Lots 'o Sugar and a Little Bit o' Music

Months ago I was talking to Danielle and Garret. Garret is a big baker and wanted to hit up some small(er) bakeries in Portland. In the course of our conversation we decided it would be fun to do a bakery crawl. Our take on a Pub Crawl. After compiling a list of about 7 bakeries we ventured out this morning. Our first stop was Bob's Red Mill. One of my favorite places to stock up on gluten-free goodness.

Notice in the picture how bright eyed we are.

There is a huge wheel at Bob's and we had to "document" (my words) our adventure. Apparently, with my eyes closed.
Many goodies were got at Bob's. We then headed to Marsee Baking Company in Sellwood.
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Notice now that Garret is looking a little jittery, post lots of coffee and the beginning surges of sugar in the bloodstream.

Our third, and what would be our final bakery stop was Sweet Pea Bakery. We had to hit this place up so I could endulge in some gluten-free goodness. I planned it in such a way that Danielle and Garret would do the majority of eating, and I'd only partake a little bit. It was worth it though!

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This was one end of the display case at Sweet Pea. Probably my favorite bakery of the day.

Here are some yummy (according to D & G) donuts. I took their word for it. And, I can wholly vouch for the amazing, gluten-free, Almond Poppyseed Muffin. I can also vouch for the g-f chocolate chip cookie that I got for a later time. It was yummy too!

By the time we finished at Sweet Pea, Garret had sort of gone into sugar/caffeine shock. He had to take a walk around the block before heading to an oasis of real food. Hence, a Danielle and Stephanie self-portrait.

After consuming real food Garret needed to take a quick nap before they headed out to the beach. My couch was a perfect place for his sugar coma to pass.

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Notice, he looks sort of deliriously happy...

Then, downright stoned and in a zone...

Then, he tried to hide from the world...

All while my dear Ezme is trying to figure out what the heck is going on...

It was a fun-filled morning with lots of laughter and goodies.

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After they left I was hit by the post-sugar slump and decided to nap it off myself. Once I got up and moving my ambition was to head to Rose City Park with some friends from work to enjoy a lovely evening with some fun music.

The Lewi Longmire & the Left-Coast Roasters took the stage in a great, sunny, Portland summer evening!

The crew that let me tag along!

Les, Katrina, me, Cindy, Megan!

A grand day!

Shakespeare in the Park

Portland is big on culture. It's one of the reasons I love this city so. Earlier in the week Megan asked me if I'd like to join her, along with some folks she knows from church at a Shakespeare in the Park event on top of Mt. Tabor. Sounded fun to me. I said yes. As Megan so aptly stated, "Have you ever seen a Shakespeare play from the top of a volcano? I can now cross that off my bucket list, thank you very much Mt. Tabor and the Portland Actors Ensemble!"

We attended PAE's performance of Pericles, Prince of Tyre. Not one of my favorite Shakespeare works, but the experience was very enjoyable. After work, up the mountain we went. This was the view of downtown PDX, officially hijacked from Megan's FaceBook page.

The group setting up the "staging area."
The audience...

...we slanted up hill the whole performance...

...definitely not the most comfortable way to sit.


At intermission Megan headed off to get some more pictures. I love Mt Hood, so of course I also had to hijack this photo.

During the performance.

The set also posed as the gift shop during intermission.

We had wondered how they were going to perform a whole play without mic's or electricity. The answer: project voices and Coleman Lanterns. Genuis. Though it was a bit interesting inhaling propane and hearing the buzz through the second act.

Thanks to Megan's bug spray I also stayed bite free from all thos pesky little mosquitoes.

Another great night enjoying Portland and all she has to offer. Thanks for the invite, Megan!

The Wind in My Hair

I went running tonight. And it felt GOOD. REALLY, really good.

And, even though I DID not look like this...

I also did NOT look like this...

...THANK GOODNESS!

Burnt Bridge Creek

One of my goals for the summer was to hike whenever I could, wherever I could. I don't know that I'd qualify this as a hike, but friends most definitely agree that it is a hike, therefore, I suppose I will. There are so many wonderful trails and get-aways at hand here in and around this wonderful city. Today, I decided to venture across the river into Vancouver, WA. I was on a mission to try the Burnt Bridge Creek Trail, also apparently referred, in part anyhow, as the Ellen Davis Trail. It was a nice trail, but the beginning and end were filled with mosquitoes. I attribute this not only to the prolific amount of them in the area due to the wet, cool spring and early summer and then a big heat boom to hatch all those little buggies into horrid, flying, bloodsucking annoyances. Yes, I dislike them that much. Anyway...tangent aside, I enjoyed the "walk/hike" and will definitely visit the trail again and do a different segment of it.

I encountered this unusual tree...

...this nice little open meadow area...
...some cute flowers (I'm a sucker for flowers)...

...the Burnt Bridge Creek, of course...

...AND, the ever elusive and very rare speckled tree. It was grand!

And this is the area that I blame all those bloodsuckers on...

...some nice standing water.

There you have it. Try it, but take bug spray. Or, you can look real classy like I did and just keep smacking yourself!

Play Ball Beavers

What better way to celebrate America's Birthday than by enjoying America's favorite pasttime?! I headed down to PGE Park to enjoy a Portland Beaver's Baseball game followed by some fun fireworks! And, Portland loves her baseball.

The stands are beginning to fill up!

The PGE Lightbulb

Lucky, the Beaver

A good game (Portland beat the Las Vegas 51s) followed by great fireworks.

Hope you all had a fantastic, fun-filled 4th of July and remembered why we were all celebrating our Independence Day!

Klickitat Trail Adventures

A bonus of working with amazing people is that I also get to be friends with amazing people. And a bonus of being friends with amazing people is the opportunity to go on amazing adventures.

In light of the long 4th of July weekend, I whisked away with Cindy and Megan. Our destination was the Klickitat Trail north of Lyle WA. The goal was to hike the trail, have lunch, commune with nature. And we did. The section of trail we were on mostly hugs the Klickitat River. It was nice to have the sound of water all along the hike.

In addition to the sounds of water, there were sounds of Katydids, birds and encounters with other wildlife....or remnants of...

...nice shedded snake skin mustache, Cindy!

In the hiking book that Cindy got the trail idea from there was mention of this pipe that has mineral spring water gushing...you can see it below...yep, that rusty old thing. Once upon a time people bottled and tried to sell it. It didn't go very well.
Cindy and Megan both tried it. I did not. I don't regret that decision and Cindy and Megan were still alive on the hike back, so I don't imagine they regret their decision either! :)

We also passed an abandoned dry ice factory, now home to Swifts.

We passed under a large felled tree.

Saw some local wildlife...

...and then some more.

Thought these rock formations were pretty interesting. Man made or natural?

View up river.

The three of us.

Down river view.

Feet in the water.

At the end of the trail.

On the hike back we ran into more local wildlife. Look hard! There is a momma turkey and close to 10 of her little ones. (If you click on the picture it will enlarge!)

On the drive back we got some pretty amazing views of Mt Hood, in all its glory! In the picture below you can see Hood River and the Columbia beneath Mt Hood. There were massive amounts of windsurfers and kiteboarders on the river.

Windsurfers.

Crossing the Columbia we came across the Bridge of the Gods and stopped for ice cream! I had an amazing blackberry milkshake. Yummm!

It was a beautiful day and great start to the long weekend!

I've lost my focus...

...now, to try and find it.

Yes, finding my focus is something I'm going to aim for. I even made a list (novel idea for me, huh?!) to help me focus. I always sort of lose my sense of focus in the spring and summer and fall, hmmm...do you see a pattern? I sure do. Okay, well maybe I lose my sense of focus year-round, with varying peaks and valleys, with the most difficult time to focus being at season changes?! I have a few close friends and especially a few previous roommates that would most likely second that.

I get this odd sensation of energy, have a hard time staying still, search for new, different, exciting things. It lasts for an indeterminate amount of time. Slowly the physical energy dissipates, but the internal, psychological energy remains with an eventual decrease in intensity, but this peak I've reached and then come down from has changed me. Changed my soul, my being if you will, ever so slightly. Most often there is a revelatory ring to the psychological and internal energy that I experience. Sometimes this isn't a new revelation, sometimes I am just merely revisiting a previously experienced revelation. But with renewed energy. Renewed zest. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, this is all accompanied by this lack of focus.

Right now, I have a hard time focusing on much. I sit down to watch a television show or movie and soon find myself wandering away. I try a household chore and get distracted rapidly. I am bad at keeping in touch with friends, even the ones I see daily. It's pretty bad when I feel like I haven't said boo to the friends I work with at the end of a day, or worse, the end of the week. Let alone friends in a different zip code. Oy.

My apartment looks like it has been picked up by a small child, tossed around and left in shambles on the front lawn, once that child has been distracted by the next big toy. Okay, it doesn't really look that bad, but it could look better. I walk and hike, that is good and focus worthy. Truly though, that is prime time to not focus. I can let my mind wonder as I wander. I try to write and am successful at varying degrees (heck, I've started and stopped this post at least 3 times). I read, in short bursts. I lose focus at work or am easily distracted. I find that I want to call someone, but who, and then when I do, what to talk about. Mainly because this jumbled mess in my mind is just that, a jumbled mess, only to come out as a jumbled mess and quite probably as an incoherent mess. But it all makes some weird, tangential sense in my brain.

I stay up late, and couldn't even tell you why most of the time. I am tired, but not, during the day. Lay down to take a nap and even get distracted from doing that. Music is refreshing to my soul. I listen to a lot of it these days. All kinds. Often times I turn the television on as the 10 o'clock news comes on and wonder where the evening has gone. Monday turns to TuesdaytoWednesdaytoSaturday, May to JunetoJuly and we are nearing the middle, even of that month. It feels like it was just January, the new year, and before I know it, Christmas will have arrived once more.

I was always told that time moves faster the older you get. I had no idea how that would ever feel. Until now. I can't even explain it. And the sad thing is that I am guilty of wishing my days away. As I get to work in the morning I wish it would be the end of the day. On Monday, I wish it would be Friday. And then I want time to stand still, or at least creep by, from 4:30 Friday until 8am Monday. It seems to go faster, even than the week days. Wow. And the years, how they have passed by so quickly. I've called Portland home for 9 years. That feels crazy. That feels unnerving and comforting all at the same time. Before I know it, I will have called Oregon home for more than half of my life. I'm already standing at calling it home for 1/3 of it.

So now, in light of my ramblings, and only a small glimpse of the craziness in my brain I am aiming to live more in the moment. To focus on the now, which I generally do, but will do so with more effort. I will do those hip exercises so I don't experience pain when I hike in the peace of nature, I will read and write more, with focused intent. I will attempt to keep my environment free of clutter to assist in keeping my inner person less cluttered and more at peace. I will focus on the people in my life and on bettering myself as a person. I will fo·cus (–verb to concentrate: to focus one's thoughts) on life.

What helps you focus?! I'd love to know.

July 1st

I really should NOT still need to use a space heater in my bathroom on July 1. Really. Brr....
And, the good news (hear the sarcasm in my voice) is that the National Weather Service is predicting a cooler and wetter July than normal, which if the first day of the month is indicative of anything, they will have predicted correctly. And then, the Farmers Almanac predicts a cool August. Feels like summer has been cancelled for Oregon.