blogs I've run across recently...

Paige Pooler's eyes wide apart Illustrations.

Brian's Top 10 Highlights of His day
Something to make you roll.

Oh man, and let's hear it for the Daily Dancer.

tan and freckled

Finally I have some light on my skin. :) You should see it... I look... uhm, good! If only I had a photo I would share display it for all to see. You have to understand, a tan like this can only come with some tender-lovin' sun bathing... of which I haven't had the 'time' to do for maybe three years now. Luckily my burn occurred in Austin earlier this summer and so this time around my skin is a nice lovely bronze again. Weee... it feels good.

There's nothing quite like a couple lax-days pool side... with no one to answer to, no one to take care of other than myself. I think it's been a long while since I've actually not had anything 'to do' and could actually still myself for a little bit of time and attempt to relax. Of coruse it took going 'out-of-town' and that took a car... but somehow the Lord knew that I would be needing this and my dear thoughtful sister Bonnie left me her '90 Honda to spin around in. Wheee...again! So nice. So very nice.

So I'm starting to take a liking to these nice quiet slow country towns... they are perfect for relaxin' in, that's for sure. It's nice to get out of the busy hectic life.

chitty-chitty bang-bang...

I had this car in college, actually it was my parent's car. It was a '79 Chevy Suburban. You know, from back in the day when they made cars out of steel instead of Fiberglas. They had brought it brand-new, nearly top of the line of it's day... but when I was growing up it became the oldest car in the cal-de-sac year after year after year. Not only so, but "Big Bertha" (as she was known) also chugged her fair share of gasoline on a weekly basis as well... taking us from point to point and then on family vacations. Sure, she would experience occasional break-downs and would need the assistance of the master mechanic, ...nothing a few hundred or thousand of dollars wouldn't fix. Eventually as she was nearing her last leg, or would that be tire? oh, I don't know. All I know is that she began to sputter and clank to such an extend that Bertha came to be known as "Chitty-chitty Bang-bang." And boy was she the ride of all rides at that time! Clank, pop, chug, creek, Boing! Back in the day (I can say that now, because she's no longer in existence and it was oh seven years ago when I would still be driving her around), but back in the day before too many of her clanks appeared, when I would take her up to school with me, many a guy would ask me if she was for sale... and would proceed to tell me the 'plans' they had for her... Complete with the welding off the top and making her into a convertible... jacking up her frame and sticking BIG tires on her... And I would always tell my dad that people were actually offering me money for her, and he would say to tell them that Bertha had just been in the family too long and still had many many more years of use left for us in her. I had always envisioned her as a planter in the front yard growing grass on her hood and top and actually what became of dear-dear Bertha was something just short of that. Just before her departure (that's what I'm calling it, I mean, afterall, my dad gave her to the Kidney Foundation... more on that later...), she spent many months on the side of the house in which a rich deposit of moss and mold grew on her insides. Apparently my dad when out to scrub her down before the tow truck came and hauled her off to car la-la-land. Sweet dreams good ol' Bertha... my dear Chitty-chitty Bang-bang.

over the hills and through the woods...

...to Calgary, Alberta I'll go.

I've made my reservations and have paid in full. Rain or shine I will be on a flight Monday, August 1st from Portland to San Francisco to Calgary and back on the 10th the same way I came. Whoever has heard of such strange flight arrangements!?

This will be my first time not driving up but taking a flight from Portland to there... I'm kinda sad that I will be missing all the lovely sights to see on the drive... but I've reserved window seats, so maybe, just maybe I'll get lucky and there will be some great sights from the air.

I am looking forward to seeing the cousins and aunt and uncle again... oh and the wee ones... they're fun too. There is a new-lil'-bie to the bunch I'm told... Are you a boy? I can't wait to meet you.

the gorgeous gorge

I took some sisters who were on their way home from the college training and a brother who was back from the FTTA to the Columbia River Gorge on Monday. The weather man had said it was going to rain... but lucky for us the weather man as usual was W-R-O-N-G. It was beautiful. They took photos and when they finally email them to me, I'll post some. Waterfalls and all. So gorgeous. Oh Oregon, how I love you.

snohomish... is kinda home-ish

Wow. I wish I had a photo to post.

It was beautiful weather for viewing the gorgeous farmlands, mountains, and tree lines in Washington this past Saturday. Billowing cotton clouds on a bright blue backdrop... all shades of greens upon the land and in the trees... The 'scape was abounding in color. It nearly swallowed me whole. I know now the meaning of relaxation... I should have stayed there longer and basked in the scene. Small town without a Wal-mart... but a perfect amount of old with the new. I could definitely handle some more of that quiet life. OK, so maybe, just maybe I would start to miss my city-life... but it's not all that far from the rest of civilization. It was just all so relaxing and chill out there. Let's just say it was a perfect place for me to marinate, and would be a great place to be outdoors after I was done sleeping away the sleep-depraved mind and heart.

I spent some of the day with an old family friend. He has bought a house there in Snohomish... it's cute... definitely could use some deco of any kind... but it's cozy none-the-less. He showed me around the "town" and we took a drive in the country, met the neighbors who hang out on their sidewalk in lawn chairs chatting it up with their neighbors about who-nots and what-nots, and eventually settled on staying home to watch a movie after picking up some grub at a local eatery before driving back to the Avery's inn.

A contribution from a Cousin in the North

(Here's a little something... thought you might like to know a little about... Canadian men...)


Canadian man
At your service from the land of the chill
If I can't warm you baby nobody will
A genuine Canadian man

Strong and free
That's the true north
And baby that's me
I'll salute you as long as need be
Your genuine Canadian man

Well it's hush hush while I mush mush
My dog sled made for two
It's cold outside
But ooh what a ride
To the warmth of my igloo

Warm and dry
We'll be sipping on cola and rye
Then I'll bake you an eskimo pie
Your genuine Canadian man

Well we'll ride and glide over the great divide
On my 95 skidoo
Sweet honey child it's the call of the wild
When i'm callin you

Canadian man
That's me the ice breaker supreme
So just forget your American dream
And wake up to Canadian man

And wake up to Canadian man
And wake up to Canadian man