I Don't Need Anything That I Don't Have

I've got a zillion posts in "draft" form here, and hope to get to them in the next few days. For the year-end post, however, I'm taking a moment to think about the things I'm thankful for. I know, I know - Thanksgiving was last month, this is the time for resolutions, blah blah blah. But see, I absolutely suck at making and then keeping resolutions (which only serves to make me feel worse about myself, not better), and frankly I think it's a good thing to remind ourselves of the good things in our lives more often than just once a year. Sure, we could probably all stand to lose a few pounds and make a few more dollars a year - but all in all, most of us are pretty damned fortunate.

So - I'm thankful (first and foremost) for my wonderful husband, my family, my friends, my cats (AKA fur-children) and my health.

And as I reflect on the things that make me happy and give me solace, I also remember the people who are distinctly less fortunate than I am - the people who desperately need many of the things I take for granted everyday. And I suppose if I have any resolution at all this New Year's Eve, it is that I give more, do more, and speak up more. Anyone who thinks one person can't make a difference is a cynic as well as mistaken.

And now, to close out 2005 in the spirit of being happy with what we have, here is a song I adore by Glen Phillips:

"Don't Need Anything"

I've got gardens growing, got quiet days
Clothes on my back, food on my plate
Got friends to help me if I call for them
I don't need anything that I don't have

I've got eyes to see this beautiful land
And feet to take me where I want to stand
If there's work to be done, there's these two strong hands
I don't need anything that I don't have

Some years the rains don't come
And some years floods clear out the plains
If those waters washed this town away
I would still have enough if she was with me

I've a roof overhead, the stars if I choose
But I've got no itch to fly, got no need to move
Got almost nothing, but I understand
That I don't need anything that I don't have

Happy New Year, everyone.

The Contagious Meme Strikes Again

My friend Vikki says, "I had to do this to see if I could come up with 4 things for each." Clearly, she had some success. And while I have no idea what "chicken big mamou" is, it sounds... umm... interesting.

Four jobs you've had in your life: picking blueberrys (lasted 3 days), receptionist in dentist office, computer programmer, business systems analyst
Four movies you could watch over and over: Sound of Music, Out of Africa, Rear Window, Shawshank Redemption
Four places you've lived: Millville, NJ; Philadelphia, PA; Collingswood, NJ; Portland, OR
Four TV shows you love to watch: West Wing; Two and a Half Men; Globe Trekker; Sex and the City (new to me, never had HBO)
Four places you've been on vacation: Eastern US; Quebec, Canada; Italy; London, England.
Four websites you visit daily: yahoo mail, weather... that's it daily and even that is a stretch.
Four of your favorite foods: anything shrimp, chicken big mamou, ice cream, anything cheese
Four places you'd rather be: Positano, Italy; Kaui, Hawaii; Oregon Coast; San Juan Islands

And, because Chris was asking the other night, here's the definition of "meme."

The Castrator

Charades is like a religion in Chris' family - they play it at every Christmas party they host. I've never taken part, as I'm not a game person and, frankly, they scare me. Today, however, I saw how they reel 'em in young.

Chris' brother's family was over this evening with the two kids, and they brought out a new game they'd gotten - Charades for Kids. Yes, they're indoctrinating the next generation, preparing them for the many Christmas parties ahead of them. (I still stayed out of it - I don't want to give them any false hope.)

The best moment came when our 4-year-old nephew was trying to guess what Grandpa Ed was doing, taking coins from his hand and putting them on a pillow. The adults were trying to help, saying, "Where do you put money?" Our nephew shouted, "THE CASTRATOR!" All the men in the room sat up everso slightly before realizing it was cash register that he meant. Good times, good times.

Holiday Bombardment

I suppose there's always something about the holidays that feels like a downpour. This year it's even more so - with the recent family reunification here in Pennsylvania, the kids are everyone's focus (as it should be). At ages 6 and 4, they're everywhere all at once (also as it should be).

Our niece (age 6) is completely focused on all things princess-y or girly, and our nephew (age 4) has a super-hero alter-ego called "Fighting Robot." When I asked him what he'd asked for from Santa, the only thing I could understand was, "a Fighting Robot costume." When I then asked what such a getup might look like, he responded (as if I was a complete dunce), "It looks like a Fighting Robot." Duh, Aunt Jessie.

Tonight we're going to see Chris' sister perform in a church service (she'll be singing and playing clarinet, I'm told), and then tomorrow is the big day. Christmas day out here is a nearly all-day affair - stockings first thing, then a break for breakfast and getting cleaned up, then we start in on the under-the-tree gifts (and there's sometimes a break in there for lunch). I don't know what the remainder of our stay holds, though I'm hoping that the annual pilgrimage to local discount clothing store Gabriel Brothers is in the cards - I look forward to that all year long. No kidding.

Okay - I'd best be getting back to the action here. Happy Holidays, all!

And So It Begins

Toto, we're not in Oregon anymore...

For the next five days or so we're in Central Pennsylvania with Chris' family... The posts here will be few and far between (the dial-up connection here is maddening, and there's no wireless connection to speak of). So, I hope everyone has a happy holiday (whatever it is you're celebrating!), and I'll be posting some of our Pennsylvania pictures later on.

Ciao, tutti!

This Meme is Contagious!

My friend Stephanie says, "Alright, I'll bite..."

Four jobs you've had in your life: worked the drive-up window at a fast food joint; processing periodicals in a library; executive assistant; and my current job - policy wonk.
Four movies you could watch over and over: LOTR trilogy, Sound of Music, Much Ado About Nothing, Monty Python - Holy Grail.
Four places you've lived: Meeker, CO; Denver, CO: McMinnville, OR; Las Vegas, NM
Four TV shows you love to watch: Daily Show, Storm Stories, South Park, Buffy (hey, it didn't say current shows! and we still watch Buffy - we have 6 seasons on DVD!)
Four places you've been on vacation: eastern coast of Australia; Sweden/Norway; Banff/Canmore, Canada; Lake Michigan.
Four websites you visit daily: Hotmail, salon, myfamily, ncsl.
Four of your favorite foods: creme brulee, butternut squash, apples w/ almond butter, field of greens salad at Bump and Grind - a local eatery.
Four places you'd rather be: at this very moment, home! where my parents are here for the holidays! Valley View Hot Springs/Orient Land Trust; coast of Spain, Lake Steam Baths.

My Father's Meme

For those of you who don't read the comments, I'm reprinting my father's response to yesterday's "meme of fours." My comments are in red.

Four jobs you've had in your life: Machinist, Photographer, Engineer, Cowboy (Horse Trainer), College Professor Apparently my dad can't count...
Four movies you could watch over and over: The Man from Snowy River; The African Queen; Time Bandits; The Bridge on the River Kwai.
Four places you've lived: Forest Hills, NY; Worcester, Mass; Newtown, Conn; Prairie City, Oregon; Corvallis, Oregon; Milwaukie, Oregon. Again, trouble with the counting thing...
Four TV shows you love to watch: The Daily Show; The Colbert Report; House; Numbers. He likes a show called "Numbers" and he's having trouble with them? Disturbing... Also, I'd completely forgotten about The Daily Show & Colbert Report. Good on you, dad.
Four places you've been on vacation: Israel; England; France; Mexico.
Four websites you visit daily: Andiamo; Google; Earthlink; US Bank. Aww, thanks for the plug, daddy-o...
Four of your favorite foods: Prime Rib; Lobster; Roast Suckling Pig; Leg of Lamb. And the reasons for my father's 1994 quintuple-bypass surgery suddenly become crystal clear...
Four places you'd rather be: Someplace warm where clothes are not required; On the GP Tour with a Race Team; Time to travel around the country in the RV; Nepal. I absolutely do not want to know why my father, at age 70, has decided he wants to be a nudist. There are things that should remain a mystery between parents and their children. Yipes.

A Meme of Fours

I saw this one on James Tata, and as I'm too busy at the moment to write up the reviews of the Dandy Warhols/Out Crowd show from last week or the U2 show from last night, this is all I'm capable of today. I'll get to the shows, I promise. Just probably not this week...

Four jobs you've had in your life: movie theater popcorn-hawker, quality control clerk, lobbyist, administrative/personal assistant
Four movies you could watch over and over: Mindwalk, Lord Of The Rings trilogy (does that count as three? if not...), Amelie, The Usual Suspects
Four places you've lived: Newtown, CT; Contoocook, NH; Nottingham, England; Bothell, WA
Four TV shows you love to watch: The West Wing, Waking the Dead (BBC America), Wire In The Blood (BBC America), Globe Trekker
Four places you've been on vacation: Scotland, Italy, Czech Republic, New Zealand
Four websites you visit daily: Bloglines, Gmail, BootsnAll, Yahoo Mail
Four of your favorite foods: gelato, sushi, pretty much anything Italian, the entire Thanksgiving meal
Four places you'd rather be: the easy answer is, "Anywhere in Italy" - but I'll try to play along better than that... Florence, Italy; my cousins' house outside Bordeaux, France; Tobermory, Scotland; Mont St. Michel, France (I've never been, but really want to see it)

Some "Damn Interesting" Tidbits

I've been saving these up for some time now - they're all from a site appropriately called "Damn Interesting." Everything I read there is (ahem) interesting, often informative and sometimes disgusting. I try to steer clear of the latter, if for no other reason than I don't particularly like feeling queasy. So - here are the selections for the day.

• In honor of the season - the Christmas Truce of 1914
• This lie detector story reminded me of a somewhat distubring book I read awhile ago called, The Truth Machine
• The only palindrome I've known is, "A man, a plan, a canal: Panama" - now I know some in Finnish as well.
• Finally, this is absolutely the car I want to be driving!

Stupid Snow

I grew up with snow, so I get to make wise cracks like, "I hate snow." And I do. Hate snow, that is.

I mean, it's all fine and dandy if you've got nowhere to go and nothing to do and the fridge is full and you don't lose power and there's plenty on television. If any one of those things doesn't hold, then snow is a damned pain in the ass. In my case today, the fact is we've got lots to do - and no way to get out and do it. Why? Because of this crap:


Out our front door - it may look like a light dusting, but there's ice from the earlier freezing rain underneath.


And this is out the other side of the house, overlooking the street (which cars are gingerly making their way up and down) and the mini-mart parking lot (which saw some idiot testing the iciness in his SUV with his friends standing around in the lot itself - all we could think was, "So, these guys are probably candidates for those Darwin Awards, right?")

The bottom line, the thing that is keeping me from getting any more frustrated about the weather, is the fact that I can't do anything about it. So, we're making Mexican hot chocolate and hunkering down to watch some of the 41 hours of recorded television we have on tap. It's not how we wanted to spend the day, but all in all - it doesn't completely suck. I guess.

Oh, and if all else fails, here's a cute little thing to pep you up if you're feeling low.

The First Day of the Weekend Before

Yesterday we managed to check a few things off our to-do list, and we treated ourselves while we were at it.

I've not set foot in a Toys R Us in years, and I don't plan to start now. Finnegan's was just as crazy yesterday afternoon as I imagine a TRU would be, but I'm happy to tolerate it. We love that toy store, and often find ourselves regressing and "oohing" and "aahing" over something we wish we could have. (For me, it's usually when I start to reminisce about all the Breyer horses I once had.) We finished the shopping for the PA niece & nephew there, and then went off to get some chocolates for Chris' assistant. We wanted to try something new, and were in the mood for a bit of a pick-me-up, so made our way to the oddly-located Sahagún Chocolates for a warm cup of chocolately goodness.

You may remember that I'd once waxed poetic about the hot chocolate at Mio Gelato (which I still adore). Well, after writing about that cocoa, I got a recommendation from the Food Dude to try Sahagún's version. We were happy to taste-test.

As the Food Dude told me, the cocoa at Sahagún "isn't as thick [as Mio Gelato's], but has a much more complex flavor." They rotate the chocolate they're using for their chocolate drinks, and yesterday it was an Ecuadorian. I have no idea how that might compare to others, but this was sublime. It's a dark, dark chocolate that - despite its liquidy consistency - almost makes you want to chew it. We just sipped it and smiled at each other.

A handy tip about the location - it's barely off Burnside on NW 16th, right around the corner from that Fantasy sex shop... And apparently no one wants their car to be seen in front of Fantasy, because the entire span of street parking was available when we drove up. We looked at each other, shrugged, and figured, "What the hell?" So, check that block in front of Fantasy if you're having trouble locating a parking spot. The chocolate is so good that you might feel it's a bit of a sin anyway, so it sort of fits.

Interestingly, while we were sitting there sipping, who should walk in but the owner of Mio Gelato - who ordered a hot chocolate and then watched the owner very closely as she made it. We were tempted to say something to him, quietly, about how much we like his hot chocolate as well, but decided against it. We figured he can't possibly be thinking Sahagún is anything close to a competitor, but rather just wanted to sample the local goodies. Still, it was a funny sighting.


The lovely hot chocolate at Sahagún. Another tidbit which we couldn't help but notice - the owner looks like a cross between the actress in "Amelie" and Juliette Binoche. She's adorable. And the chocolate shop itself has the vibe of the one in "Chocolat." So, do yourself a favor and transport yourself to France for a few minutes. You'll be glad you did.

Last night was an evening of complete indulgence, as it was the most recent installment of our "dinner club" with our friends Glen & Steph. We've been doing this with them for several years now - we'll take turns picking a restaurant every month or so and not telling the other couple where we're going, and whoever's choice it is picks up the tab. We've sampled quite a number of the local eateries over the years, and finally last night decided to brainstorm the list. It is as follows (in no particular order), and restaurants are in Portland unless otherwise noted:

The Bay House (Lincoln City)
Oba!
Cafe Azul
Mint
Il Piatto
Stanich's
Apizza Scholls
The Ark (Willapa Bay, WA)
The Berlin Inn
Tina's (Dundee)
Red Hills (Dundee)
Wildwood
Nick's Italian Cafe (McMinnville)
Assagio
Marrakesh
Be Won
Lucere
Miso Happy
The Bamboo Grove
Fong Chong
Piazza Italia
Riccardo's (Lake Oswego)
Cucina Cucina (Tigard)
Mother's

In looking over this list, it's sad to note that some of the places we visited no longer even exist. I was just yesterday remembering the sweet corn creme brulee I had at Lucere... *sigh*

All of that aside, it's an incredibly fun tradition we now have, and though the food is certainly a focus, it's more about making the time to spend a few hours with some dear friends who we don't see that often anymore. We keep thinking someday we'll write a book about the "dinner club," but since that's not likely to happen anytime soon, this post will have to suffice.


Dinner Club

Falling Behind

I was home sick yesterday, and am still digging out at work... I have a post in my head about the Dandys/Out Crowd show review from Tuesday night, but it's going to have to hang out in my head for awhile before I have time to think about writing it down... I finally gave up today on getting Christmas cards, so I've photocopied my annual newsletter onto green paper and that's just gonna hafta be festive enough for people... Man, I need a vacation...

Andina on the Radio

Our very own Peruvian restaurant Andina (and its resident mother-figure Doris) was featured on this past week's Splendid Table, which you can listen to from the website.

Dancing

Now, if this doesn't make you smile - and possibly want to travel - then I give up.

The Forgotten Tragedy

From today's American Progress Report:

On September 15, President Bush stood in downtown New Orleans -- bathed in floodlights powered by generators -- and made a pledge. Bush said, "Throughout the area hit by the hurricane, we will do what it takes, we will stay as long as it takes, to help citizens rebuild their communities and their lives. ... There is no way to imagine America without New Orleans." It hasn't worked out that way. A presidential adviser told TIME Magazine reporter Mike Allen that Katrina "has fallen so far off the radar screen, you can't even find it." Bush hasn't visited the Gulf Coast since Oct. 11. Most significantly, critical funding to build stronger and higher levees has not been appropriated. The New York Times notes, "Homeowners, businesses and insurance companies all need a commitment [that stronger levees will be constructed] before they will stake their futures on the city." As it stands, we "are about to lose New Orleans. Whether it is a conscious plan to let the city rot until no one is willing to move back or honest paralysis over difficult questions, the moment is upon us when a major American city will die."

The Decks Are Down

The decks are down - all eight of them (the one that remains up in the right-hand picture was rebuilt last year before the lawsuit was settled, so we could see how bad the damage was). It's amazing to see how wide-open and expansive the area seems now. Next up is the permitting process, and then the framing will begin. Progress...

Random 10

Because I'm sort of all over the place today, you'll get my musical random 10. My day seems random, so it fits.

1. All I Ask - Crowded House
2. Power Fantastic - Prince
3. Hello Earth - Kate Bush
4. Mistral Wind - Heart
5. Neon - John Mayer
6. Abbracciami - Nek
7. This Bouquet - Ani DiFranco
8. Due Innamorati Come Noi - Laura Pausini
9. E Invece Sei Tu - Cesare Cremonini
10. High Speed - Coldplay

It's an interesting mix today - heavy on the Italian stuff. The Nek song is from the CD we bought in Prague, and I really love it. I love anything he does, frankly, but I'm kind of hooked on the newest addition to our collection. One of his strong suits - as far as a student of Italian is concerned - is that he enunciates everything so clearly that even if we don't always comprehend the meaning of the words, we can usually understand the words themselves. See? Rock music is educational...

The Out Crowd at The Kennedy Center

Brother Caleb sent me this link, which is fabulous - The Out Crowd played at The Kennedy Center on November 28, and the entire 54+ minute show is available online. I haven't watched the whole thing yet, but Caleb assures me that he didn't use the stool very much - he hates to play sitting down.

As an aside, if you haven't yet reserved your tickets for the Out Crowd/Dandys show on the 13th, do so before they sell out. There's my public service announcement for the day.

Preservation Hall - It's Not All Hunky Dory

I've mentioned before that my favorite room in all of New Orleans was Preservation Hall, and I was excited to read awhile ago on Ken Foster's blog that they were having a one-night-only benefit concert there. I thought it might signal the return of the New Orleans music scene. Alas, it isn't yet so.

Functioning Toilets on Airplanes - Not Mandatory??

I must say, I'd never given airplane lavatories much thought. But I was still surprised to find this article, which states that:

Unbelievable as it may sound, the only apparent law on the books that requires an aircraft to fly with a working restroom, the Air Carrier Access Act of 1986, applies to planes with more than one aisle that were delivered or refurbished after April 1992. That's a huge loophole, given the number of jets that are older or have just one aisle. Plus, federal law seems to be mum when it comes to the all-important passenger-to-toilet ratio on a plane.

My first reaction was that I'd never experienced a problem with airplane lavatories not working, but after reading further I realized that all it would take would be one experience with this to completely alter one's awareness of the issue. Take, for example, this passenger's story:

"For health reasons, we always hydrate thoroughly before and during flights," explained Roy M. Bohlin, a professor at California State University in Fresno. "With about an hour to go on the flight, our 9-year-old son needed to use the restroom and found it out of order."

Mr. Bohlin pleaded with the flight attendant to open the bathroom, but by the time the crew member understood the urgency of the situation, and agreed to unlock the restroom, it was too late. "Of course, our son was humiliated to have urinated in his pants and on the seat and was very uncomfortable for the rest of the trip," he said.

The airline's response was to give them a flight voucher and an apology - which was unlikely to be of any consolation to the 9-year-old. And I don't even want to think about the health effects of not having enough working toilets on an airplane, no matter how long the flight is.

I'm not sure what the solution is, but I think there's got to be something the average airline passenger can do about it - after all, we're the ones who'd be getting stuck.

The End of the Term

Tonight is our last Italian class this term, which means it's the last time I'll have to think about the dreaded congiuntivo for at least a month. Of course, that's probably why I can't get it through my thick head - I actively avoid it.

The other thing I'm thinking about at the moment is that with the ending of this term comes - in the not-so-distant future - the beginning of the next one. The one where I'm going to be teaching. I'm still not what I'd call "ready," but I'm getting there. I've been keeping tabs on the enrollment online, and I've got four students in my Monday class and two in my Wednesday class. The minimum requirement is ten students (or they cancel or shorten the class), so I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Teabag Tag

We can do anything we want to do if we stick to it long enough.
Helen Keller (1880-1968)

From Around

• Damn Interesting has some World War I era color photos - and I'll bet you thought that wasn't possible!
• James Tata met an Iraqi man over the Thanksgiving weekend, and I look forward to reading the blogs the fellow suggested.
• I'm doing much better at this game (courtesy of Record Store Geek) than I thought I would, but I still have a ways to go. If you're a music fan, try your hand at it.
• And while I'm certainly happy not reproducing, I'm not sure I'd go so far as to join this club (courtesy of the fine folks at Damn Interesting).

20 Questions

(from VJ, who did this ages ago)

1. What’s for breakfast?
Pancakes (courtesy of Chris) and juice while we watched the Pilots game.

2. Do you read a newspaper daily?
I never read the newspaper. I’ll occasionally read an article or two, but that’s really rare.

3. What do you do when you can’t sleep?
Read, watch television, play on the computer or (most frequently) just toss and turn getting more and more frustrated.

4. Say a word that sums up your mood.
Right now? Tired, mostly… And impatient - I'm waiting for an overdue delivery man. (And I know, that’s more than one word, so sue me.)

5. Do you remember your dreams?
Not usually.

6. Name something from your dream last night.
I have no recollection of last night’s dream.

7. Name a food that describes you.
I absolutely cannot think of anything either descriptive or witty. If anyone thinks of something perfect for me, please let me know.

8. Today you are wearing:
At the moment, it’s a pair of jeans, a long-sleeved tee shirt from my favorite local cafe and my UGG slippers that Chris hates.

9. What’s in your pockets?
Nothin’.

10. Did you sing in the shower today?
It’s a Sunday, I’m being lazy – it'll probably be a no-shower day. I did sing near the shower this morning, though.

11. What’s the last song you heard?
“She Has No Time,” by Keane

12. Looking forward to the holidays?
Sort of… It’s always more chaotic than I’d like, what with traveling to PA for some portion of the festivities, and I’m way behind this year – I haven’t started shopping or done the cards yet. I hate feeling like I’m playing catch-up for the whole month. Having said that, I do enjoy the craziness once there's nothing more I can do!

13. Where do you want to be this instant?
That’s an easy one – it’s always going to be the same answer: Italy.

14. What’s for lunch?
I have no idea (and it’s already 1:30pm) – this might be one of those no-lunch days.

15. What’s something you would like to do soon?
Actually understand and be able to use the damnable congiuntivo in Italian.

16. Reading anything now? What is it?
I’m almost done with Pete Earley’s “Family of Spies,” and “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” five-part trilogy is on deck - if my Italian textbooks don't get there first.

17. What’s for dinner?
Good gracious, I can’t even tell you what’s for lunch!

18. A favorite part of the day is:
Checking email for the first time in a day. After a 12+ hour period away from a computer, I’m jones-ing for some electronic love…

19. Are you happy?
Overall, yes.

20. Will your friends do this meme?
Not likely, but I’ve been wrong before. Once.

Portland Rocks

Congratulations to the Portland Pilots!

Two Days, Four Parties

'Tis the season for holiday parties, I guess. Last night we were at Chris' company's holiday party at Touché. It was a good party, and people seemed to enjoy themselves - the only downside was the decibel level upstairs. The band made it so that I had to yell to have a conversation, so by night's end I was pretty hoarse. Late night number one down, one more to go.

Saturday, there were three parties at which we intended to make appearances. It ended up feeling like a progressive dinner, only without the food. We went to a friend's one-year-old son's birthday party in the afternoon, and were thankful these friends aren't Chuck E. Cheese people... I mean, I'm all for celebrating my friends' kids lives, and am happy to be "Aunt Jessie" to tons of munchkins I'm not related to, but I don't think I could stomach another Chuck E. Cheese party for a non-blood relation. That place is just a damned torture chamber for us non-procreators.

The next stop was a wine tasting birthday gathering for a college friend - she's the best kind of friend, in that it never matters how infrequently we see each other, we always pick up right where we left off. It was great to catch up with her a bit again, and we ended up talking with some of her friends with whom we share a passion for travel.

As if to extend that theme, the final stop of the night was the Bootsnall year-end bash. It was my first opportunity to meet the folks I'd been exchanging emails with for the last few months. Things are going swimmingly for the local travel website - they were expecting 200+ travelers from all over the country (all over the world?), when in years past their year-end parties were held at local bars and just included the friends they knew. It's amazing what can happen when you follow your passion... And it pays off. Hmm... I think it's that part about getting your passion to pay off that's the tricky bit.

So - two late nights in a row, we're now exhausted and are looking forward to a slow Sunday. We'll be watching the Portland Pilots in the morning, and working on our projects for the last Italian class in the afternoon. We still have no idea what we're going to do for the projects, but so far that's not daunting. Yet.

Gelato, Chocolate, & Mushrooms

Wednesday night, we went downtown so I could collect a kombucha "mushroom" from my brother's girlfriend. I'm not hoping for a miracle cure for anything, just a bit more energy and perhaps a metabolism boost. It's got six more days to ferment before I can taste it, and then I'll have to see if it has any effect. I do hope I can get used to the mad-scientist look of the thing in the kitchen.


The kombucha "mushroom" in my jar. Hocus pocus, eh?

After picking up the kombucha, we went to our favorite dessert destination in Portland - Mio Gelato - for some gelato and a cup of their newest treat: cioccolato caldo. Their hot chocolate is like nothing you've ever had - it's sweet and rich, but not excessively so, and the consistency of warm pudding. You might think it sounds like that stuff Starbucks had, but you'd be wrong - Starbucks' version (called a "Chantico") was chalky and too thick, and so rich that a teaspoon was very nearly two servings. So, put that Chantico nonsense out of your head and stop into a Mio Gelato soon (they now have three Portland locations). It's the perfect antidote to these cold, wet winter days.



And though this has nothing to do with food, I'm disturbed by this. As the saying goes, "I resemble that remark!"

Travel Quote

Bootsnall sent me this fabulous quote today, which I had to share:

All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.
- Martin Buber

What I think is so wonderful about it is that it applies to any journey we take - whether we move physically or mentally or anything in between. I do think, however, that while those "secret destinations" certainly exist in every journey, the traveler must be at least open to seeing them or they'll go unnoticed.

Snow?

As I go to bed tonight, I'm being told that there's a very good chance we'll have a few inches of snow tomorrow. I've already planned to be home for the day, as I'm one of those idiotic Oregon drivers who doesn't have the foggiest idea how to drive in ice and snow. (Nevermind that I spent more than half of my childhood in New England - I learned to drive in Oregon, and that's all it takes.) I'd prefer to not be a hazard to myself or anyone else, thankyouverymuch.

(Chris & I were downtown earlier tonight, and if I didn't currently have two cats asleep on my lap I'd be able to reach the camera and upload some pictures for you right now. But the fur-people are purring and happy, so the pictures will have to wait. I'm sure you understand.)

Deconstruction/Reconstruction

The deck deconstruction is going swimmingly... Three (nearly) down, five to go. Here are a couple shots I took this morning as the crew was just arriving.


In the second picture, you can still see a deck at the far end of the building. The second building from the bottom is nearly deck-less, and the upper building is completely deck-less.

And I also want to mention that Ken Foster has said the magic words, as far as I'm concerned - they're re-opening Preservation Hall in New Orleans. (Even if it's only for a night, it's a good sign.)

Catching Up

Okay, folks - hunker down and get comfy. I've been saving many a-blog posting to comment on, and just haven't had the time. So here they are, in one catch-all post. Because, despite what you've heard, I don't think it's always all about me. (Often, to be sure, but not always.)

• One of the Food Dude's contributors has an interesting take on bad restaurant service. My reason for flagging this post, however, is the phoenetic spelling of the rude waiter's French accent. Good stuff.
• ExtraMSG posted this tidbit about Astoria making its way into the New York Times.
• Record Store Geek brought this gem to my attention - a website that will sing for you. And who doesn't need that?
• I haven't even read the rest of the "tricks to teach your body" that William Bragg refers to, but the one he's highlighted is worth a giggle all on its own.
• The folks at Damn Interesting are full of, well, damn interesting stuff. Among them - memory research at the University of Oregon, a story that's not for the arachnophobic, and this bit that defies synopsizing.
• James Tata beats me to the punch on this New York Times article on the Pantheon. It's a building I loved beyond explanation. The only reason I could ever come up with was the feeling that so many feet had walked on the very stones I was walking. In too many places (for understandable reasons, of course) the actual historic sites are roped off and beyond reach. At the Pantheon, you're free to walk on the beautiful marble floor - just as people did when it was built. That kind of stuff sends chills up my spine, seriously.

A Thanksgiving In Pictures

We're back home again from my mother's house in the woods, and I once again have access to a high-speed connection. That dial-up thing my mother uses is frustratingly slow (wow, did we all use that at one point?), though frankly with her remote location I'm not sure she's got much of a choice yet.

At any rate, here are a few pictures from our Thanksgiving festivities yesterday:


A few family friends (the family we've always spent holidays with, sometimes referred to as our "chosen family") chatting in my mother's "great room" before dinner. Mom built the great room as an addition last year, and this was our second Thanksgiving in it. She's not kidding when she tells you this holiday is pretty much why she built the addition at all. That and the new deck outside is a perfect stage for her marimba band.


A panoramic view of the holiday tables


And, perhaps my favorite picture of the weekend, my plate (before I added a drizzle of gravy over basically everything) - the food was fabulous, and I'm almost hungry again just looking at this picture. I've made this shot the wallpaper on my laptop, which I'm sure to change when I realize how much I'm drooling on the keyboard...

The Best Laid Plans

Chris planned to make pizza tonight at my mother's house, so she wouldn't have to deal with cooking tonight (since our Thanksgiving is tomorrow). Then the power went out. There wasn't a storm out here, just lots of rain. But if the power lines in Oregon can't deal with a little rain, that's a problem.

Anyway, 2+ hours into the blackout we realized it wasn't coming back on in time for us to eat. So, we drove the 40+ minutes into town to eat - what else? - pizza.

Hitchhiker's Guide to Thanksgiving

We're celebrating Thanksgiving on Saturday at my mother's house, so today was just a bonus day off. Chris rode his bike (and froze - it was sooo cold this morning), and we did some chores. Then we settled in to watch "The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy," which we'd been wanting to see since it came out. We don't agree on the review, but since I'm the one writing right now you'll be getting my opinion.

It's a fabulous movie.

Really, it is. I read the first three books in the five-part "trilogy" many, many years ago, and haven't read them recently - I was amazed, then, at how much of the books came back to me as I watched the movie. It's clever and witty, and the visuals are great. It made me want to read the books again - which is much easier since I bought the entire "trilogy" (in one book - it's huge). I can't wait...

Oh, and we also decided to look up the author, Douglas Adams, on Wikipedia. It's a lengthy and informative entry, and makes me also want to check out his other work. I just love the idea that there are people in the world whose minds work that way. I'd love to surround myself with them and just listen to them talk.

Family History

Here are the final (and not fantastic) pictures from our weekend in California. First of all, a picture of me with my great-aunt Fritzi (whose 95th birthday is this Friday):



We haven't always had the best relationship - I wasn't usually able to live up to her high expectations - but she's softened measurably in recent years. It wasn't an easy visit, as she's hard of hearing and her heavy German accent combined with stroke-induced speech impediments made conversations difficult. Still, I'm glad we visited her. Her mind is still sharp as a tack, and she told us stories of her youth (until this visit, I either didn't know or had forgotten she was born in Poland). Some of her earliest memories are of fleeing with her family from Poland to Bucharest and finally to Austria because of World War I. Many years later, she was one of the members of my extended family fleeing from Germany during the early years before World War II. And despite this storied life, she doesn't think anyone would be interested if she wrote a book... We tried to convince her that her family would be interested, but I'm not sure how effective we were. I suppose we'll see.

Fritzi's son Joe lives near her, and we visited with him as well. He told us one story about his mother that, despite his own difficult relationship with her, had him choked up as he told it. Apparently, when Fritzi was pregnant with Joe in Germany, she was desperate to not give birth in Germany. She had arranged to go to Strasbourg in France for the last month or so of her pregnancy and give birth there. Her driver - a member of the Nazi party, as were most Germans at the time - was very kind to her and was driving her to Strasbourg. She began to feel unwell, and he began to look for a town in which to rest. Every town, however, had a sign up that said, No Dogs or Jews Allowed and so they had to keep driving.

I sincerely hope Fritzi's stories aren't lost, whether she writes them down herself or passes them along to people like Joe and other family members. Whether or not they'd ever be interesting to a larger audience, I can't help but believe there are plenty of members of the family who would love to hear them. And, frankly, though I know my nearly 7-year-old nephew couldn't care less right now, I think it's only right that he have the opportunity to hear his family's history later in his life when he might be curious.

Shifting gears completely, we were a little surprised to find that the previous occupants of our hotel room had apparently had irons for feet. Either that or the iron-footed monster had just passed through:



Okay, so there wasn't an ironing board in the room, and someone had clearly been a little careless with the iron. Still, I like the iron-footed monster story better.

Getty Center

Between visits with relatives on Saturday, we went up to The Getty Center - we only had about an hour and a half, so we didn't really go inside any of the indoor exhibits. We just stuck to the gardens, and even limiting ourselves to that I felt rushed.


(L) The little girl in the picture was so cute - she kept running up and down the beautifully manicured (without feeling stuffy) lawn shrieking. In a good way. (R) Deep in the garden, a lovely orange flower against a trellis and the clear blue sky.


(L) All thanks to the polarizer for the exceptionally blue sky here - though it was pretty blue already, it's getting a little leg up... (R) Perhaps my favorite of the bunch - primarily because of the color of the grass and sky.


(L) Chris gazing out over the skyline... (R) The sycamores look almost fake with their smooth bark. I love this picture.

Lost in Translation

"The Edge" in The Oregonian today contained this tidbit:

Officials in Beijing have announced plans to correct some of the city's bilingual signs, including a sign identifying the Park of Ethnic Minorities as "Racist Park" and a sign warning about the hazards of a wet road that reads, "The slippery are very crafty."

This reminded me of a picture Chris took on his recent trip to Shanghai:



The sign reads:

Raise the environment consciousness,
Protect the fine home
Add the green one for the JinQiao,
Make living many penny warm and fragrant

The Dandy Warhols + The Out Crowd in L.A.

Friday we flew to California to spend a weekend visiting my great-aunt and cousin, and to see my brother's band (The Out Crowd) play. They're opening for The Dandy Warhols on this leg of the Dandys' American tour. I was really looking forward to seeing my baby brother being a real rock star...

The show was at the Avalon, near the corner of Hollywood & Vine (which I'm told is something special). The club itself is nothing special from the outside, but the interior - even in the dim lights of a rock and roll show - is beautiful. It's apparently been re-done recently, and is an art deco wonderland. There's a huge medallion in the center of the ceiling, an arched effect over the stage, and the balcony is essentially an art installment. There are at least four bars around the perimeter of the main floor (because, really, who wants to walk more than ten feet for a beer?), and a grand central staircase leading to the balcony. It's really quite something.

(As an aside, it had taken us nearly 1.5 hours to drive to the show from our hotel in Marina del Rey - an inordinately long time for a relatively short distance. I managed to not get stressed out by the situation, however, by reminding myself that L.A.'s traffic is, arguably, one of the city's more famous "sights." I would have been disappointed had I not seen it.)

We bumped into brother Caleb out front as we were walking in, and again on the main floor before his band took the stage. He promised to come out after their set to see if he could get us backstage. We eased our way into the growing crowd to watch The Out Crowd perform.


The Out Crowd onstage

The band was fabulous - and I'm not just saying that because I'm the big sister. Really. I hadn't been overly thrilled with what I'd heard at Dante's the week before (and blamed it mostly on the unnecessary loudness), but this was an entirely different experience. The sound was incredible, the band was tight, and the songs were fantastic. The gathering crowd, clearly there for the Dandys, was really into the band by their fourth song. Caleb had said they were winning over every crowd they'd seen up to that point, and it's easy to see why. (For some better pictures of The Out Crowd live, check out these from the Seattle show on November 14th.)


Brother Caleb, a portrait in blue

After their set, we meandered back to wait for Caleb's reappearance and we watched the crowd get bigger. The place was sold out, and jam-packed. Caleb came out to find us just as the Dandys were starting their fourth song, and brought us backstage. The "backstage" there is actually to one side of the stage ("stage right" is as you're looking at the stage from the audience, right?), and is two stories - there's a balcony overlooking the stage, and that's where we watched the rest of the Dandys' fantastic show.


The Dandy Warhols, as seen from the backstage balcony. Drummer Brent was mostly hidden from our vantage point behind a curtain. Guitarist Pete was at the end closest to us, but was moving so much he's often a blur. Here, you can basically only see his feet. The trumpet player came and went, depending on the song.

When I was in a band in the mid-1990s, the Dandys had just gotten signed to Capitol Records. My band was at a Portland club one night when the whispers began, "Courtney's here!" We finally saw him, wearing a Capitol Records T-shirt. I swear, every time I saw him that year he was wearing that damned T-shirt. For that reason alone, I decided I didn't like him. I'd never met him, nor did I know anything about him, and I'd like to think his choice of wardrobe was nothing more than his way of showing his excitement. For a struggling band like ours, however, it felt like a nasty reminder of our lowly status.

I never bought a Dandys CD (though I always liked the songs I heard on the radio), and I'd never seen them live. Then brother Caleb got to know Courtney, and become good friends with him. And then this tour came up, and our trip to L.A. - and frankly, I was expecting to have a good time but to not be enthusiastic about the Dandys' show. Not only did I have a great time, I thoroughly enjoyed the Dandys' live show.



The Dandys, and some of their adoring fans.

After the show, we hung out on the balcony with brother Caleb while the Dandys got offstage. Then there were many introductions to be made. I was happy to finally meet The Out Crowd, and to see firsthand what Caleb has been saying - that they're all great friends. There was such intermingling of the two bands that it was hard to tell who was with who. After awhile, Caleb spotted Courtney walking through the crowd and called him over. Courtney, like most rock stars, has a walk - a strut, really - that is the physical manifestation of his rock star persona. He does the strut onstage, and I wasn't surprised to see him doing it backstage, either. I was, however, surprised by what came next.

Courtney strutted over to us, and Caleb said, "Courtney, this is my sister." Courtney's face absolutely lit up - there's no other way to describe it. He smiled a big, genuine smile, and shook my hand. We chatted about another mutual friend, a guy I went to high school with who's now a video editor working with the Dandys. It was a fleeting moment, a brief exchange, but so unexpectedly pleasant that I immediately took back every negative thing I'd ever said about him.

When it came time for the after-party to move to an off-site location, we gave Caleb, his keyboardist Sarah Jane, and the Dandys' Greek trumpet player Achilles (I'm completely serious) a ride. Achilles in particular was surprised that we weren't joining them at the after party. It was by this point about 1:30am on Saturday, and we'd gotten up at 5am Friday and hadn't gotten a nap in the afternoon, so we were pretty beat. We hesitated briefly about whether to stay, but ultimately decided that exhaustion won out. Besides, despite our best efforts to fit in, we felt pretty old and out of our element and neither of us were sure we wanted to prolong that feeling. I gave Caleb a huge hug goodbye, promised Achilles we would come to the Portland shows at the end of the tour, and drove away.

So, I hereby recommend that each and every one of you in the Portland Metro area buy a ticket to the Portland show (there are two, but only one of them also has The Out Crowd - I think it's December 13 at the Wonder Ballroom, but double check for yourself). These bands are great, and there's nothing like a hometown show. C'mon, Achilles will be pleased.

Loose Ends

We leave for California tomorrow morning, so it's unlikely that we'll be posting anything until next week when we get back. Just so you know.

In other news...

• Construction work on our decks will begin on Monday, which is a huge relief after nearly three years of lawsuit and negotiation. The last few weeks have been busy with details, and I'm just so, so glad it's finally coming to the actual work.
• I'm typing awkwardly with a brace on my left wrist today - my stupid ganglion cyst is acting up (which it does periodically). I know these things can be removed, but my one experience with being operated on (my tonsillectomy in 2001) was so un-fun that I'll do pretty much anything to avoid going under any knife ever again. Stupid ganglion cyst will just have to be dealt with another way. (In other words, I'll continue to try to ignore it.)

Finally, I mentioned before the artist films my mother produced. Mom called this morning - one of the artists, Roy Setziol, died last night. She adored him, and saw him almost every week since she first met him. I'm sad for her, and at the same time so pleased that he lived long enough to be captured on film - and then to see the finished piece, which he loved. He's incredibly vibrant and animated onscreen, and it's wonderful that the film will live on for him.

Learning Something

I got the word yesterday that I'll be teaching two sessions of level one Italian next term (Monday and Wednesday nights). I'll also be attending a class as a student (Tuesday nights), so I'll have three nights a week of Italian. If I don't come out of the winter term with a better handle on the language, that will be a sad state of affairs, indeed...

Adding a second level one class certainly adds to my workload, in that I'll have twice as much homework to correct each week, but at least I'll only have to design one program. The bad news is that the Monday class is only 8 weeks long instead of 10 because of Monday holidays in January and February, so the Monday students won't get as far as the Wednesday students. But I suppose it all works out one way or another.

My hope is that it doesn't all go completely pear-shaped so that I feel confident enough to teach level two in the spring. We'll see...

Maestro, gimme a C...

(Ahem...)

Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday dear Chris -
Happy birthday to you!

Happiest of happy days to my one and only!

Old & Deaf

So, I think I've mentioned before that I've pretty much always been old & boring. After Friday night, add the wrod "deaf" to that list.

Chris & I went to Dante's after a lovely dinner with friends (at Cafe Castagna - one of the best burgers ever) to see my brother's band play their last show before heading out on the road (they left today). We had been told they'd be going onstage at 11:30 (earliest estimate) or midnight (more reasonable estimate). When we arrived, the band before them was just setting up, so we sat down, grabbed a drink, and chatted with my brother while we waited.

And then the band began to play.

Communication was reduced to hand gestures and, occasionally, screaming at the top of our lungs directly into each others' ears. If the decibel level coming from the speakers wasn't enough, I'm thinking that screaming directly into each others' ears was pretty bad for our eardrums. And I kid you not, as I was screaming at the top of my lungs I was completely unable to hear the sound of my own voice. Aside from the obvious ear-health commentary I could make here, it's really disconcerting to feel like you're yelling and not making a sound.

At any rate, I'm partly to blame for my ears' discomfort, as I usually take earplugs with me to shows. I've been doing this since the late 80s, when a Kiss concert made my ears ring for three days afterward. Lately, however, the earplugs have remained in my purse, as it seems the overall volume has come down. It's still loud, but not unnecessarily so. Friday night was the exception - of course, the night when I am earplug-less. I can only assume the sound man there is deaf. Either that, or he had earplugs.

My brother's band went onstage around 12:30, and we left after about four songs. They're good, and the crowd was really into it, we were just tired. Remember, we're old.

Geography Challenge

Today's Oregonian ran a geography quiz in the Travel section (which it got from the Chicago Tribune). It was one of those fun lessons in how little we really know about the world... (Although Chris did much better than I did.)

Try it out for yourself here. The different quiz sections are in the blue bar to the right, starting with the photo quiz. Good luck!

Passports & Music

The Lonely Planet folks have put out yet another fabulous screensaver - this time it's "52 Reasons to Have a Passport," in case you needed any encouragement. Good stuff.

Record Store Geek has been singing the praises of Pandora, which I plan to try out soon. It looks exceptionally cool, and it's free. Can't beat that.

Portland Slide Show

In addition to their recent article about traveling to Portland in the fall, the New York Times also has a Portland slide show in the travel section. (Though it's likely to have been there all along, I just noticed the damned thing today.)

California Anxiety

We'll be in Santa Monica next weekend for a couple days, mostly visiting my 94-year-old great aunt, but also to see my brother's band play in L.A. I'm a little anxious about it, as I've never really been a southern California kind of girl. Instead of the white sand and sun down there, I prefer Oregon's chilly beaches where a sweater is pretty much required (probably because I haven't looked good in a swimsuit since I was nine), and I can't help but feel I'm not nearly hip enough for the entire area. Be that as it may, we're going. My great aunt won't care who I'm wearing, and even if everyone else at my brother's show looks like I'd expect L.A. concert-goers to look, I'll console myself by knowing I'll soon be returning to the land of fleece and hiking boots.

French Riots

Something is very wrong in France - this much can be said without controversy. Beyond that, however, it tends to get a little murky.

The story seems to be that the French-born children of immigrants (mostly from African countries, though even that seems to be in dispute now) have finally had enough of being treated not even like second-class citizens, but rather more like trespassers in their own country (they are French citizens, after all). The riots began nearly two weeks ago in suburban Paris, and quickly spread to cities all over France. Cars have been burned, buildings vandalized and - more recently - people killed. It's a horrific example of what can happen when people who have nothing but numbers on their side decide they're tired of the status quo.

Chris' comment this morning as we watched CNN (the news today is that the central government has given the French states the authority to impose a curfew) was that it just shows there's no accountability for poverty - it's easily ignored by those in power. Well, no more. Of course, the end result is unlikely to be good news for the disaffected youths involved in the riots. They'll probably be further ostracized by the police and the rest of the French citizenry. I wonder how long it'll take next time for the bubble to burst.

For two takes on the situation, here is the New York Times' story today, and the American Progress Report's look at the underlying causes of the unrest.

An East Coast View of Seattle

You may recall my fondness for Conor's round-the-world blog. He returned to the U.S. in mid-September, and I'm happy to say he's still blogging. And while Seattle isn't, say, Indonesia, he's tackled it with the same enthusiasm for travel and writing. Funny stuff.

Portland in the New York Times' Travel Section

A friend sent me the link to this article, and I'm having mixed reactions. While on one hand, I'm usually glad when Portland gets recognition for being the incredibly cool city it is, I'm also feeling like if the word gets out too much it'll turn into something else. As I read the list of things to do, see, and eat, I was torn between protesting when I thought they'd ignored something that was better (or praised something mediocre) - and letting sleeping dogs lie.

I wasn't born in Oregon, though I've lived nearly 2/3 of my life here, and I've been known to be an unofficial delegate of the state's tourism bureau. There are times when I've waxed poetic about Oregon to anyone who would listen. And there are still people for whom I'd offer the best suggestions. But for the masses, I'm starting to change my tune. I'm finding myself becoming more and more the kind of person who'd prefer to keep those places local. I like to think that means I'm becoming more of an Oregonian, perhaps in a way even Tom McCall would have liked.

An End to the Bachelorette Life

Chris comes home tomorrow, thank goodness.

I swear, I used to be able to take care of myself - but after 9 years of living with Chris I find I'm either unable or unwilling to cook for one. (Yeah, I think it's the latter, too.) I stay up way too late doing nothing (and by "nothing" I mean watching television or surfing the Internet). It's pathetic. I'm usually okay if he's gone for a couple days, but anything over four days and I revert back to my inner caveman. Pathetic, I tell you.

Anyway, he called me at 9 this morning (1am Saturday his time) to say he was all packed and ready to go, and that he'd taken a whole bunch of pictures that day - so there are Shanghai pictures to look forward to. Aren't you excited? I know I am...

It's Official

I have an Italian penpal. Or, as he might say, "un amico per corrispondenza." (Okay, he probably wouldn't say that, but that's what my online dictionary told me was the translation for "penpal.")

I'm not sure how it happened, but somehow an Italian photo-blogger whose work I've admired for awhile found this here blog, and he wrote me a note. Since then, I've been bravely testing my Italian out on him, and he's very forgiving of all the mistakes I'm making! For instance, I was trying to comment on a photograph he'd taken of some carved Halloween pumpkins... Let's just say the words for "pumpkin" and "sugar" are remarkably similar in Italian, and I'm sure he got a good laugh out of it... I certainly did when he pointed it out! (Because, come on - can you imagine trying to carve a face into sugar?!?)

Anyway, I'm really pleased, as it gives me a chance to practice Italian in a way I don't usually get - writing - and it's clear that I need the practice. It takes me ages to write three paragraphs. In addition, he's a nice guy who takes some beautiful pictures. Who knows, I might actually feel competent with Italian someday.

Brownie - Still Being Paid

The fact that this man is still on the public dime is really outrageous to me. Why isn't the press reporting this? He's been made a joke, even by his former boss Chertoff, and yet he remains on the payroll. What gives? Couldn't his paycheck be better spent in, say, the 9th ward?

KATRINA -- BROWN'S EMAILS SHOW OUT-OF-TOUCH FEMA DIRECTOR: Emails turned over to Congress by the Homeland Security Department show just how out of touch former FEMA director Michael Brown was during the Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts. In the emails, "Brown discussed his appearance, his dog and his public image as the government's relief effort unraveled after Hurricane Katrina." On the morning of August 29, the day Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, Brown wrote his colleagues about his wardrobe, stating, "I am a fashion god," then joked, "Can I quit now? Can I go home?" Two days later, after a FEMA regional official sent him an urgent email describing a situation on the ground that was "past critical," Brown's response was, "Thanks for update. Anything specific I need to do or tweak?" Brown was advised by a colleague, "In this crisis and on TV you just need to look more hard-working ... ROLL UP THE SLEEVES." In an appearance before the House committee in September, Brown defended his actions. "I get it when it comes to emergency management, I know what it's all about," he said. "I know how to do it, and I think I do a pretty darn good job of it." Despite his resignation announcement on September 12, Brown continues to be on the federal payroll.

- Taken from today's American Progress Report

Halloween Pumpkin Pictures

Here are the important pictures from my Halloween - the pumpkins, of course!


Here's my pumpkin in the light (remember, this was my inspiration). The mini pumpkin is actually a little squash, I think. I bought it because it had a good nose. I mean stem.


Here are all four of our carved beauties - mine is on the far left.


And close-ups of the gourds. I can't wait until next year...

Monster Name Decoder

I had no idea until I heard about this from VJ, but so many things make sense to me now that I know I am:

Woody Allen on Psychotherapy

Filmmaker Woody Allen is interviewed in a new issue of Vanity Fair, wherein one will find this information:

Allen, who gave up therapy after meeting Soon-Yi, said that he had lived his life in “low-level depression”. “My shrink said to me, ‘when you came here, I thought it was going to be extremely interesting and kind of fascinating, but it’s like, you know, listening to an accountant or something’.”

I'm not sure why I find that so damned funny, but I do.

Teabag Tag

Charity begins at home.
Terence (190-159 BC)

I never knew where this saying came from... Nice to have it attributed.

We're mechanics in our spare time...

My boss and I just spent over an hour replacing the headlight bulbs on my car.

In our defense, it was way more difficult to get to the bulbs than it needed to be (for one of them, we had to remove the freaking battery), and neither of us is particularly mechanically inclined. We did manage to get it done, which made us both feel a huge sense of accomplishment. The fact that my hands were so cold afterwards that I couldn't type properly was incidental.

Pumpkin Carving

Chris took the digital camera with him to Shanghai (so I hope he posts a picture or two), which means any pictures I take this week will take awhile to make it onto this here blog. Principal among the pictures I would have posted today if I could have are shots of the pumpkins my friends and I carved last night.

This was my inspiration - I had only looked at the picture a couple times, so my version is decidedly less interesting. I really lost patience when I got to the eyes (I'd already spent too much time - in my opinion - carving out the teeth), so they were pretty lame. Still, the overall effect is great - and it was surprisingly easy to do. And someday, when I get my pictures developed, you'll get to see it.

Teabag Tag

Never be afraid to sit a while and think.
Lorraine Hansberry

No time to sit and think today... Unless it's about preparing for teaching. The dining room table is covered with Italian paperwork, and I'm crafting the term's schedule on the laptop. My type-A personality is quite satisfied to have all of this on paper rather than swimming around in my head... But I'm realizing that teaching is much, much more work than I'd anticipated. Kudos to all the teachers out there, you don't get nearly enough credit.

Is it raining in China?

Chris left for Shanghai on Thursday, and it's been raining pretty much ever since. I'm feeling overwhelmed by a neighborhood project, and I haven't heard back from the college folks about whether I can go back to teaching one class instead of two next term. And I woke up with a monster headache this morning. I think today is a good day to do nothing...

Preserving Oregon's Artistic Heritage

Last night I was in Salem for the premier of two films about two Oregon artists - Leroy Setziol and Jack McLarty - which are part of a larger project called Preservation of Oregon's Artistic Heritage. This project is my mother's brainchild - she's very proud of it, and I'm very proud of her.

The program is designed to capture the lives and the work of some of Oregon's best-known and most influential artists on film - and then to pair those films with curriculum pieces which teachers around the state (and elsewhere) can use in their classrooms to help bring art education back into the public schools.

But the curriculum is about more than just art - there are ways to include these films in many different subject areas, which really helps prove the point that art isn't just a superfluous and unnecessary thing. The curriculum pieces are all available on the website.

The films are available for purchase and one thing Mom encouraged people to do last night is either buy them for your kids' schools or talk to your PTA about doing so. They're $20 apiece, a nominal fee, and are a wonderful testimony to the importance of art in our lives.

Overwhelmed

I was already a little nervous about starting to teach Italian this winter. The term starts in early January, so I'm starting to do some prep work now (because my type-A personality pretty much demands it), and I sent an email to the folks at the community college about what day of the week my class will be. The response I got back yesterday caused my heart rate to increase dramatically.

They said I would be teaching not one, but two classes. That in and of itself might have been acceptable - a little more pocket money, a way to increase my comfort level more quickly - but it wasn't the number of classes but the level that freaked me out. They'd assigned me both a level one and a level two class. This after a comment during my interview that went something like, "Hmm, I'm not seeing any teaching or language items on your resume."

So, I get it. They're desperate for people to teach Italian. And I think, in a way, that's great - it means there are more people out there who are interested in learning a language. But I'm really, really, really not equipped to teach a level two class right now. A former teacher of mine (the one who get me into teaching) said, "Are you capable of teaching at level two? Absolutely. Should you stick to level one your first term to get your feet wet? Absolutely."

I emailed the college folks last night and said, "I hope it doesn't screw up your schedule too much, but please let me just do level one... Please..." The catalog hasn't gone to print yet, and nothing's even online, so I hope I caught it in time.

Now I can go back to just being a little nervous - but mostly really excited - about it.

My Squiggly Line

This past Sunday I spent a few hours at my alma mater for a department alumni event. They started holding these things several years ago, but I didn't go until last year. They're quite clever, actually, as the current crop of seniors comes and mingles with the alumni to discuss "life after college." I wish they'd held events like that when I was a senior.

I mean, back then I still had my whole life ahead of me. I hadn't made any job mistakes at that point - I still thought I might have something one might call a "career." Today, however...

But I digress. This year, the faculty had the brilliant idea of having the alumni create a timeline of what they've done since leaving college. Most of the alums were recent graduates, so they had a whopping year (or, in some cases, five months) in that so-called "real world." Unlike last year, however, I wasn't the oldest alum there - there were two gals who graduated five years before me.

Still, the post-college timeline felt like an exercise in torture.

I wrote out all the years since I graduated down one side of the butcher paper, and then just stared at a giant blank sheet upon which I was supposed to chart the past decade. I mean, how do you do that? The instructions said that if there were any years during which one was "drifting" to indicate that with a squiggly line. So what was my first move? A giant squiggly line from graduation day until the present - and beyond.

Sure, I've kept busy since graduation, but my life hasn't exactly been on any kind of track. I used to think I should want more, that I should want to do more. When I was in high school, everyone took typing classes and my mother specifically said, "No daughter of mine is going to be a secretary!" so I didn't have to take the class. And what have I done since graduating? Administrative work. For many years I was almost ashamed of that, again thinking that I should want more for myself - hell, my mother always did.

More recently, I had come to think that it doesn't matter what I do for a living - I'm happy. I like my job, I like my hobbies, I like my life. So why was that butcher paper so depressing? Because I'm looking at a job hunt coming down the pike in the next few months, and that brings up the question that apparently hasn't ever really gone away - what am I going to do with my life?

Still no answer.

Encounters of the Foodie Kind

On Friday night, Chris and I went to a small gathering of like-minded folks to listen to a public radio icon - especially to foodies - talk about balsamic vinegar. Lynne Rosetto Kasper, host of The Splendid Table, was in town for Portland's "Wild About Game" cooking contest - and since she's a public radio person, OPB snapped her up for some hob-nobbing with donors.

(I should note here that Chris and I do not contribute enough to public radio to warrant an invitation to such a small event. We give, to be sure, but we're not the big spenders. Chris' company, however, gives enough - and that's how we got the invite.)

We mingled and noshed on the appetizers available (from the fabulous folks at The Flaming Carrot Catering), sipped a little wine (courtesy of Sokol Blosser), and waited for the show to start. Kasper gave a brief talk about the way balsamic vinegar - once an unknown quantity outside the attics of the Italian families who made it - is made, and why the supermarket variety differs from the $200/bottle stuff.

The talk alone would have been great, but then she handed out plastic spoons and went around deposting drops of the $200/bottle vinegar on them! It was not like anything you'd call vinegar - it had the consistency of a fine molasses and tasted slightly tart, with a slightly almost lemony flavor. After we tasted two more variations on balsamic vinegar (the good Italian knockoff and the supermarket nastiness), we each received a small bowl containing a scoop of vanilla ice cream... Upon which Lynne plopped a few more drops of the costly nectar! Vinegar on ice cream? Absolutely! It was really a treat, especially considering it's unlikely we'll ever purchase vinegar of that quality ourselves, and Lynne was certainly not shy about sharing.

Afterwards, we chatted a bit with both Lynne and her producer, both of whom are truly delightful. (Her producer became my idol when, at one point, she said she used to work with Prince.) To say that Lynne is as warm in person as she sounds on the radio is an understatement. She autographed our stained copy of The Italian Country Table and posed for a picture with Chris. You might think she's blinking here, but I prefer to think of it as a really, really big smile.


The two chefs: Lynne Rosetto Kasper & Chris

Random 10

Haven't done this for awhile, and for some reason I feel inspired to play today.

1. Overjoyed - Stevie Wonder
2. A Change (Would Do You Good) - Sheryl Crow
3. Crying Shame - Jack Johnson
4. Mama's in the Moon - Marc Cohn
5. Your Body is a Wonderland - John Mayer
6. Stardate 1990 - Dan Reed Network
7. Amity Gardens - Fountains of Wayne
8. Bagus + These Guys Are Very Brilliant - Cesare Cremonini
9. World Outside Your Window - Tanita Tikaram
10. Saved By the Bell - The Bee Gees

Have a good weekend, all.

Oh, Such Fun

Record Store Geek has posted this list of the Top 100 toys of the 70's and 80's. I'm not sure if I feel nostalgic or just old, but either way it's fun.

This Week in Pictures

Since I lived in New Hampshire and Connecticut for many years, I know from fall color... And while what we get here in the Pacific Northwest clearly pales in comparison to New England's display, we get to enjoy a bit of color here - at least before the hard rains start and knock all the leaves off the trees. These are from a tree near our mailbox, and I'm not sure which I like better - the one with the flash or without. Reality is, of course, somewhere in between.


(L) With flash, and (R) without.

Yesterday was my brother's birthday, and I met him and several others for a celebratory lunch. My mother debuted her Halloween costume for us. Lovely, isn't it? I think it really shows off her nurturing side.


(L) Mom; and (R) the rest of the celebrants - Brother Zachary, me, Birthday Brother Caleb, Caleb's girlfriend Enzi

Google Blog Search

I don't even remember how I stumbled upon this site, but I thought I'd share it with you as I've already found it invaluable.

The fine folks at Google (who, I'm pretty sure, are slowly taking over the world) have created a Blog Search tool. Whatever you're interested in, type it into the search field and voila! You now have a bunch of blogs writing about that very subject. Genius.

I'm putting a permanent link on the left-hand toolbar, just in case you decide you need it later.

Sheryl Crow Concert Review

Sheryl Crow
Theater of the Clouds, Portland OR
October 17, 2005

Sheryl Crow is one of those artists we’ve really liked since her first album. We’re not members of the fan club, nor do we haunt the website’s message boards, but we like her music. Until Monday night, however, we’d never managed to see her perform live.

Crow’s new album, “Wildflower,” is somewhat lighter fare than her previous efforts, and we had read that she was experimenting with a new kind of sound. She said she’d be hitting the road for a limited number of shows in select cities with not only her band but a small string section. We assumed that Portland wouldn’t be on that tour, and thought no more about it. When we returned from Europe last month, however, I happened to notice that she was coming through Portland on this mini-tour, so we scooped up a couple of tickets. We still don’t know how Portland got on the list, when most of the shows are in L.A. or New York, but I won’t dwell on looking that proverbial gift horse in the mouth.

The tickets said the show started at 8pm, and Chris had read something about there being no opening act and Crow typically takeing the stage right on time. We took our seats around 7:10 – we had allotted extra time in case we had to return to the car… I had stashed the digital camera in the bottom of my purse, relying on the strategically placed tampon near the top to deter any male purse-checker from wanting to dig deeper. It worked, which leaves me with mixed feelings – I’m glad I got the camera in (because, really, when you see these images you’ll see there’s no way I could make money with them anyway, so no harm is being done), but it makes me wonder what else people could sneak in? Best to not think about it much, methinks.

(As an aside, my smuggling reminded me of my “groupie” days in the late 80’s and early 90’s, when my friend Casey and I would sneak those old, skinny cameras – y’know, the ones that took the film that looked like two cylinders connected by a strip of plastic? – into concerts. We got very creative with how we’d hide them, and only got caught once. In our defense, we weren’t there to take pictures of the shows and sell them to rock magazines, we were there to get pictures of ourselves with the band members – which we did. I don’t open those photo albums often, as my hair and fashion choices back then still alarm me, but those were certainly some fun days. A friend of mine can’t get over the fact that my parents allowed me out of the house to attend rock concerts and hang out with the bands. I probably wouldn’t have allowed it, but I wasn’t the parent. Lucky for me.)

We had heard the Crow concert hadn’t sold out, but by the time the show started it seemed pretty full to us. One of the great things about Crow’s music is its wide-ranging appeal – we saw entire families there, and people ranging in age from under 10 to 60+. I’m so used to feeling old at concerts lately it was a refreshing change. This was one of those “sit-down” concerts, which I generally don’t like – I’m not a great dancer, nor do I relish the thought of the people behind me being subjected to my ill-conceived gyrations, but I also end up feeling cooped up in a seat when I really want to be moving (at least a little) to the music.

Crow took the stage at about 8:15, and performed a variety of old and new songs – the requisite singles were played, but so were some old gems from the first few albums. We were surprised that only two songs from the last album (“C’mon, C’mon”) made it into the set, but pleased at some of the other song choices. The set list was as follows:

Run Baby Run
Hard To Make a Stand
Maybe Angels
Good Is Good
Letter To God
Perfect Lie
Favorite Mistake
The First Cut is the Deepest (Cat Stevens cover)
Lifetimes
Live It Up
Strong Enough
Wildflower
If It Makes You Happy
It Don't Hurt
Always On Your Side
Where Has All The Love Gone
All I Wanna Do
A Change (Would Do You Good)

Encore #1:
Soak Up the Sun
Everyday is a Winding Road

Encore #2:
Safe and Sound
Levon (Elton John cover)

We assumed the string section would only play on the new songs, since those songs were written with an orchestra in mind, but they played for most of the show – they weren’t onstage during the first encore, and occasionally they’d just clap along during a song where they weren’t taking an active role, but for the most part they added a wonderful flavor to older songs (I particularly liked the somber note they struck in “Safe and Sound”). The conductor was dressed in a red shirt, red tie, jeans, tennis shoes and a black tux jacket complete with black sequins on the tails. Very rock and roll, methinks.


She performed the show opener, "Run Baby Run," without an instrument of her own. Some artists who are used to playing an instrument look awkward when they don't have it - she looked completely natural. She performed a couple other songs that night sans instrument.

The mix was spot-on – we didn’t even end up wearing earplugs (though we always carry them, and it’s a rare concert that doesn’t require their use, and you kids out there should protect your ears, etc. etc.). Crow’s voice soared above everything – we were able to hear just what a talented live performer she is and still hear what a fabulous band she has with her. She switches instruments frequently, easily swapping an acoustic for an electric guitar or electric bass (my favorite). She even hops up onto the piano for a few numbers. Her band mates are equally ambidextrous, as the keyboardist doubles as a backup bassist and the bassist doubles as a backup guitarist. To anyone watching that for kind of thing, it’s clear that her standards are high and the end result benefits greatly from the attention to detail.


Here you can see the string section on the riser in the back to the left of the picture. The piano was in the middle of the riser, then the drummer and the keyboards. There was a big plastic-looking partition between the piano and the drummer - we wondered if, perhaps, he was prone to spitting on Sheryl when she tickled the ivories. He seemed harmless enough to us (and, frankly, looked a bit from our vantage point like Peter Jackson).

Crow’s songs are mostly wonderful, and her voice is great on her recordings – but nothing prepared me for the vocal acrobatics she did live – she leapt right into things with a very riffy (vocally speaking) rendition “Run Baby Run” and never let up. She’s a much more talented singer than I think her recordings show, which can either be good (so that her fans have something more to look forward to when they see her live) or bad (why on earth would you let that go unrecorded?!?). Either way, it was a surprise – a very pleasant one – to hear her variations on her own songs, and the additions of the bluesy elements which are clearly near and dear to her heart.


For "Strong Enough" and "Wildflower," she sat in the center of the stage with a spotlight on her. There was a fiddle solo during which the starry light show swirled behind her - it looked fabulous.

It’s apparently the trend to have a large-screen video display behind bands these days. I have nothing against this, and in general I thought the things being projected behind Crow’s band were fine and didn’t detract from what was happening onstage – with one notable exception. Many of you will remember the ending to the “Faith No More” video where that goldfish flops around, essentially drowning in the air, on a tabletop. I couldn’t ever watch that part of the video, even if “no fish were harmed during the making of,” yadda, yadda, yadda. I can’t see how it’s not harmful – that’d be like submerging a human being in water and letting them freak out about dying and then pulling them to air just before it’s too late. How is that not harmful?!? You might say the fish isn’t capable of the “freak out” level of understanding what’s going on, but then you’d have to explain why it will flop around in a tortured effort to inhale something that isn’t air. (And you’d have a very hard time convincing me, anyway, so don’t bother.)

At any rate, I hated the end of that video, and was dismayed when a similar image appeared above Crow’s head during “Safe and Sound.” It was interspersed with images of war (she wrote the song shortly after 9/11), but for the most part I looked at the bottom of the stage – or at my knees – until the montage was over. I get how the idea of the image fits into the overall message, but I still didn’t like seeing it. I’ll give her credit – at least in her version of this awful imagery the fish is shown being dropped back into water at the end, happily still alive.


After the first couple songs, Crow announced that this was only the second stop on this tour, and that the first night (in Seattle) had gone so well they weren't sure how things would go in Portland. She said, "But I wore a dress, so even if things go terribly, there are still the legs." She changed into jeans and a tanktop before the encores, but kept the super-high heels - I am amazed she can stand in heels that high for that long and not lose all feeling in her toes. Of course, she might lose all feeling in her toes - I have no idea.

Readers of this blog will no doubt remember that we’re cycling fans, and Lance Armstrong fans in particular. When most people who know we’re cycling fans found out that Armstrong and Crow were dating, they’d ask us, “So, do you like Sheryl Crow now, too?” We both found the question a little silly, as if the relationship would make us like a musician we would ordinarily not like. The truth is that we liked both independently long before they knew each other, and the relationship doesn’t change our feelings about either of them… Except that I’m not-so-secretly hoping her politics influence his.

He was, as we expected, at the show. She was very public earlier in the year about saying that since she’d been with him at the Tour de France that she wanted him to go on tour with her – and when he brought her a guitar (and a smooch) just before “All I Wanna Do,” she joked, “He’s the most expensive guitar tech I’ve ever had!” She called him up again onstage during “Everyday is a Winding Road” for a little dance number (very cute), and alluded to him several times. Apparently she used to dedicate the song “Strong Enough” to “all the single men in the audience,” and this time she said, “But now…” The audience laughed and cheered as she started the song. (I love that song, and I love people in love, but even I find the line, “Are you strong enough to be my man?” a little on the oh-my-god-that’s-too-perfect-to-be-real side now, given her fiancé’s last name...)


These two shots are during the encores (note the wardrobe change), and the one on the right is the little dance she shared with her man...

Many of Crow’s songs are co-written with a guy named Jeff Trott, who she announced is a Portlander (we had no idea). She also said much of “C’mon, C’mon” was recorded in Portland (where were we?!?). So between those tidbits and Lance’s Nike and medical connections here, it’s likely this celebrity couple will return. And we can’t wait.

For another take on it, here’s The Oregonian’s review.