Taking The Long Way Home

The whole idea of the move from Taos to Portland was to streamline and simplify our lives. It's working. And I'm always on the lookout for things that can be added or subtracted to make life easier. Actual things that are allowed in have to be some combination of beautiful, fun, practical, and useful. They also have to fit nicely in our 571 square foot studio apartment. Other things, like my blogs for example, have to be fun to write, and at least have some potential of giving me something in return for the time I spend on them. You see where I'm going with this? The two food blogs, Positively Vegan and Eating Vegan In Portland are where my heart goes to sing and dance. I feel that they're my "work," or part of it, and my way of reaching out to the world. I even make a bit of income from them, and plan to expand on that in the near future. I have a new jewelry product to offer! This is fun for me. After all those years of bead making, I still don'

If it seems like all we do is play here, well, it's kind of true. Sure, we're piecing together just how we'll support our fun new lifestyle, but mostly we're exploring and enjoying it all for as long as we can get away with it. Last week was my birthday, so of course there were festivities to be observed. We started with breakfast at the awesome Vita Cafe on Alberta St, followed by a cupcake pickup for later at Back to Eden Bakery. Then we sat down and ate even more cupcakes ay Petunia's. Don't judge me. Later we caught a river cruise along the Willamette, followed by dinner with our friends Jim and Lani, and their granddaughter, Chelsea. What a day! It was a great first birthday here, thanks to Portland, and all the players! Next I'm off to San Jose to celebrate my Dad's 85th birthday. My family is opposed to having their pictures posted on my blogs (even though they never read a word I write...), but may

We spent (most of) the 4th of July weekend just a 10 minute walk from home, at the Portland Waterfront Blues Festival . We're not big on crowds, but since it was so close to where we live, it seemed kind of wrong not to participate. Besides, it benefitted the Portland Food Bank, and you know how I like to get people fed. It was an amazingly well-organized festival, except for one little glitch on Friday, when they let so many "day people" in that the fire marshall closed the gates to re-entry in the afternoon. This meant that folks like us, who paid a bunch of money for a 4-day pass had to wait in line to get back in if we went home to feed the dogs, while others with ten bucks or a couple of cans of food to donate streamed in and settled in for the fireworks. Not cool, and I imagine they'll be hearing about it from plenty of people. We somehow managed to slip right back in though, thanks to a sweet volunteer who didn't really know the rules. Oh well!

It doesn't often get very hot here in Portland, but when it does, a lot of people head for the coast if they can. This week when the temp was predicted to reach 97, we joined the line of traffic and made our way to Cannon Beach. In the time it used to take us to get to Santa Fe from Taos we can be at the beach. That means we can pop over there whenever we want to, and I like that. It was hot there too for a while, but not as hot as Portland, which did get to 97. And you know... it's the humidity that gets you. The coast was at least breezy, with a little bit of mist, and of course a whole lot of water to cool off in. We spent the day walking up and down the beach with the dogs, with a break for a picnic in the sand, and another for margaritas at a little place in town later in the afternoon. By late afternoon we started to wish we could stay the night, and scoped out a couple of dog-friendly hotels for next time. Every time I go to the beach - any beach - I