Cacti and Wanderings

About two weeks ago, Dan and I went to Northwest Cactus and Succulents (this husband and wife duo with huge cactus greenhouses in their backyard) and picked out a few cacti to replace the one we inadvertently killed.

Unfortunately, it appears we are already on the path to killing one of the new guys too, our "Old Man of Mexico" (below)












But these guys are doing just fine! They are mesem lithop from South Africa:









And here is the one I picked (left) and the last one Dan picked (right). They are from Mexico and Bolivia respectively.









I had a very frustrating mail experience this weekend. See if you can read what it says on the "Return to Sender" sticker, and I think you'll know what I mean.









This Saturday afternoon, after Dan went to a solar energy lecture and I did my sign language homework, we jogged down to the new Portland Tram. It was the grand public opening, and they had free rides, music, cookies, and hot beverages. The tram looks like a bullet, and it is basically like a ski lift that operates between the end of the streetcar line and the 9th floor of Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU) Hospital. They are going to charge $4 for a round trip, so we are getting our free rides in when we can. They will have free rides every weekend in February, including Friday nights for the city lights. The view from up top is really spectacular! You can see the whole city, the Wilamette River, and Mount Hood, a sliver of Mount Rainier, Mount Saint Helens, and sort of a jumble grab bag around Mount Adams.

Here is my tram cookie!









I will close with a brief pictoral journey of our bike ride up in to the west hills today..we biked from NW 23rd up Thurman St. to Leif Erickson Drive, which is this old carriage road that is now a multi-use trail within Forest Park, the largest urban park in the world (I think.)

n.b. Leif Erickson was a viking.

Dan watching unicyclists (4) from the streetcar stop. I really like the intent interest on his face. He aspires to ride a unicycle someday. I tried to get a picture of the cyclists, but no dice.









Some cool sights on Thurman along the way to Forest Park:

Mt St Helens



























Trailhead at Leif Erickson Drive












It was steep on the way up--we went about 5 1/2 miles from the trailhead, and it was a lot more downhill on the way down, but it is considered a "beginner mountain biking" trail, and those rocks and sticks were very bumpy, especially at the higher speeds coming back down!!! I'm afraid I was quite sore sitting on a pillow at this Tibetan spiritual dance presentation we went to tonight, and tomorrow will surely bring more soreness. But well worth it!

What a Weekend!!

This weekend we kept very, very busy. I'm sad now that I didn't have my camera for all of it:

Friday night I worked at PCS.

Saturday morning we got up early and went to a Meet in Portland event..ice carving demonstration on Pioneer Courthouse Square! It was a really neat idea, but it wasn't quite as spectacular as I had imagined it would be because the carver carved with a chainsaw and other power tools. I guess I was thinking it would be a fine-tuned artistic craft with little ice picks. oh well!

Then we walked around town for a while and went to a cool restaurant/bar called Jax.

That night we went to ASL comedy night at Embers, one of my co-workers was performing in it!

Then we wandered around the NW 23rd area and got gelato and a Beatles CD.

Today we went to the Rose City Classic dog show!!!!! Kim came with us and it turned out to be really fun. The best part was the big dog agility trials--they had these bars to jump over just like in horse shows, and they ran through these tunnels. They also had agility for smaller dogs, including a bona fide hoop to jump through, and we saw all the vendors with their crazy "i love dogs" paraphrenalia (kim was especially taken with an enormous, stuffed, noise-making hedgehog dog toy), and we even snuck to the back room to see the behind the scenes action (including dog washing, grooming, brushing, primping, and other things I wasn't sure about).

Then we came home to watch the Colts beat the Patriots..a very exciting game!~

Altogether a fun weekend...now back to work!

It's snowing in Portland!!

Today we had our first snowfall since we've moved in the city of Portland. In celebration, I created a tiny snowman on our balcony:

McMenimens

Tonight we went to see Little Miss Sunshine at the Kennedy School. It is one of these buildings that a company called McMenimens renovates into cool entertainment-ish venues. The Kennedy School is an old elementary school, but now it is a combination movie theater, restaurant, bar, bed and breakfast, and party venue. Very hard to conceptualize, but very cool!!

Little Miss Sunshine was horribly sickly hilariously funny. I was thoroughly entertained.

Home for the Holidays!

Hello! Your faithful blogger Julia here! Freshly back from a trip home to Maryland. Being there made me really appreciate some of the things I had been missing about home, but also made me realize how great a city Portland is too!

Suburban Maryland is all about driving, driving, driving. You have to drive everywhere. In Portland, I walk everywhere. Or take the bus or the streetcar. However, D.C. is truly a more happenin' city than Portland. In Portland, you can walk for blocks and not see anyone, but in D.C., there seems to be an adventure around every corner. There is pretty delicious food in both MD/D.C. and in Portland, but the best food is in NYC and Vancouver, BC. (and at Trader Joes.) (And of course my parents' kitchen :))

I could go on and on. I love thinking and talking about the similarities and differences between cities and towns. If you do too, we should chat.

But now is not the time for rambling; now is the time for a pictorial journey of my visit to MD and D.C.!

First stop was home. Luke and Nuffy were cuddling quite frequently:









Luke and I worked very hard wrapping the gifts in the background of this next photo. They were our Christmas masterpieces:












Last Friday, Rebecca and I went touring around D.C. for the day. On our way to the U.S. Botannical Garden, we saw a sign for tours of the radio program "Voice of America." We went to the noon tour and we had headsets and got to see a live TV and a live radio broadcast. It was very fun, although I'm sure they didn't tell us the whole story. The tour information was pretty watered down, and afterwards Rebecca was explaining the distinctions between government owned and privately owned media outlets. We can't hear Voice of America in the U.S. because it is owned by the government. While I'm sure that is a good thing in some ways (our news isn't spoon-fed us by our government) another part of me is curious what our government is telling everyone overseas...

The Botannical Garden had the coolest exhibit. A company in Alexandria, KY created these scale models of the buildings on the national mall. They are made out of plant material like cinnamon sticks and moss and even a gourd for the top of the Jefferson memorial!!!

U.S. Capitol:









Jefferson Memorial:









After a tasty vegetarian lunch at Java Green, we made a wonderful stop to the National Zoo! Tai Shan was our first destination:









But we were most captivated by the Asian Short Clawed Otters:









There were 6 of them, and they followed each other around their enclosure, making little squeeky sounds and being generally adorable. The next day, they were on the front page of the Washington Post Metro section, and there was a feature about how they wanted a double decker slide for Christmas. Rebecca says she's on the job.









It seemed way too soon for us to head back to Portland, but I had a fabulous New Years Eve, first at Rebecca's awesome party, then playing trivia at Dan's friend's house in Columbia. Here's me and mommy before the evening's festivities:









Happy New Year to all, and to all a goodnight!

Barbara Kingsolver

Barbara Kingsolver is one of my very favorite authors. Below is her website. I found the Frequently Asked Questions section amusing, insightful, and entertaining this evening!

www.kingsolver.com

Blood!!

Tonight we gave blood! It was one of our holiday volunteer activities. (I dont think I ever mentioned the tree-planting we did a few Saturdays ago. That was SO fun!!) We're hoping to do the food bank thing the first week in January; people in Portland sign up for this stuff way in advance.



















Oh, and Claire got a holiday card from my family:

The Cosby Christmas Sweater Party

Thanks for sending us holiday cards!!












The most unique card came from my Aunt Peggy. It is 3D, and it spins because I suspended it from our ceiling:









Last night, my cool friends (and supervisors) from Portland Center Stage had a Cosby Christmas Sweater Party. We had a blast!! Here are some photos from the evening...

First, Kim got bored and decided that we were going to vote on a paper plate for three sweater categories: "Holiday-tastic," "Cosby-tastic," and "Rad-tastic." Here is a shot of the voting process in action:









Dan attached a ziploc bag full of canned cranberry sauce to his neck in an effort to win "rad-tastic"












Once the votes were tallied, my very 80's, enormous, 50%-off-at-the-thrift-store Cosby sweater took first in the Cosby-tastic category, and Dan swept the rad-tastic category, likely because of his late add of a ziploc bag of mashed potatoes to his back:












Our prizes (from Kim's room) were a hideously ugly (though very rad-tastic) set of salt and pepper shakers, and a 4-foot long viking sword made of cardboard and steel pipe. The winning couple:












Katie (below right) won the Holiday-tastic category for her extremely festive sweater which she festooned with various christmas tree ornaments. The highlight of the night was Kim and Katie's song and dance performance, the end of which is pictured below:









Happy Holidays!!

Got a new job!!

Yesterday, I accepted a new job at an organization called Integration and Independence. I will start on January 3rd, right after we get back from our fabulous trip to Maryland. It is an organization specializing in a field called Vocational Rehabilitation ("Voc Rehab"). Generally, the company works with people with disabilities referred by the state, and they assist the individuals with job coaching and development and talk with employers to get them jobs. My specific niche will not be working with developmental or physical disabilities; I will be working strictly with deaf clients (not a disability group, depending on who you talk to. If you're talking to me, I will not work with people with disabilities, I will work with people who are deaf who have many abilities.).

It will be a part-time position, and I will keep my job at Portland Center Stage and find time for class sometime between the two. I'm especially excited because my job will actually be a "tandem" or "team" job: my co-team-member is a woman named Jody who is deaf. I think I will be able to learn a lot from her.

Hope all is well for everyone...and a special thank you to Dan's dad! He introduced me to the woman who introduced me to the man who hired me in this new position! Now I hope I have some clue what I am doing when I start working . . . :)

Vancouver Trip :)

Here are the photos and chronicles from our Thanksgiving trip to Vancouver, BC.

We went to see an IMAX movie called Mystic India. It was really beautiful, albeit a little bit cheesy in narration. Dan in 3D glasses before the show:









The Central Library in downtown Vancouver has recently been built to resemble the collosseum:












The crosswalk guys in Vancouver don't just walk, they walk with attitude and a big stride:









Just one of the many amazing pieces we saw at the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia:









Our bed and breakfast, a charming old mansion just steps from broadway:










Us before the Lions Gate bridge in Stanley Park:









Lynn Canyon Suspension bridge:












WOW! It was a really fun trip. I'm looking forward to going back, especially when the weather is warmer ;)

Columbia Gorge Waterfalls Hike

A few quick pics of our recent hike to several waterfalls in the Columbia Gorge area:

Latourell Falls












Close-up












Wahkeena Falls












Below Wahkeena Falls












600 foot climb (over 1 mile) to the top of Multnomah falls (boy were my legs sore the next day!!)









Is that our car way down there???

So much to say...

Hello again!

November is flying by; quite a bit to report.

First, I finally made it to the Japanese Garden, which I had been planning to do for quite some time. They had free admission on Veteran's day, so I grabbed my camera and waded through the puddles...












This was one of a number of bonsai trees on exhibit, sort of a hybrid-looking one. My mother's words kept echoing through my head "Don't these people have anything better to do with their time than make trees small?" but I enjoyed the exhibit nonetheless.









Next Dan's father came to visit for the weekend..our first overnight visitor!! It was really fun to have him here, we got to see some new parts of Portland and he came out to this area for the first time (a prior trip having been cancelled due to the eruption of Mt. St. Helens!)

We went to the Rose Garden, but we saw more leaves than roses:









We also took a trip to the Oregon Zoo:
(this next pic dan said was a must-have for the blog)












And this is a shot of dan hypnotizing a penguin. It must have been a trained penguin because dan's dad first attracted it with his umbrella, then dan had it following his camera cord back and forth across the window.

humane? no. fun? yes.









(side note related to penguins: we (Dan, myself, and my way-cool friend from work Kim) went to the Omnimax theater at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, or OMSI as people here refer to it (pronounced AAHHHM-see) to see Happy Feet, the movie about the dancing penguins. We went because Dan's best friend Dave worked on the film these past few months and also we wanted to see OMSI and the OMNIMAX theater they have. WOW! It was really cool. The theater was cone-shaped and for the first few minutes was disorientingly realistic. We got used to it after a while, but it was still really huge and fun! And at the end, we watched the credits and gave Dave a standing ovation. That was the best part.)

Canvassing and Cat glasses

Last night was one of the scarier nights of my life. I agreed to canvass for the Oregon Democratic Party for $10 an hour. All well and good, right? WRONG. Now, I will preface this by saying that I am not a stranger to "bad neighborhoods" nor am I particularly wimpy or naive. But this scenario was not what I had expected. I showed up, got "trained," they handed me a map and a palm pilot, and then dropped me off in the hundred-blocks of SE Portland and said "GO! We'll meet at that dingy mini-mart on SE Stark Street at 9pm!"

Basically everything my parents ever told me not to do, I was doing last night. Walking around, alone, in complete darkness, in pretty steady rain, with no car/bike/wheels to speak of, holding this rather expensive electronic toy, in a neighborhood I was completely unfamiliar with, knocking on people's doors.

Needless to say, I was a little nervous. But my nervousness increased when I started getting answers like "No, he's not going to vote, he's in jail." and "My son is in Iraq, there's no way in hell I'm voting democrat [SLAM]" and "Be careful in this neighborhood. There are a lot of Meth-heads hanging around. There used to be a whole den of them next door, till I called the cops on them and got them out of here. This world is crazy. I just want Jesus to come and get us all out of here."

Probably not the worst that could have happened to me on a rainy Friday night, but it was a situation I was wholly unprepared for and not at all pleased to find myself in. I'm not going back to canvass again tomorrow. There's got to be another way to earn $10 an hour in this town.

On a happier note, here is a pic of my cat glasses from halloween:









And Dan's costume (a chicken-dressed-as-elvis-puppet/hat):









Even Claire wanted to get festive:

Sign Interpreting and Vancouver, BC

2 things!

First, I'm getting really excited about starting school again. I've been studying for the GRE, and that's going ok. I am applying to 2 schools: Gallaudet University for their Masters programs in Interpretation and Deaf Studies, and Portland Community College for their Associates degree in Sign Language Interpretation.

I am debating whether to apply additionally to 2 others: Seattle Central Community College and/or the National Technical Institute of the Deaf in Rochester, NY (connected to the Rochester Institute of Technology.) Both of those are Associates programs in Sign Interpreting.

Right now, I'm thinking I will probably just apply to the two I know I want (Gallaudet and PCC). I'm worried about the time/energy/money it would require to apply to the other two. But there is a voice in the back of my head that's saying "but what if you don't get into either? Then you'll have to work full time for another whole year. No school for you!"

The other thing is that Dan and I are going to Vancouver, BC for Thanksgiving weekend! (of course, it isn't Thanksgiving in Canada, so things will be open/there won't be huge sales) We are in the process of reserving a bed and breakfast, and making lists of awesome things to do while we are there. Has anyone been to Vancouver BC?? Suggestions? So far I know we're going to see Stanley Park, the Museum of Anthropology, Chinatown, the Indian Market (I'm hoping to buy a sari!), and to a cool vegetarian restaurant called Naam.

Hope all is well with everyone..

Pumpkin Family

Here is our pumpkin family:














We had a ton of fun at the Pumpkin Patch last weekend clomping through the mud to select these beauties...and they were only $3 total (including a hay ride) with our coupons.

Happy Halloween!!!