thanks dad

we had our first photo shoot today. she does nice work. no broken images when transferred from camera to computer. yea! didn't have to do too much tweaking of the images, either. pretty happy about that, must say.

thanks, dad, we still need to talk price. love you.

dog in jail

a few weeks ago we had ian and seth sutton from sutton landscape come and finish fencing off our backyard. lately josie's taken to wandering off when she's back there. we're good about keeping our eyes on her, but when gardening it would be easy for her to slip off to the front. not wanting her to get hurt chasing a neighbor cat (nor would i want jasper or butch to get hurt) we opted to finish off the fence behind the garage and put a large gate by the trellis. 

we didn't want a solid wood fence, as the backyard needs all the light it can get to make our garden grow. it turned out really fabulous. i couldn't be happier. 

josie can see out and lost of light can shine through. the artichoke is right there and how the sun hits it, a full wooden gate would have killed it. 

i love that josie can't wander off. also, both parts of the gate will open, the one that tends to be stationary can also lift off the hinges. the gate swings freely and easily. we didn't use self closing hinges and i'm 100% okay with that. sure, we have to remember to close the gate behind us, but i think we can do that.

update of sorts

gardening in the pacific northwest this year has proven to be a difficult task. 

with the plentiful rains this spring came the slugs. they gorged themselves on been sprouts, corn sprouts and zucchini sprouts. we replanted all three, but the zucchini is the only one that we've gotten any bounty. the corn is growing and there are a few ears on the sad stalks, but we're not sure they will be fully developed. it will be an interesting study when we pick and shuck an ear.

the greenie beanies have done not much. the plants are growing and lovely, but there are no beans...our neighbor (whose plants did not get eaten by slugs) has had beans for quite a while now. i am sad. i love beans. 

the walla walla onions are doing really well, though! nobody has attempted to eat them. we also have had a few meals worth of golden potatoes. oh may word! home grown potatoes are the best! they have a texture of velvet on my tongue...

the moby grape tomatoes are growing and producing. although they are not as sweet as the bessers we had a couple of years ago. and our romas are starting to ripen (if all that is on the plant now ripened, i would have more than enough for salsa!). the goliath are looking good. santiem are looking a little sad, but there are many green fruit on all six of our various tomato plants so i am hopeful.
 
that's about all i have for an update.

with a few simple words

last year a family who lives not too far from us lost their house in a fire. sadly, they lost their beloved dog, too. i did not know this family, but my heart ached for their loss of their dog. the pain it had to endure, the loss they felt. at times, it was overwhelming for me. 

tonight kev rode his bike past the house, over to ne portland, to grab a beer with a friend. i got the following text:


"Fyi the people on 60th with the fire have a new puppy."

i love kevin for knowing that i needed that. in a few simple words i am reminded how much he really does love me. in a few simple words i am aware of how lucky i am.

what to write

it's always tough for me to figure out what to write after a slightly heavier post. i don't want to appear as callous and over the feelings, but i also don't want to wallow there either. 

that being said, let the next post begin...

on sunday kev and i had a whirlwind day, okay I had a whirlwind day. kev got to sleep in and have a leisurely afternoon. anyway, i got up early, showered, and walked over to sweetness bakery to meet a couple of girlfriends. after we shared conversation over pastries and coffee, i bid jill adieu and jenn and i scooted off to pick blueberries. her family has friends who have a you pick place west of the river, where she grew up. we got a heck of a deal on some of the best berries i've ever tasted! that is saying a lot because i'm not such a fan of the plain blueberry. give them to me in muffin, pancake, crumble...form and i'm fine.

after that fun excursion, leading me to have almost 17 lbs of blueberries and owing jenn $$, she and i went back to her house. kev came to pick me up, but i told him to give me some time because i was going to walk up to close knit to get a notion i needed. that took about an hour or so. by this time i am needing another shower, the berries made my hands dirty and quite frankly the walk left me a bit sweaty.

i had a little bit of time to get cleaned up and ready for our next date, dinner with our friends christie and scott and lil' t. kev and i decided to bike down, roughly 58 blocks, and were crazy early so we tooled around this wild labyrinth part of town called ladd's addition. it was beautiful, the streets are mostly covered by tall trees making for a lovely ride as it was sunny and quite hot. 

finally it was closer to time and we decided to head to the carts. there's these food carts at 12th and hawthorne in se portland that are open on sundays. man, i finally got to try poutine. holy hell, i am in love!!! kev and i shared a medium sized portion before getting a couple of mediocre tacos and ending the whole experience with the fried pies. thankfully we worked some of that off on our bike ride home, which was mostly up. happy to report, neither one of us had to get off our bikes and walk. :)

anyway, we got home from a great early evening with our friends and drop our bikes off, fed the crew and headed over to celebrate with a new ten year old and his family and friends. man, it felt good to sit still when at the house, but those boys were crazed. running, singing, i'm pretty sure they were all wearing underwear on their heads. and that was all before the cake! it was fun, none the less. 

i don't think i've ever slept so soundly as i did that night. i'm still kind of recovering...

can you hand me that funnel?

all too often we let time get away from us. we have the best of intentions to reconnect with old friends and then something happens to make it so you can't...

i learned this morning that one of my all time favorite instructors from my high school days passed away. he was only 44. i had so many things i wanted to share with Mr. Dunlap, but now won't ever get to. 

memories flood my mind as i think about him and what i learned. more than just how to process film, set type, and how to debate. i learned compassion, love and understanding. 

let this message be heard loud and clear by all that read it...

don't let time pass you by! tell those who influenced your life, in any way, thank you. 

thanks, Mr. D! i will always have fond memories of inside jokes and oddly sung songs.

where is my moon?

where is my moon? it's got to be in some wacky house or all akimbo somehow, because i've had an off kind of week. not remembering things at work (which is really unlike me) and feeling rather tired and lazy around the house. before anyone goes there, i am not pregnant. that's not really an option for me.

it has to be with my moon. or i'm just having an off week and it will all get better soon. it will get better because i am going to make it better. in fact right now, i'm logging off this computer and making a pie crust for a quiche i will make later.


take that, moon!

who knew?

i am a person who even though i chat a lot, i really like quiet. when i get home, i often times don't turn any music or television on for hours. 

the morning hours are often my favorites because everyone is still sleeping (aside from Chloe who hangs with me most of the time). there is a hush over the house, except for the clacking of the keys as i type. 

at work my friends/coworkers there see me being my most 'on' self and honestly believe i am that way all the time. sure, i am that person, obviously, but being 'on' all the time is hard and tiring.  between my 'on' persona and my relaxed self, it's either lots of chatter or nothing at all. the nothing at all freaks people out, i am sure. i don't think people know that i'm not 'on' all the damn time. and when they argue with me about who i am when they don't see me...it's frustrating. i mean shit, who should know me better than me?

this girl must turn herself down from being at 11 at all times. it's exhausting people!

so if you invite me out and i say no, it's not that i don't love you or want to hang out, it's just i've had a tiring 'on' kind of day...and just need to be quiet. seriously.

and the winner is...

so the guesses are all in, the polls are closed, and we have a winner!!!

so listed from lowest guess to highest:

jwo-210
david- 244

mother hen- 250

lily- 282

monika- 288
*gail- 300

mishi-316

terri- 360

jgreg-447

tami- 475

dad-500
**rois- 540

*(changed when # of beds told)
**(# became available when gail changed her guess)

and the winner is...

ROIS!!!

 there are 541 bottles total used around the beds. 540 are wine bottles (well, some are san pelagrino bottles and there are a few champagne bottles) and 1 was a gin bottle. 

i will let you know when your wonderful prize is ready and we can either get together or i can mail it. i vote for getting together...for a cookout...with the fams. :) 

one out of ___?

one last bottle needed. 

i thought i had enough, but obviously i am one shy. so very close to the end of a rather long project. i must say i am proud of it though.



what is this project? some might ask.

well, it started with me wanting to find an economical way of bordering in our vegetable beds because the fabulous soil was being washed away with each winter. i didn't want to use wood because face it, in the pacific nw it can be rather wet.  

i had an idea out of the blue. wine bottles. the perfect solution. most of our friends drink wine. only a few loads were from people we didn't know or neighbor's recycling. kev only picked up a few that way once or twice. they warm the ground and help keep the roots toasty.

i know how many bottles were used in the bed project. i've counted twice. 

Guess how many bottles used in the 6 beds 
and win something fabulous and wonderful!!

Guesses must be made *HERE by next Sunday, the 25th. 8:00 am pst.

* comments left at the fb posting won't be counted. i want to make this easy on my brain people!

garden photo catch-up

i finally got a chance to get out and take some photos of the life in the garden. it's not going to be a huge harvest year, i fear. i am happy for what is growing, though...

the moby grape tomatoes are doing fairly well. they're looking the best out of the six planted this year. one of the romas have thrown some fruit and my oregon spring, but that's about it so far.

 the zucchini looks to me as though it is holding court over the rest of the garden. perhaps he is cheering the rest of the plants on, giving the shout out of positive words?  we lost the first batch (of most everything) to slugs (rat-bastards) and had a few zucchini plants sprout and survive the second sewing. we plucked all but one...we're no fools.

and surprise! artie came back this year! i didn't think it would survive after the really wet winter/spring, but it did. and there are two blooms waiting to be either picked to be eaten or to open wide to the skies. i might suggest to kev that we eat these and let the other blooms open for the bees.

i love the pom-pom top of the flowers from garlic. they bring a smile to my face, but what in my garden doesn't? (besides the slugs, small pepper plants, and one garden bed that is awaiting three more bottles to be complete)


we got some volunteer garlic this year. it's a good thing, because we didn't plant any last fall. we learned our lesson, though, and will be planting some this year!!

my favorite shot of the morning has to be this last one, though...i love daisies. they are happy flowers, one of my favorites. i love how the buds take on almost an alien spaceship feel. our shastas are crazy tall. i did not bend down for the taking of this photo. i am 5'10"...


so that's the garden in a nutshell. beans are giving me a little hope, but i don't think we'll have enough to put up for the winter. only about 5 of the sprouts are pulling through. i will take what i can get, though. 

why hello

meet Abe. he is my new friend. no, he does not live with me. i just met him this morning as he and his family were standing out front of the store. i rushed out to meet him and fell head over heels. his fam said they'd make sure to stop by again so we could see each other.

they kept saying how much he seemed to like me as he perched on my shoulder. he washed his face while sitting there. 

i am happy that they will bring him back around this summer. he had my heart the moment i saw him.

the nose

gimme kiss
Originally uploaded by chlortence

Kevin was looking through old photos on the desktop computer and was talking about how different we all looked, animals included. i decided i wanted to look at the shots on the laptop to see what i could find.

well, one giant diggity dog nose. this is often a sight we see just because she loves poking us with that big wet nose to get our attention. trust me, it does!

i just couldn't resist posting a shot of my Josie's nose. doesn't she just look ready for a kiss?

nutsy

nutsy
Originally uploaded by chlortence

today was the day i helped the daughter of my deceased neighbor clean out the craft room. it was quite full, but i got there around 11:00, set us to task, and was home by 3:30. she admitted that she'd feared we'd be there much later than that. i knew we'd be done around then.

as we cleaned and organized things for the estate sale, she told me to take things if they struck my fancy. and i will admit, a few things did follow me home.

this little guy is one of them. my first thought was that i should send it to my sister in california because when she was pregnant she loved them. now every time i see a squirrel i think of her. which leads me to the second thought...i also kind of want to keep him because of the fact that i think of my sister when i look at him.

if i kept him, i might put him out someplace in the garden. (maybe the slugs who ate our corn, beans and zucchini will think it's real and stay the hell away from the second plantings...bastards.)

anyway, what do you all think?

A. send to my sister? or

B. keep because he reminds me of her?

purdy

pretty fence
Originally uploaded by chlortence

for a little while now Kev and I have talked of finishing the fence around the back yard (we have two small sections to do). it seems that Josie wants to hang a little more back there, but since she is a dog she tends to wander. not wanting to have a dead dog, lost dog, no dog...we opted for fencing. :)

we met some friends out for a beer last night and stumbled across this gorgeous fence. it is exactly what we would like our fence to look like. i sent a photo of Kev standing next to it to Ian and he said it was exactly what he had in mind. pictures as it happens...

not that long ago

not that long ago
Originally uploaded by chlortence

how i long for the warm days again. i will admit i am more than a bit "over" the rain and clouds. i've done fairly well not complaining about it too much, but then i saw this picture on my phone that i took this APRIL. i am pretty sure that was the straw that broke this camels back.

right now? it's raining and mid 50s. i have a sweater on. isn't it June already?!?

meh.

where i write

desk
Originally uploaded by chlortence

i started thinking about the space of this house and how we could better use it. we live in a two bedroom home. one is larger, the other smaller. pretty typical. for some reason we always gravitate towards the larger bedroom to use as our master. not sure why people do that...

anyway, i used to use my yarn stash box in the living room as a desk and would sit hunched over, often tweeking my back, as i pecked away on the computer. it wasn't very comfortable, to say the least.

last night i started thinking about the two rooms and how to best utilize them. i laid down in the bed in what was the guest room and got a great feeling of calm. the garden window acts as a sort of headboard now, although that room needs paint, drapes, etc... i get to wake up every morning and see the glorious view.

i also get to turn on the light to check out what clothing i want to wear to work since my closet has remained in the now guest room. it's nice i don't have to pick things out the night before like i used to. the larger room just made sense to be the guest room/upstairs off/dressing room.

i am rather smitten with my little set up. kev sent a thumbs up from work. i sent him pictures of both rooms.

must eat a little something and then, i am going to bake a blueberry cobbler.

found

for years now i've been searching for someone. someone who was quite dear to me all throughout my college years. he was my sanity in my senior studio classes, my rock, my source of love and laughter. it was hard, going to art school without the intent of becoming an artist. almost got into a fight with a girl who couldn't believe i didn't want to be an artist. i enjoy being creative and David understood why i was there. we were two birds of a feather.

ever since i joined the Facebook scene i've searched for David. i couldn't believe my eyes when FINALLY i found him! there he was, sitting in a chair with a schnauzer on his lap. that was my David! 

i instantly sent him a message, asking if it was the same David with whom i'd gone through school. it was!! i can hardly believe that all my years of searching are over. i am sooo so happy that they are!

he still lives in the KC area so when we make it back that way, add another person i have to go visit to the list. i hope he and his partner make it out to Portland at some point, too. 

i don't know if he ever knew how much he meant to me. i'm only sorry that after i graduated we didn't stay in better touch. but now, we have all the time in the world to catch up and reconnect. 


my heart has never felt fuller.

OnPoint Contest - Excellence in Education - Teacher Award

OnPoint Contest - Excellence in Education - Teacher Award

Go there and please vote for Brett Bigham. He is not only my neighbor, but he is my friend.

Recently he received a grant so that he could put on a Prom for his students (Brett teaches Special Education). He not only put in the time while at work, but his days off as well. He made over 300 corsages (with a little help from the school's receptionist and me) so that every single person attending could have one to remember their fun evening.

He strives to provide his students with stability and "normalcy". He treats them as he would any other human on this earth. With dignity and respect, which many of these kids never really get elsewhere (I worked with the population back in Kansas and loved every single second of my four years at CLO...purely because of the individuals and teachers).

The grand prize is pretty spectacular and I can't think of anyone more deserving than Brett.

I am proud of him and am honored to be able to call him my friend.

the garden

the little guy there at the end...

he hangs with me every time i am out in the garden playing in the dirt. he eats the grubs (as well as a seed or two i'm sure). he just hangs, waiting for me to be done in an area before swooping in and munching.