and now for something fun... again!

On Monday I posted a video of (my interpretation of) how Offspring #2 solved the problem of locking himself out of his bedroom at his summer apartment. Offspring #1 recently experienced a little apartment trouble of her own. (Trouble, thy name is flea.)

So in the interest of equal time (of silliness) for both Offspring, here is my interpretation of how her problem was solved.



And since the apartment is now flea-free (it was an inherited problem to start with by the way), Offspring #1 received the green light to adopt this cute, cute, cute (did I mention cute?) kitty from the shelter. She gets to pick him up on Tuesday. As you can see, she named him after a Narnia character.



I am really looking forward to meeting Mr. Tumnus!

snippets from the week

Monday Hop n' Bop
We had the day off (extended 4th of July) so we decided at the last minute to hop on Amtrak and bop around the Pearl District in Portland. We ended up at Powell's (best book store ever) and I, of course, bought a book. It's called The New Yorkers: A Novel which had "fluffy summer read!" written all over it.

Tuesday Lunch 'Break'
My assistant went to the credit union over her lunch break. Besides the employees, the only other person in the branch at the time was .... a bank robber. Yikes! Luckily nobody was hurt, but her return to the clinic was delayed as she was interviewed by the FBI, swat team, etc.

Wednesday 'Easy Rider'
Rode my bike to work! It was a really pleasant ride in (part of the way goes by our city lake) -- took about 35 minutes. Going home was less pleasant because I was bucking a headwind -- took about 45 minutes. Overall it went well, so I'm definitely going to commute with my bike part time, weather permitting.

Thursday...
Going to watch The Royal Tenenbaums now. I don't know much about the movie, but with Ben Stiller in it, how can I go wrong?!

and now for something fun...

Offspring #2 is up at college taking summer classes and doing some part time work. On July 4th he inadvertently locked himself out of his bedroom at his (sublet) apartment -- no key. I was impressed with how he solved the problem. I'm picturing that it went something like this:




(By the way, Mallard's is a great ice cream place.)



-------------------------------------------------------------------
Another way to get to the youtube video is this link:

In the span of about 15 hours...

...I heard an aspiring young singer-songwriter, met a self-published author of a historical work, and saw the exhibit of a model railroad enthusiast.

How that happened:

#1. The singer-songwriter. Hubby's cousin's daughter, Emily (whom we had never met in person), is on a self-scheduled performance/promotion tour--a big loop from Michigan, out west, up through Canada, and back to Michigan in the course of a few weeks. She was singing at a small restaurant/bar in Portland last night, so the Hub and I drove down to see her. She has a good voice and has written some thought-provoking songs -- I would place her in the alternative folk genre.




2. The author. Emily scheduled her performances along the path being traveled by Ron Papandrea, author of They Never Surrendered: The Lakota Sioux Band That Stayed In Canada. Papandrea, also from Michigan, is out promoting his book, a scholarly historical work which took him 6 years to research and write. We sat with him during Emily's performance and bought a copy of the book (which I started reading last night).


#3. The model railroader. J.D., a patient of mine who lives in a nearby small town, has been a model railroader since he was a kid in 1955. Whenever he comes in for an eye exam he invites me to come out to his shop and see his model railroad set-up, but I've never done it. (To be honest, I thought it would be a little awkward.) Last week he dropped off a flyer at the clinic for me -- he was having an open house (or would that be open shop?!) during the 4th of July weekend. So I grabbed my mom and we headed over this morning. He does have a nice display -- of course it's a work in progress, as those things usually are.




As I was driving home, I was struck by the fact that these three people have such disparate interests and backgrounds, yet there is a common thread. They are each steadfastly pursuing their own dream, in spite of the fact that they don't appear to have a lot of public support at present. (The audience to hear Emily was very small, Ron only sold one book last night, and my mom and I were the only two people looking at the railroad display this morning.) My belief is that life is short and people need to go with their passion. (Of course I know one needs a balancing dose of reality as well.) In any event, I think they each will be rewarded for their perserverance. Emily just learned she will get to open for singer Amos Lee later this month, Ron found out they picked up his book to be sold at the Custer Battlefield site in Montana, and J.D. told me there appears to be some interest in making his railroad open house an annual 4th of July event in his small town.

in summary

Afternoon "people watching" at the flea market...


Evening fireworks at the lake...


Goodnight...

Friday Five: Fireworks Edition

This week the F5 is presented by Sally (a Brit!)...

1. Barbeque's or picnics (or are they essentially the same thing?)
Location, location, location. Although the food can be exactly the same, a BBQ is in the backyard and a picnic is somewhere else! (Speaking of picnics and food, my grandma made the best potato salad in the world, the perfection of which has never been duplicated.)

2. The park/ the lake/ the beach or staying at home simply being?
Here in Longview the big yearly event is the "Go 4th" celebration down at the lake which includes a big flea market and impressive fireworks display. It is also verrrrry interesting to people watch at this time. (Read whatever you like between the lines.)

3. Fireworks- love 'em or hate 'em?
I love laying/lying (never could figure out that verb) on a blanket down at the lake watching the professional fireworks display. I also like watching some of the nicer (i.e. bigger) home fireworks. However, I do not like firecrackers. (I have seen too many nasty eye injuries from those.)

4. Parades- have you ever taken part- share a memory...
I've never taken part in a 4th of July parade that I can recall. (And, sad to say, the 4th of July parade here in town is pretty lame. Mostly old cars putt-putting along.)

5. Time for a musical interlude- if you could sum up holidays in a piece of music what would it be?
The only song I can think of is "Holiday Road" (from National Lampoon's Vacation). It says "summer!" to me. Here's the original theatrical trailer:

the patriotic duo

The 4th of July is fast approaching, so Presbyterian Gal and I are getting in the spirit of things by re-enacting the signing of the Declaration of Independence.



Notice how Presbygal is grabbing the document... I think she has a couple of revisions in mind.