Have You Ever Wandered Lonely Through the Woods

A couple weeks ago Dawn and I went wandering through Astoria amid the sounds of xylophones and trolleys, with sunshine like the coast is apt to get only in August. Can't it be August here forever??

Can I just say, I love where I live. Not specifically... though my house is pretty cool, and the summer has spoiled me for weather... but I love the ocean and river right here, and cool old towns and boardwalks, and possibilities, and dreams of outrageous proportions, and good local coffee. Mmm.

Dawn found her own personal Lord of the Rings scene to step into, while I got lost along the train tracks for a bit. (Have I ever told you how I feel about trains? That's rhetorical. If you knew anything about anything you'd know I absolutely adore them.)

Then we went and had some great biscuits at Bistro. Yum. We gave our waitress flowers along with her tip. Oh, and if my building doesn't work out in town for my hostel, I already have another in mind.

Told you - dreams of outrageous proportions.

PS I want to move to Astoria next. There's an old, yellow Victorian house for sale. But then again, I "want to buy everything" according to a friend. Well, I just want to invest in these old buildings and put life and joy into them... which of course is served best with garage sale and thrift store finds.

Life and joy. That's all, really.

On a Sunday Afternoon

This last Sunday, the whole lot of us drove in on the 6 towards Hillsboro to blueberry pick. Can I just say... 4 lbs of blueberries for 5 dollars - best.Probably equivalent to Marilyn's intake.

Pick it.
Put it in the bucket.
Pick it out of the bucket.
Eat it.
Repeat.

Though I'm sure no one appreciated the rather stinky diapers this blueberry-eating frenzy led to, she sure does eat them well... I mean, I had to join in the fun too!



Nems and Erik and the kiddos (excluding Marilyn, of course) all came away with over 4 full buckets of berries.. which may not seem like a lot, but coming from one who picked a full bucket by herself and knows how deep they were... impressive. Actually, I'm pretty sure the chilluns beat me, if it was a race - which everything is with them!


Pretty successful day, I'd say.
And can I just say... I lurve living so close to my sister and her family. Makes my heart happy.

Unicorn - $1.00

Turns out one person's trash really is another's treasure.

Oh, and Unicorns love Ember, too. Sheesh, who doesn't?

"Swallowed Across the Ocean Blue"

Apparently it's "swam all across" but I've never, and will now ever be able to sing it as such.

In related news, Dawn and I went to see Brandi Carlile this last weekend. Best. We determined that she has this theatricality about her that makes listening and watching and singing along with her all the better. I mean, she's great anyways, but then you add the quirky, and highly vocabularized conversational style of her non-singing self, and it's great. So great.
We also conjectured that there really wasn't a bad seat in the house. Considering it wasn't a house at all, we were outside, and we were all stretched out on blankets with varying degrees of picnics - bad seats aren't really an option. Did I mention it was at the zoo?

Oh, and we ate a picnic of zoo food, no not the kind they feed the animals, but the kind that is good and bad for you and you only ever get it when you decide to disregard all costs for that one day and enjoy the sun and the crunchy fries and the elephants 20 feet away.

We settled into our seats, and watched as everyone else and their mom did as well. "Apparentwy, Dawn was pwanning on being so sewious when we wah smilwing" (my attempt at written Pup Voice). And the sun went down, we stopped sweating (man, the coast really gets into your system, until the slightest bit of sunlight and heat throws your body into haywire), and enjoyed the musical sultriness that is the changeful tones of Brandi Carlile.
Say it's over,say I'm dreaming,
Say I'm better than you left me
Say you're sorry, I can take it
Say you'll wait, say you won't
Say you love me, say you don't
I can make my own mistakes

Let it bend before it breaks

Winter is Coming

Meet Stark. Written "Starck" on its top. But all the same.

Loosely Based on Luke... and a Little Alice

Require Much of me;
it won't be much
for all that Much of me,
will be enough.

For if not Much in me
not much desired
and if not Much in me
none be required.

I'd rather Much of me
to be entrusted
then be not much of me
with no such Muchness

So require Much from me
'cause it's been bestowed
for where much is given
then my Much is owed.

And with this Muchness
so much more prepared
to meet the much more
if my Much will dare.

Require Much of me;
then require much more
for all that Much in me,
wants much much more.

------
Like I said... very loosely. 12:48b.

A Little Homesick

For walks through muggy, cicada-symphonied paths.

For feathers collected along the way to stuff into our dream-catchers.