Yes, Katie Johnson (now Adams) tied the knot on Saturday, and Jess, Renee, Carleen and I were there to celebrate and show off our dancing skills, which we acquired on the bar at Madhatters —may it rest in peace— in the very early 90s. Schroeder, who let us all in to Madhatters in the very early 90s, was present as well. Katie looked beautiful, the bride and groom kissed often, and little pink flowers turned up in men’s clothing. So. much. fun. I’m still laughing.
As mentioned below, my vacation allotment with the UW is pretty generous, so I took off a few extra days before and after our sailing trip to hang out in Portland with Jenil. Upon arrival, JenO (now technically JenD but old habits die hard) & I went to New Seasons Market to buy yummy munchies for a picnic dinner in the park with Kylie and Anil. Surrounded by yummy guac, olives, bread, chocolate and wine we listened to great indie soul music by Liv Warfield… I always thought Madison was somewhat unique in offering so many free summer outdoor concerts, but Portland Parks & Recreation actually puts on a free concert in a park every night of the summer, which is pretty impressive. After that we met Evan and Jenny Welnick, who appears to be healing well after a bad fall down Mt. Rainier last month which broke her leg in two places. JenO was with her and also fell, but fortunately not as fast or as far and wound up with only a few scrapes and bruises. Everyone is hoping Welnick is able to walk down the aisle Labor Day weekend!
Thursday morning I finally got my latté from Tin Shed, which I had been waiting for for well over a year since their espresso machine was broken the last time I was in town. It wasn’t that good. But, breakfast was excellent — it’s hard to beat an outdoor breakfast burrito with vegan sausage, Portland style. After yoga and lounging, Jen, Anil and I drove to Hood River, another one of my favorite places, and the site of the Jenil wedding. We munched on fantastic pizza and sampled beers at Double Mountain and then drove through White Salmon to Duterland for a late-night walking tour of Duterland and the yurt, where we slept that night. They’ve planted about 600 trees so far and currently have 9 hives that need attention every 10 days or so. So in the morning they did their bee thing in their bee suits for about 3 hours and then we watered about 60 of the saplings. The land definitely keeps them busy! We stopped back in Hood River on the way back for lunch at 6th Street Bistro (super good) and returned to Portland so Jen could pack. On to our next adventure….
My mom’s master-gardener friend Sue takes flower gardening to a whole new level. In addition to working full time she somehow manages to grow what seems like every flower on the planet in her yard. So when an opportunity to take a few photos arrived, I jumped at the chance. The result: 130 photos of globe thistle, phlox, cone flowers, lilies, about 50 other species I don’t know, and of course a few daisies. I paired it down to 30-some photos which you can see in slideshow format here.
Flower identification welcome! From “Sue’s garden” page you can click on any of the individual photos and leave a note in the comments sharing your wisdom.
