I have a shoe problem...

...and right now I have a problem with putting my shoes away.

Have no fear, I remedied the situation shortly after capturing this mess on camera. :)

Sunday drive...

...and hike!

It was such a cloudy day when I got up this morning, but I was ready to get out and about. I thought I'd head to Sauvie Island to do a quick hike, got to the island and decided I'd rather not hike on the island. I couldn't actually leave without stopping at a couple of the markets though. Enjoy the trip...

I love to pass under this tree every time I go to the island!

Peppers anyone?!

I didn't realize until I'd downloaded this picture that it looks like I took it in black and white...to bad I didn't. These are the actual colors of these pumpkins. Loved them.

Here is the color!





Beans!

After the drive around the island, I decided to head to Forest Park to do the hike I'd promised myself. I ended up doing about 5 miles. It was amazingly invigorating! Not only did I hike, couldn't help but get some photos also...

Mushrooms :)


"Sappy"

Lots of spiderwebs, also walked through lots of spiderwebs...ewww...but pretty.

Loved the shadow effect!

These adorable, and very petite flowers were all over, but I didn't see a one of them until I was hiking out. They stand only about one inch off the ground.

Christmas card photo....? Maybe...

After my hike down, I decided to stop off at Cathedral Park, a park in North Portland under the St. John's Bridge. I love this park, don't get to it as often as I'd like because it feels so far away from where I live. As you can tell by the pictures, the name is very fitting!

Just as an FYI, I was stopped at a stop light when I took this picture...I knew the parentals, and other concerned parties would ask. :)

Me (and the bridge I love!)

It was an amazing day. Couldn't have asked for too much more. Hope you all had such a grand day also!

Festa Italiana

Italian-American Month is in Spetmeber, however, Portland likes to celebrate things early. That is fine by me. I like a celebration no matter when it is. I have spent a lot of time at Pioneer Courthouse Square this summer, seems to be where the action is. I headed down again today for Fest Italiana. I knew I'd be in for seeing some dancing, smelling some good food of which I couldn't eat much, but nonetheless, downtown I went. It wasn't as bustling of a place as it has been for some events, but I took a quick stroll around just to see what I would get to check out. I made my way over to the entertainment area and settled in to watch the Furlane Dance Group who were in from Vancouver B.C. There traditional folk dancing in their traditional dress was nice to see. Much more mellow than the bollywood dancing had been a few weeks earlier at the India Festival. Here are some pictures to enjoy:

After watching the dancers for I bit I decided I was going to head in to the "food court" area. As much as I would have loved to have some sausage and pasta, I behaved so I wouldn't get sick later and had a salad, not bad, but not pasta. I made a mental note I needed to make some form of a gluten free pasta dish at home. Because I ate salad I justified purchasing and eating all of the Hazelnut Gelato that they gave me and it was good.

I loved all the colors of tomatoes. This picture hardly does them justice, but there were mounds of them, all colors at all the food booths.

Sausage!

Happy Italian-American Month...and now for the gluten free Italian dish!

"Without TRADITION our lives would be as shaky as a...

In keeping with our now 5 year tradition, yes, once I've done something 2 times I consider it to be a tradition; Holly and I renewed our season tickets for the Broadway Across America Portland Series. When we first decided to subscribe as season ticket holders we were still in college. We both enjoyed seeing plays/musicals/"cultural stuff" that not everyone else seemed as interested in. We picked the cheapest seats, we were college students after all. Once our tickets arrived for the first season we realized we were sitting on the main floor...no balcony, mezzanine or 2nd mezzanine business for us. We were excited. Our seats were back row of the main floor with a post on one side of us and two seats and then the aisle and doorway on the other side. We couldn't have asked for better seats. Easy access, people only one one side of us, no one walking across our foot path to get to their seats, easy exit. We have kept our same seats all five years, and though we've talked about "upgrading" we probably won't. We are happy where we are. Thursday nights are our nights, dinner and then the show.

The first show of this season was Fiddler on the Roof, which I've seen before and love the music and Holly has never seen. I kept hearing ads on the radio for the show stating that this would be Topol's farewell tour. I kept thinking..."who the heck is Topol? Must be a pretty impressive guy." I told my mom and dad and I believe my dad's response was... "He's still alive!?" Hmmm...what was the show going to be like?

We walked into the theatre lobby and there was an announcement that the show would begin promptly at 7:30, unusual because all the shows started 5-10 minutes late and we'd grown accustomed to that schedule. We got in and situated and low and behold, right at 7:30 the lights went down and the current opened. I remembered immediately when the fiddle music began how much I really did love this show and the music of it. Shortly this Topol came out (I still had no idea who he was and I hadn't had time to read the actor blib in the program before the lights went down) and the crowd went wild, well, as wild as a Broadway musical watching crowd can become. I shortly discovered why. He was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! He had all the nuances of the charater of Tevye down pat, the walk, the talk, the sighing, the gestures. He had captured the audience.

We went along and made it to intermission (I sometimes neglectfully call it half-time, though we are not at a sporting event). I finally was able to read the actor bio and discovered the reason he is so wonderful. Chaim Topol has been performing this part for at least 32 years, more years than I've been alive. He had opened the show on London's West End, performed on Broadway in NYC, in Sydney Australia, and starred in the movie version. I told Holly that he probably has this character ingrained in his own person and probably sees Tevye creep out in his own life. How could he not?! Seriously, after all those years you sort of become who you are acting, which is why he was so good I'm sure. I expected him to maybe be 55 (note: later, after looking him up I discovered he has been playing this part for nearly 40 years and is 74, well, in a few days...Sept 9th he will be 74). WOW! He still sauntered around the stage and I'm sure that his fellow cast members had a hard time keeping up with him at times.

I would continue to be amazed through the second act. So, thank you for the education dear Topol. Thank you for your dear, sweet, yet sassy portrayal of such a wonderful character who was trying to get by and live life as best he could while the world and his long held traditions were crumbling around him. It is a good lesson for us all.

Chaim Topol as "Tevye" in the opening scene.

The cast in a rendetion of "Tradition"

Just playing...

Most days I love my work, and some days I even love the meetings for my job. Today was a perfect example. Monthly, all of the Life Enrichment Coordinators (that is the P.C. term for an activity coordinator) from our various sites meet. Every other month we try to have an internal inservice that is brought to us by one of our peers. One of the sites has a Horticulture Therapist on staff and she did a presentation today. To make it more authentic, we met at the Portland Memory Garden, an AMAZING garden in SE Portland that is meant to address the needs of those living with memory disorders and their loved ones. I take many of my participants on outings to this garden, and all love it. There are raised beds, lots of different flowers, plants, trees, etc. I even go on my own frequently. After our inservice I decided to stay and "play" with my camera. I have a sort of borderline addiction to taking photos, as amateur as I may be. Below are the results:

One of my favorites, along with the one below that is similar.

Rarely, I title my work, I don't feel I am "professional" enough for that. However, I decree that the one above shall be called "Juicy Fruit!"

Second favorite!

Bzzzzzzz........

I wish I could bottle the smell of Jasmine! Love it. Someday, I hope to have it outside of a window so I can smell it whenever I am near that window!

My passion....

"Oh, cut me reeds to blow upon,

Or gather me a star,

But leave the sultry passion-flowers

Growing where they are.

I fear their sombre yellow deeps,

Their whirling fringe of black,

And he who gives a passion-flower

Always asks it back."
-Grace Hazard Conkling,1878-1958

I love plants, flowers, anything green. I don't have a lot of "growing space" so things that grow vertically are a good thing! :) A year ago, or so, a co-worker of mine introduced me to the Passion Flower vine. I fell in love with it. I tend to like "unusual" things, shoes, plants, flowers. I was given a start...it didn't make it through the winter, not surprising considering the winter we had. I was given an opportunity by Linda, another co-worker friend of mine to order a Passion Flower through a gardening catalog when she was making an order. I did! And, it is the best plant purchase I made this past spring! It has grown like crazy and adorns my front porch area very nicely. I decided to take a string of flowers blossoming at the same time as a chance to get some photos!

I love the curly vines...

The Passion Flower comes with a meaning, as so many flowers do. According to Paghat's Garden the following, plus more is stated:

"Five petals & five sepals are ten apostles, leaving out Judas the betrayer & Peter because he denied knowing Jesus. The purple carolla Bosio reported had seventy-two filaments, the number of thorns in Jesus's crown. The three pistil stigmas are nails. The five stamens are the number of wounds, so that to this day, Catholics in South & Central America call it "The Flower of the Five Wounds." The leaf represents the spear that placed the wound in Jesus's side (that one is a stretch since the leaves are five-lobed, but unlike some other species, this one's individual lobes are at least lance-shaped). The dark spots under the leaves are the 33 pieces of silver paid to Judas. When the flowers are spent after a single day (the time Jesus spent on the cross), the petals do not drop from the vine but re-close over the ovary, & this symbolizes the Hidden Wisdom that constitutes the Mysteries of the Cross, & is like Jesus enclosed in the tomb.This rich symbolism was embellished by later authors so that the white petals came to represent the purity of Jesus, the palmate leaves the hands of his prosecutors, & the clinging tendrils the cords of Jesus's bondage (or the whips with which he was lashed). The fruit itself is the Earth for which Jesus promised salvation."

If you want to see these gorgeous, and very unique flowers, come by for a visit!

Perfect Day/Oaks Park Stroll

I love days that start like today. I woke up to no alarm, that makes it perfect with just that component. The sun was shining, which is sort of new as it has been cloudy the past several mornings. I made my morning cup of tea, curled up in a blanket and sat on my balcony. Peace. Quiet. Cat sitting on my lap, between purr and sleep, and helping to keep me warm. I can never ask for a better morning than that.

After I was ready to venture into the day I decided I was going to go for a nice long stroll somewhere. That destination ended up being Oaks Park and Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge. I'd been to the park for an outing for work, but we hadn't gotten off the bus, let alone explore at all. This park is right near the river, so I headed that direction, walked as far north as I could, then turned back and got on the Springwater Corridor Trail, a trail that loops parts of Portland and is a total of 40 miles. I've walked a lot of it in different sections. I didn't actually venture into the Wildlife Refuge, but got a good view of it as I walked by. Here are some pictures from the stroll [you can click on any picture to enlarge it...actually works on all blogs...fyi :) ].

Natures version of a "diamond in the ruff".

You can see the city in the distance.

I love sweet peas.

This is the "bottom". The pinkish color is all the sweet peas blossoming.

There is an Osprey nest perched on one of the power poles.

The Osprey is in there...click to enlarge and see it!

After my walk I headed to Laurelhurst Park to hear the Providence Stage Band play '40's Big Band music. Whenever I've gone to a concert in the park this summer it reminds me of my childhood and walking up the street from the house and going to the concerts in the park by the Casper Municipal Band. Something I think I will always enjoy.

A good day! :)