Wandering in the Woods

It is six o'clock, the end of a busy week, the first weekend in two weeks without houseguests, and I'm staring into our refridgerator trying to decide what leftovers to enjoy before putting our children to bed early and falling on the sofa with our recent Netflix movie, when Rynn comes running into the kitchen. "Mommy! Daddy wants to know if you want to go camping tonight??!!??."

What is a mother to do? With visions of relaxation dancing in my head I stare into the excited eyes of my five year old. How do I say no? Such began the last twenty four hours (which have felt more like 124) when we embarked on our first family camping outing. I smiled as I watched Jason- the husband who took me to Colorado on our honeymoon, who taught me to cut my toothbrush in half to cut weight in my backpack, who packs out his toilet paper in a little ziplock baggie, who is the KING of low impact- throwing items such as pillows, beer, a cooler, last night's chicken, kids' books and toys, etc.. into the car. Who is this man? I wondered.

One little detail which we didn't really give too much thought to in this whirlwind to get our family out the door to sleep outside was WHERE exactly we would sleep. While we did have a local campground in mind we failed to think through that it was 80 degrees and sunny, Friday night, and the middle of July. Our excitement was a bit tempered when we pulled into the campground to be greeted by a big sign declaring it FULL. Not to be disuaded we checked our handy map and with great focus decided to pursue a tiny little triangle which, according to the map, represented a "campground." To make a long story short, two and a half hours later we were winding our way out of an Oregon forest hoping to not run into a white supremicist. By this time I was on Jason's phone calling the Timberline Lodge up on Mt. Hood. Despite my efforts, I couldn't convince Jason that just this once it might be worth it to get one of their last rooms- a room with one set of bunk beds and a bathroom down the hall. He wasn't to be deterred. Our camping adventure must happen!

Finally, at ten o'clock Jason found a campsite near the road up to Government Camp on Mt. Hood. It was quiet, clean, free, and we were the only people there! After setting up camp in the dark we all fell fast asleep for a precious six hours before the bright summer sun greeted us at 5:30am. The pictures below tell the rest of the story. We all had a wonderful day. We had hot coffee at Timberline Lodge. And tonight, in celebration of arriving in Oregon a year ago, I'm sleeping in my own bed.

Skiers? In July? yep...Mt. Hood is a glacier which means skiing and snowboarding twelve months of the year.

Timberline Lodge...where we almost slept.

View of Mt. Jefferson from our walk on Mt. Hood.....I love this picture.

Rynn practices her mountaineering skills sliding down a snowpatch.

The whole crew...still smiling, for five more minutes anyway.

Food and Such

(Photo pillaged from the internet...an Oregon Marionberry)

So, I've been thinking a lot about food lately. Perhaps it is the fault of a book a friend lent to me, the New York Times Bestseller IN DEFENSE OF FOOD by Michael Pollen, or the one I just started by Barbara Kingsolver titled ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, MIRACLE. Both books make essentially the same argument- that, as Americans, we do not know enough about where our food comes from, what is in it, how much gas it took to get it to us, and how what we consume is affecting our bodies. I haven't read enough of Kingsolver's book yet to recommend it (although I love her writing), but I heartedly recommend Pollen's book. It is easy to be self righteous living in Oregon since we live in this lucious fruit basket that seems to be overflowing in produce, but these books have made me think. The thing they've made me think most about (aside from clinging to the outside edge of the grocery stores and avoiding the middle) is about trying to buy food that is both less processed and closer to home. It has been fun to see the joy the children are finding in walking to the farmer's market to see what is in season and what looks yummy. Today, on a whim, while driving back from Rynn's haircut, we stopped by a local farm to pick raspberries. As the children ran at least 100 yards ahead of me, they shouted, "This is SO fun!!." With their teeth and faces stained with fresh raspberries, marionberries, and blueberries, we filled a flat with the most amazing tasting berries I have ever tasted. I know this isn't a reality for everyone, and I'm so thankful that for however long we are in Oregon it is a reality of ours. If you don't have time to pick up IN DEFENSE OF FOOD, at least ask yourself this, "What is in my food? And, where did it come from?." You might be surprised! We were!

Hope Presbyterian Beach Day!

Hope Prebysterian Beach Day

Ecola State Park

Let's just say we weren't breaking out the bikinis or the sunglasses...but adventures in tidepools, starfish, crabs, surfers in wet suits, and fun was had in abundance. Despite a sunny and 75 degree day in Portland, the coast was a cool 55 and cloudy. A different July beach experience! I guess that is why they call it "The Coast" instead of "the beach."

Like Crack Cocaine

I think I have finally arrived. Tonight, as I sipped a glass of white wine on my front porch in the waning summer light and seventy degree temperatures, I had my groceries delivered to me from New Seasons Market. It was a benign offer in the paper "First Deliver is free, so is the second, so is the third. By then, we're convinced you'll be hooked." I admit it. Hey, even the ad practically admits it. Like Crack Cocaine, the first hit is free. But, boy, does it taste good going down. I shopped online, bought only specials and sale items, got all my essential bulk pantry items like grains, rice, dried beans, and I threw in a pound of local cherries. Why not? I wasn't even paying for the gas or the bag of animal crackers to get my children through the grocery store! I think the 21st century and the big city conveniences are agreeing with me. Just don't mention the economy, the fault line under our city that might result in a catastrophic earthquake in the next fifty years, or that we are bombing the Middle East. For tonight anyway, I'm just gloating that I got an organic mango for 50 cents delivered to my door.

Abundance

Remember Jason's hop vine? Look how much it has grown!!

Abundance. It is the only word I can think of to adequately describe summer in Oregon. Abundance of light, abundance of sunshine and blue sky, abundance of activities as the parks swell with people for concerts, festivals, and fairs celebrating everything from the Blues to Microbrews. Abundance of fruit- in the overflowing baskets at our neighborhood farmer's market, in our neighbor's cherry tree that daily drops pounds of flavorful Rainer cherries, in the apple trees, blueberry bushes, raspberry bushes that boast their colorful fruit over our neighborhood sidewalks. Abundance of life in our garden as the pictures below will attest. Abundance everywhere. And I am thankful. Summertime in Oregon is worth the wait.

One of our tomato plants is about to burst with golden tomotoes...not to mention it has almost reached our dining room windows.

Remember those sunflower seeds we planted back in March? No sunflowers yet, but they have already passed me by (which isn't saying much except that they are now over five feet tall!).

Thank you to Jason for painting our cozy attic bedroom a cheery pale bluish/gray with an accent wall in a dark chocolate brown. It looks much better in person than this picture gives credit...but you get the idea.

Cousins come to Town!

Jason and Aunt Gretchen get Molly settled in for a bike trip to Trader Joes for some ICE CREAM!!!

The rest of the cousins hang together on the back of Uncle Jason's bike (aka. "Extracycle").

Molly shows off her helmet AND her beautiful eyes.

Summer breakfast on the front porch...yes, to those Southerners out there, we ARE wearing fleece jackets IN JULY, thank you very much. Today's forcast: 75 degrees and sunny. yeah, baby.

Happy Fourth of July! (on the 5th that is...)

It is 68 degrees and cloudy outside today making it seem a bit surreal that the 4th of July was just yesterday. Urban legend around Portland is that it always rains on the Fourth only to give way to our glorious sunny, low humidity summer. While the weather has been quite glorious the last two weeks, legend proved true and brought gray skies and cool temps to our July 4th weekend. While the bathing suits were not out, the fireworks were...and in abundance. Our neighbors filled the sidewalks and streets lighting both legal and some quite spectacular illegal fireworks prompting our friend Kevin to remark that our neighborhood felt like something out of another era- 1940s or 50s perhaps. Children waved flags and the Portland sky lit up with lights and smoke for almost three hours.

Eleanor is wowed by holding fire in her very own hand. Mama wasn't quite so sure about this...

The eyes are looking a bit weary as Rynn lights up a sparkler at 10pm- hours past bedtime- but what are you going to do when it doesn't get dark here until ten o'clock!

Rynn pretends to be sledding with some neighborhood friends and future fellow classmates at Richmond Elementary.

Thanks for a great visit Terry & Cathy!

Penisula Park Rose Garden- Now I see why they call this the "Rose City"! Over an acre of roses of all colors groomed to perfection. The smell was AMAZING!