home.
Keith: Butter Fingering (Devil's food, vanilla, and crushed Butterfinger) and a plain devil's food with choc. frosting
April: Tang donut! New favorite!!

Overheard on the MAX: one guy giving tips on being homeless to another one - "Do a set of stairs to get your body temp back up and you can go back to sleep for a while."

Board puddle jumper to go home.
"Technical difficulty" delay (bad gauge)...
De-plane.
Re-plane.

Drive back to Plummer to get Renger and install alternator they told us they had.
They don't have.
Take bad alternator to Coeur d'Alene.
35 miles.
Auto Zone guy says, No, it's fine.
Back to Plummer.
35 miles.
Guy says, No, it's definitely bad!

Keith gets beer, April gets coffee.
April drives home to Kamiah.
Going back Thursday to put new alternator in Renger.

Ranger, Danger

Look what Keith got me for our anniversary!

Not really. He painted the neighbors' house for cash plus this sweeeeeet '89 Ranger, complete with AM radio, (non-working) CB, and....gun rack!?! With this, we are officially Idahoans.

I told him I want to push the brown turd off a cliff. If only I wasn't worried about the resulting pollution, I WOULD. I'd love to see that thing crash into a fiery ball.

The Renger (I had a home health care client in Missoula who said "Renger" instead of Ranger. When we had the little green Renger.) has only had one owner, has low mileage, and will be PERFECT for camping. Awwww yeah. Summer summer summertime.

It's definitely getting a lebowskifest bumper sticker.

Tomorrow directly after I get off work we're driving this sweet ride up to Spokane to catch a plane Thursday morning for PDX.

Long weekend anniversary vacation, here we come!

1st film returns

Most of them didn't turn out or aren't worth posting, but I got some good ones out of the first 2 rolls. The other 2 rolls are on their way.

(Ignore the dirty spots from the scanner.)

The second (final) coat of blue paint is on in the tiny house.

I hung Neal's box painting back up so it wouldn't get damaged accidentally. In real life (later this summer) it will hang a little lower and there will be a white shelf and barn wood above it.

Summer is coming and we're supposed to be finishing the inside so this winter we can actually live in it, not just sleep in it. Time flies. Right now the only thing either of us is thinking about is our long weekend in Portland next week. Ahhhhhh...vacation.

I sent four rolls of film to be developed, waiting anxiously for their return in tangible form, hopefully before we leave. Hoping at least some of them are salvageable. I think I've decided which camera I'm taking to Portland. And A LOT of film.

The wind is blowing, the sun is out and a thunderstorm seems to be rolling in. I love it.