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Quite truthfully, Portland’s month of rain, rain and more rain is not really that bad. Maybe its the honeymoon phase. Perhaps I’m being idealistic. My survival mechanism is to go about life as usual, get on your jacket and head out. DO NOT STAY IN DOORS! Yes, the backyard is too soggy to play in, and the parks are pretty much the same. BUT the sidewalks and streets are filled with minor puddles on my way to indoor activities. Besides, without a car, staying out of the rain is hardly a choice. Walk we must, come rain or come shine. And its been a while since there was shine.

This morning, the clouds parted, and a very nice day broke through for a few hours. I was able to run out and feed the bunnies, take my counter composter to the bin, and inspect the vegetable garden a bit. It was enough to give me an itch for the glory days, namely, May-July when we had just moved here and the clear skies smelled of bloomin’ roses, and tulips and wild flowers greeted you at every turn!  I can hardly remember our yard, sprouting with overgrowth that covered the paths, a gorgeous display of colors so rich in beauty that we ran out to take pictures and eat strawberries from the garden all month.

But as I’ve told many of you, the rains have brought with them, for me, a nice kind of hibernation. Bears do it, bees do it, let’s fall in love- type of feeling. At first, I had to turn to St. John’s Wort to keep the dark couped-up mood at bay. But that only lasted about a month (I’m way too forgetful to have to take something for very long!) and it was enough to get my spirits up and get my lifestyle OUT of the house. Since then, I’ve welcomed the rain and cold as a much needed r&r for this gal whose spent the past 23 years in the Florida sun. LOOOOOVIN’ the cafe’s and bookstores with their bottomless cups of java and cute mittens on my hands to hold my mug. Still prefer it to climates so UN-wintery.

But must admit, sometimes those darn puddles just annoy the ever livin’ crap out of me. Sometimes the constant drizzle of rain that makes any work put into your hairdo completely worthless gets under my skin. Sometimes I get the urge to put on a bikini and grab a beach towel and lay out in the grassy backyard and have some good ol’ Vitamin D toast me up. Sometimes the darkness by 4 pm is just the most ridiculous concept and I literally contemplate how some one needs to write a report about it and hand it in to the Big Guy.

All this to say, I can SURE appreciate Portland’s amazing Spring/summer combination, and I can’t wait. Just a few more months that, if all goes as usual, will fly by and then, oh the joys we will see of our bulbs spring back to life, of the wisteria on the gazebo start popping with little green leaves, the wild flowers I hope to plant after the last frost start to liven up our curb-side appeal. Such images and thoughts keep my heart nice and toasty during this month. Needless to say, we’ve been reading lots of The Cat in the Hat lately, and I’ve scoured my Rainy Day Activities with Toddlers book a few times!

On a side note, my amazing and beautiful pride of my heart two year old finally, tearfully, could not hold his bladder while straddling his potty today. Having been given an amount of water equal to the Willamette River, he ended up peeing at least 5 times in two hours; 3 times in his potty, twice on the chair during dinner. Poor guy!!! BUT he was SO happy to finally “make water” in the potty and the difference was completely and utterly due to giving him a book to read while doing his business. Hmmm… both Hubby and I like reading material while we take our potty breaks, so I suppose its no wonder! We are interested/anxious to see how the next few days play out as we use diapers for only outings and night… particularly when it’s time for Lil’ E’s mid-morning Numero Dos.

Job Update: Hubby still working to find employment, part of the 5% of the nation we heard about last week. Has applied to upwards of 20 or so legitimate ads, in addition to unemployment agencies, with several follow up phone calls on his part but no leads as of yet. We are working to stay busy and positive and not blow any money we have because we are so depressed! I literally got on my knees in the shower yesterday praying for a job that would make my husband happy. I know some how that all this will turn out all right in the end. There are so so many people we know that are going through just incredible hardships right now, so it certainly puts us in the “can’t complain” category! Thank GAWD!

Hope you all are trudgin’ through your January’s with high spirits, by and large unaffected (at least negatively!) by whatever weather and life conditions you’re facing!

Dear Diary,

8:45am: I woke up later than I wanted to, for I had to be at work by 10 am which is like SO early for a WAHM to be decently dressed and walking 1/2 mile to pick up the #4 to downtown, ready to pull off my first ever Podcasting experience. It was all the windows fault. There was too much light coming in last night and I couldn’t sleep. So I did what all of us po’ folk do- I grab the nearest blanket I could live without and stuffed it up around the top of the mini-blinds so as to create makeshift drapes. That was about midnight or so, I suppose. So in the morning, when I normally get up by at least 7:30, it was nice and dark and quiet (just so happens Lil’ E ALSO slept in … thankyoujesus.)

9:15am: Catch the #6 instead so I can make a stop at the Starbucks for a quick po’ folk 8 oz. coffee, then catch the MAX from the convention center into downtown. Wait for the MAX for what felt like forever, coffee already cold, and a few sightings of snowflakes. It was a very rainy day and I was cute dumb enough to wear little gray ballet looking slip-ons. Real good, Viv, real good.

9:59am: Arrive to the office with one minute to spare, having bounded through the rain and puddles downtown with my purse and digital camcorder on my shoulders and my laptop case trailing behind me on wheels. Office is still dark and locked up- I’ve beat the boss! Dang I’m good.

10:20am: Call my boss. Realize I missed the e-mail that he wasn’t going to be in until after 11am.

10:45am: Finally get my STUPID VISTA OPERATING SYSTEM to connect to the unsecured network of the ground floor’s coffee shop to plug in to work and enjoy some HOT tea while I wait.

11:45am - 3:00pm: Podcasting 101.

3:00pm: Dismissed from work but its pouring. Sit down at the coffee shop once again and have my lunch- I’m told the “Stinky Hippie” is a soy chai latte. “Ah, that’s a wholesome po’ folk lunch”, I think. I order. I taste. Nope, this is a soy latte. No Chai. (You know, if you can’t get a drink right, how about try NOT naming it things like, oh I don’t know, STINKY HIPPIE, when all it is is a soy chai. Might that clear up some confusion? Just a thought.) But I am really a-okay with soy latte’s so I drink anyway. I forget about my problem of espresso on an empty stomach. (And no, I’m not referring to the BM’s… that is not to say this isn’t also a problem, but for now I simply mean the shaky hands and queasy stomach feeling.)

3:45pm: Waiting for MAX again. Once on, I must decide which way to turn my nose… to my right is a man in black leather with a long gray beard who smells something awful of cigarette’s, while periodically laughing at himself for no reason in particularly. To my left: a fairly normal looking, just-over-the-hill-aged man who must have a cat hoarding problem; he smells like PAH-IS! Naturally, I pick the powerfully odored urine man with the slightly less creepy disposition.

4:00pm: Getting more nauseous from the urine smell and praying I don’t pass out completely. Some one has got to guard my purse, digital camcorder and laptop.

4:15pm: Home again, home again, clickity clack.

5:00pm: We needs diapers, eggs and yogurt. What does a car-less family do in such circumstances? Layer up, walk the mile to the grocery store. Dark outside? Raining? Cold? Minor insignificant details. We are tough cookies, yes we are.

6:00pm: Eating a po’ man’s dinner for a family of 3 with no time to prepare a meal: Cheesy bread - $2.99 (an actual pizza is too expensive). Family dinner? Priceless.

6:45pm: Lil’ E to bed. I tried to think of something witty for this one but I’m at a loss.

7:30pm: Yoga night!

8:30pm: Ouch! The Scorpion. I point out to the yoga instructor, “this is the type of stuff they do on the magazine covers”; Little ol’ noobie Vivian cannot do this. But try, little engine, try. Does any one know about this stuff? Why is it that from this position on I have had some crazy lower back feelings of an almost maternal nature? Some powerful mothering feelings, almost like some deep seated tension from carrying a belly with a hyper-extended back for 9.5 months. Who knows.

9:30pm: My new hobby of skyping (and I’ll have to blog about that another time!) with my best friend for several hours, where I get to practice all of my comedic lines to blog about later. If they fly on her, they are in.

12:00am: Shower. Lay down in bed. The whole room is a-quiver with Hubby’s snoring- his body a 215 pound subwoofer.

12:20am: Up again. Grab some rice milk and cookie dough and start blogging.

12:30am: Dang this cookie dough is da bomb diggity. And 70% organic ingredients too!

Yep, that’s right ya’ll: Organic Fat. Only the best fat for this ass.

(Chat-practiced that line too. Might copyright it, whatcha think?)

For the record, no, this is not my typical diet!

Tonight the fam tried out the Flexcar for the first time, reserving it for a 6 hour excursion out to Hood River city to climb aboard the Mt. Hood Railway train “Polar Express” themed ride. (Flexcar was fab, btw). Lil’ E started off the ride a bit bewildered- the Polar Express is one of his all time favorite movies to watch and he’s very familiar with tunes and music in movies, so when we boarded to the movie’s soundtrack he was trying to piece it all together for awhile. Eventually the Styrofoam cup of hot chocolate and the molasses cookie was enough of a sugar high to make him go a little bananas (he even tried to eat the table a bit at one point.) The ride was neat, you listen to music, have a little snack, and hear the cd version of the Polar Express book read aloud. At the end you get to the “north pole” where the train picks up Santa and he comes around to each table. EACH TABLE, each child, out of sooo many on 3 cars of this train. So, instead of the scheduled 6:30pm end time, the train went back and forth on the tracks (and every one knows how motion sensitive I am, right?) until Santa could make it to all the kids, which didn’t happen until 7:15pm. Suffice to say, the second half of the evening was dragged on more than necessary. They did have some caroler’s come sing to us while we waited for Santa, and they were even kind enough to honor Lil’ E’s unorthodox request of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” (see video below).

As far as how Lil’ E liked St. Nick, I’ll just let you watch the video for yourself!

Enjoy!

Bewildered Lil’ E

Twinkle Twinkle, by request

Santa experience…

Once I sat down in Santa’s lap with him, it was all good

As every one knows, this is my favorite time of year. I hold onto the idea that there is magic and sacred meanings to the season, regardless of all the hype. After a lovely little Thanksgiving meal with Hubby and Lil’ E, we woke up Friday morning with the intent to go see the downtown Macy’s After-Thanksgiving Parade. Intentions, intentions.

Instead we awoke to Lil’ E standing outside our bedroom door calling out, “Mama. Open the door, please, mama. I went ca-kee in my bed.”

Luckily, it was not the smelly brown mess I envisioned upon hearing the word “ca-kee”, but rather lots and lots of pee-pee. Poor baby had drank way too much sparkling apple cider- I should have seen this coming. So we took the time to strip his bed and get it in the wash, while I cleaned him up in the tub. When we finally made it downtown, we could see Santa’s sleigh from the MAX line window, jumped off at the next stop and ran up to the sidelines just in time to put Lil’ E on Hubby’s shoulders to see Santa. Whew!

From there we headed into the mall, where Santa was arriving to have children up on his lap. Since we didn’t want to wait in line and we don’t have money to pay for the pictures anyway, we just pointed him out to Lil’ E while we strolled around. We did get to see some Victorian Carolers, who upon request from Lil’ E sang “Jingle Bells” to him. They were not so obliging when he called out “ABC’s!” for the start of a subsequent song set.

But we didn’t shop on Black Friday, being that we: A. are doing this Advent thing with our church and B. have very few local folks to purchase for anyway. So we walked around, had lunch at the Greek Cusina, and watched Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium (Lil’ E did great!)

We were really just stalling until 5:30 when the annual Christmas tree lighting would take place just outside at Pioneer Square. But because they started with a local radio DJ thanking all the sponsors of the event in what seemed like several every known languages based on the time it took to do so, we ended up leaving before they even lit the dang tree, much to the gratitude of my absolutely frozen pinky toes, (it was about, oh, 35 degrees or so.) So I don’t have any great shots of that, but another blogger did really well with photos of the tree lighting- so check it out if you want to see a bit about what you (and I!) missed, lol.

Afterwards, I caught up with Misty at Fox Tower and defrosted to a showing of I’m Not There, which was excellent, and probably would’ve been more so if I had known anything more about Bob Dylan than the fact that he wrote/sang, “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “How Does it Feel?”. I’m now asking for some sort of major Bob Dylan greatest hits compilation for Christmas, lol. Misty put some of his quotes on her blog, so I’m guessing she was moved too.

Well, that’s it ladies and gents. And we’ve got a bus to catch to get to church this mornin’ so that will have to be my parting farewell.

This EcoMetro post is pretty interesting, considering the advance of cyclist’s all around the world. The “red bike” program mentioned in the post sounds perfect for this area. I was even thinking about the possibility of visitors to our new home being able to hop on the bikes with us since we do not have a car- this way they can rent them for the ride!

Saturday we ventured the farthest yet, with beautiful weather we decided to bike to the DIY Advent Craft Fair Imago put on in SE Portland. The total miles we biked were about 7. This was our route (thanks to www.byCycle.org):

We had so much fun and it really didn’t take as long as we thought it would. Nearly every street we were on had a bike lane, since we chose “safest” route on the trip planner site. Before moving to Portland, we would hop on our bike’s to go to the park and I don’t recall ever passing another biker. Plus, we had to stay on the sidewalk- Lakeland was definitely dominated by vehicles and I wouldn’t have dared to ride in street!

Bike accidents in Portland have been on the news lately, and now that I’ve been out more I realize that many fellow bikers do not wear their helmets, do not stay in the bike lanes, and do not stop for red lights. Hubby and I are novices at best, but we never ride without helmets, ride through the lights or even stop signs, and we do our best to use hand signals to communicate with each other and other vehicles. Maybe that’s uncool, but when toting precious cargo, coolness isn’t a priority!

Well, this was pretty random but hey, its what’s on my mind. The only other thing I can share is that I’ve had a bad migraine since yesterday afternoon and every thing I smell makes me queasy, along with a pounding headache. This is pretty abnormal for me so I’m a bit puzzled, but I’m sure it will pass soon. Any one got any homeopathic remedies for migraines (Diane?!)

Feist is tonight, YAY!!! We’ve got a sitter!

I’m half excited about the concert, half excited about the venue! It’s not every day we have reason to go to the Arnold Schnitzer Concert Hall! Maybe this won’t be so exciting after several years as a Portlander, but I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve been skipping around the house all morning!
     

Today was a real eye opener for me, not that anything incredibly new happened, but it was just sort of filled with little ways to reduce, reuse, recycle and limit your carbon footprint and all that and it happened so effortlessly that I am left wondering why in the world didn’t we do this sooner?

Let me explain:

Today we had to run a few errands at lunch time- our first errands via bicycles. A normal trip out to Freddy Myer’s on Broadway takes us by car about 10 minutes with traffic lights and parking. By bike? 15 minutes, tops. I couldn’t believe how quickly we were there, and how easy it is to pull Lil’ E behind me on a trailer- I could hardly tell I was pulling the extra weight in comparison to having him up on a seat. One of the things we needed from Freddy’s was rain boots for Ethan, because we’re going with the church to Sauvie Island Pumpkin Patch tonight and it might be muddy. We found some for 14.99, though he liked a different one with a dinosaur face on it but they did not have it in his size.

After we got several bags full of things stuffed in the bike trailer (there sure is a lot of room in that thing!), we stopped to split a grilled veggie burrito at Cha Cha Cha’s for 4.00. Next door is Bella Stella Resale, where I knew she’s had a good selection of random used rainboots and coats in the past. So I popped in and low and behold- the dinosaur boots were there, in his size, slightly used, for $6.99. (Needless to say we’ll be returning the other ones!)

Upon returning home in again what felt like record time, we were greeted by a box full of produce from Organics to You, our first weekly order of home delivered organic produce and grocery items. Here is what came in this week’s “small” bin for $30:

• 4 Gala Apples - *LOCAL, farm direct*
• 4 Fuji Apples - *LOCAL, farm direct
• 3 Bartlett Pears - *LOCAL, farm direct*
• 3-4 Bananas
• 1 Cauliflower - *LOCAL*
• 1-2 Leeks - *LOCAL, farm direct*
• 1 Kale - *LOCAL, farm direct*
• 1 bunch Carrots - *LOCAL, farm direct*
• 1 bunch Parsley - *LOCAL, farm direct*
• 1 bunch Green Onions - *LOCAL, farm direct*
• 1 bunch Celery - *LOCAL, farm direct*
• 1-2 Onions - *LOCAL, farm direct*
• 1-2 Delicatta Squash - *LOCAL, farm direct*
• 2-3 baby Bok Choy - *LOCAL*

Everything was in great shape, fresh, not over or under ripe at all. I was delighted to see things I don’t normally pick out, like Bok Choy and Delicatta Squash, as well as some yummy favorites like Cauliflower and lots of apples. We have so much that I will have to go down to the one person bin for next week, or skip a week.

I must say, being on the bike for the errands kinda took the “errands” part of it out of the trip. Unlike a car, there is fresh air, scenery, you take back roads and kinda just enjoy yourself. Lil’ E took a nap, Hubby and I got some exercise. No wonder people do this in Europe all the time. What is America thinking???

Anyway! It was also VERY NICE to stop at the bank and deposit the sale of the car today. Whoopie!

Final thought? Carpooling is not only green, its also sweet. Our friend Eric offered to tote us to Sauvieland tonight, thanks Eric!

Because I still get the question, “Why Portland?” or the statement that Portland is just like any other nice city, I decided to dedicate this entire post to the subject, so in the future I can simply forward this post without answering the question all over again.

Most of you know why we MOVED (we were in Lakeland, FL to graduate - never wanted to make that our long term place of residence. Since we we had spent a collective 30 years in the sub-tropical climate of Florida’s lovely sprawling resort cities and southern baptist culture, we wanted to move AWAY. Like, away away. Not nearby. At least as far as North Carolina. To boot, it was perfect timing for us to make a large move, when we considered all the logistics such as children, jobs, money, lease, so on.)

But still, the buzz about Portland never seems to reach all of you. I can understand that, in fact I didn’t think Portland had ANYTHING at all until I searched for articles and information about it. And as far as I’m concerned, that’s due to my southern education in which culture and geography were sorely under-taught. LOL

Well, this week’s Willamette Weekly, (the only newspaper ever to get me to actually read it with vigor), had an entire feature this week which picked apart a few articles or media coverage on Portland. You can follow the link if you want to read the article, but I have copied the tid bits of media coverage below.

Here’s the media clips they pick apart in the article on their site- I figure I will let the professional writers explain a little of WHY PORTLAND since that is who we trusted to tell us about it before coming here. (Although we did visit right before moving and LA-HUVED it.)

It was upon reading stuff like the above media coverage that made us, like so many 20-30 yr olds, flock to the city of Portland in the last couple of years. Some one told me a few weeks ago, though I’m not sure if its accurate so don’t quote me on it, that Portland has the largest growing population of 20-30 yr olds in the world right now. So the long and short of it? We are one of them. And that doesn’t in the least bit water down our decision to come because we love it too. And if any one reading this felt a little bit like this might be a cool place for them, it probably is. And you will not be coming in our shadow, you will be coming to a cool place for you.

There are many people whom I DON’T think Portland would be a good pick for. But it was for us, very much so, and we are SO glad we made the move.

THE END!

With the rainy season upon us, its not always easy to bus it to the farmer’s market these days. With the sale of our car impending, and no bike trailer to carry groceries, getting produce and grocery items will be a bit difficult, to say the least. But I’m really apprehensive about the trailer, for irrational fears of having the most precious thing to my heart trailing around behind my bike on the side of a busy road. Anyway, I typically bring $40 to the Portland Farmer’s Market each week. I look for the best deals (which aren’t always organic but at least local) and then I spend a little at the grocery store for items not produce related. The market runs every Saturday from May - December.

All of these complications lead me to look into the home delivery service, as I often see various vans outside the doors of houses in our neighborhood, dropping off groceries and bins of food.

Several full-fledged grocery stores, such as New Seasons Market, offer this service for a fee, and many local farms offer “drop off” sites for a seasonal membership (Sauvie Island Organics, for example, rounds off to about $25 a week, from my math, which is pretty good, but you have to pay $805 for the 8 months of service, and you still have to go to the drop off sites on the right days.)

What I want is something without a fee, that tells me what I’m getting each week, and that provides more than just produce. Oh yes, and if you could just leave it on the door, thanks. Is that too much to ask?

Apparently not! Organics to You offers home delivery of fresh organic produce from several farm locations, and all you have to do is schedule for the size bin you want (one person, small family, large family, etc) including extras such as “Juicer Bin”, “Kids Bin” etc. To top it off, they offer an ever expanding selection of high demand grocery items, such as bread, milk, butter, yogurt, cheese, eggs, coffee, - even Chai! (Meats are coming soon!) You see the price (and, by the way, the brand) for what you’re checking off and it all adds up to one sum which you can either pay in advance with your credit card or leave cash under your door mat! The prices, compared to non-discounted items at, say, Wild Oats (prices I am most familiar with) are by and large comparable, if not cheaper, (although for the time being, I do have Hubby’s 20% discount) PLUS you are not paying for gas OR the time/chore of getting your groceries each week.

Pro’s: esp without a Hubby discount: no travel and very little time invested (takes two minutes to fill your order). Price is reasonable, and best of all, it makes it very easy to stay within your grocery budget, as most of us would do if we actually saw the total adding up AS WE WERE SHOPPING!

Con’s: If you are not concerned about organics AND you are not a big produce eater, then obviously its cheaper to go to your local grocery chain.

Below was this week’s bin for a “small family”, which costs $30. I think its MORE than enough for us and I might go down to the one person bin every other week, and with the savings buy some grocery items such as my milk, bread and eggs.

SMALL BIN

Hello, For the week of October 22nd. ENJOY!

1 Pomegranate
4 Gala Apples - *LOCAL, farm direct*
3 Bartlett Pears - *LOCAL, farm direct*
2-3 StarKrimson Pears - *LOCAL, farm direct
3-4 Bananas
1 bunch French breakfast Radish - *LOCAL*
1-2 Onions - *LOCAL, farm direct*
2lb. Red Potatoes - *LOCAL, farm direct*
6oz. Crimini Mushrooms - *LOCAL, farm direct*
1/2lb. Green Beans - *LOCAL, farm direct*
1 Lettuce - Some *LOCAL*-’last of the local lettuce’
1 bunch Chard/Kale - *LOCAL, farm direct*
1 bunch Broccoli - *Local*
1-2 winter Squash-(Gold Nugget) - *LOCAL, farm direct*

*LOCAL* = locally from supplier
*LOCAL, farm direct* = Locally direct from farmer

I’d like to add that even the website for this organization is impressive to me- with recipes, community pages, so on. I will get my first delivery next week, and I’ll let you all know how it measures up!

Heart of Autumn, by Robert Penn Warren

Wind finds the northwest gap, fall comes.
Today, under gray cloud-scud over gray
Wind-flicker of forest, in perfect formation, wild geese
Head for a land of warm water, the boom, the lead pellet.

Some crumple in air, fall. Some stagger, recover control,
Then take the last glide for a far glint of water. None
Knows what has happened. Now, today, watching
How tirelessly V upon V arrows the season’s logic,

Do I know my own story? At least, they know
When the hour comes for the great wing-beat. Sky-strider,
Star-strider- they rise, and the imperial utterance,
Which cries out for distance, quivers in the wheeling sky.

That much they know, and their nature know
The path of pathlessness, with all the joy
Of destiny fulfilling its own name.
I have known time and distance, but not why I am here.

Path of logic, path of folly, all
The same–and I stand, my face lifted now skyward,
Hearing the high beat, my arms outstretched in the tingling
Process of transformation, and soon tough legs,

With folded feet, trail in the sounding vacuum of passage,
And my heart is impacted with a fierce impulse
To unwordable utterance –
Toward sunset, at a great height.

e.e.cummings
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