Nevermore

The Oregon Crusaders, which is a fairly new drum corp performed tonight at Pioneer Courthouse Square and they sounded great. I love drums. I love live music. These kids (yes, I say kids) between 15 and 21 yrs old performed in 97 degree heat in a brick square, after moving all their equipment AND while wearing long black pants, long sleeved (probably polyester) uniforms all with mostly smiles on their faces. They did great and I was glad I was is the shade and in a skirt.

They played several pieces and then performed their show for the 2014 DCI season. The show was titled Nevermore based on Poe's The Raven and it seemed to fit the style of the poem.

 Love Portland and "Portland's Living Room" as the square is referred too....

 Setting up and warming up....

Drum majors....

These two smiled the whole time (minus the male who wasn't at the exact moment I took this picture). They looked like they were having such fun, which is fun for me to see when someone is performing.

And just a couple quick videos...

Cute Cars!

A month or so ago Dave posted on Facebook that Josie wanted some Cars shirts, but Disney doesn't make Cars themed girls clothing. I had a crazy idea...I could make her a few shirts. So, I went to town on getting Cars fabric and t-shirts and did a crafting adventure in cutting out Cars characters, fray checking them and then stitch witchery (iron on fusing) them to the shirts. I decided they needed a bit more girly something added so I got fabric glitter paint and finished them off. 

They turned out cute! I can't guarantee how long they'll last, but they sure make Josie happy. Stasia informed me that in the first week and a half she had them (two if them anyway-I needed to add glitter to the third) she wore each of them 2 or 3 times-laundry schedule dependent. She now has all three...

Mater and Lightening McQueen! I later added glitter outline to them.

McQueen with glitter!

 And more McQueen with glitter outline.

 I wrapped each up in some colorful tissue paper and Josie got to open each of them. She tried them all on and loved them.

The purple one is my least favorite of the three, but don't tell Josie!

Such a cutie and now with three new Cars (Cars Cars as she calls them) shirts to wear!

Rose turned another year older!

Rose turned another year older and we celebrated by eating, laughing, eating, laughing and then starting a fire in her new firepit and then eating some more and laughing some more. Grand night! Happy Birthday, Rose!

The birthday girl...

Rachel...and her wine!

Zach...getting his marshmallow roasting stick ready.

Lee and Rose and sleeping Xander!

Me....with a yummy marshmallow....also I learned this night that nutella spread on a roasted marshmallow is  like heaven in my mouth!

And Lee, who joined us after he got off work, but also the guy who made it possible for us to roast marshmallows over a fire!

"Nothing left but the core" ... Beacon Rock, Washington

Beacon Rock is a large monolith that is situated on the north bank of the Columbia River on the WA State side of the Gorge. It's always been a place I wanted to hike, but never had and I didn't really know if I could hike it with a bad knee and bad hip. Especially since I'd been told it pretty much vertical. WA State Parks hosted a free day today and I decided to take advantage of a free day on the trail. I ventured to the WA side of the river and made my way East to Beacon Rock State Park. I was going to climb what was left of the inside of a volcano!

 At the trailhead!

 On of the views!

 In order for Beacon Rock to be climbable, one of the original owners had created a switchback ramp system...with railings, thank goodness. This is a picture looking up with the zigzagging railings.

 Another great view!

 Chipmunk at the top of the 848 ft monolith.

 Looking down...

 After the hike up and down (which my knee and hip did very well with) I made my way over to the water and for a view if Beacon Rock from the river.

Click on the below picture and look closely...you can see the railings.

What a lovely hike, wonderful views and a great escape for the day!

PDX Exploring

My friend Jenny loves the little farmers market near where I live (and where she lived until recently) but she'd never been to the big Portland State University Farmers Market. So, we planned a day to hang out and I told her it was a surprise about where we were going. It was a cloudy and cool morning. We ventured downtown and walked to the market and Jenny was very excited to be there. I love introducing someone to something new and seeing their excitement. We did a quick walk around so she could gage what there was and then we made a game plan....coffee/hot chocolate, food and then goodies to take home. We ate good food, sat and watched interesting Portlanders, chatted and then decided after the market we'd make our way to the Portland Waterfront as Portland is still in the midst of Rose Festival and the dragonboat races were happening as well as Fleet Week with all the ships. Once I told Jenny that people can tour them she decided she'd like to go...so we found ourselves among the throngs of people as the sun had come out and Portland was shining in all her glory. The lines were an eternity long to get on the ships and we had time contraints so we moved on after taking these pictures...

On our walk back to the car we stopped for lemonaide at the Saturday Market and while waiting in line a Coast guard Helicopter lowered someone into the river to do a demo of one of their helicopter rescues. It was so fun to watch. Pretty impressive!

At the end of the "rescue" I said 'and now the helicopter pilot will dip it to bow.' I was completely joking, but sure enough, once the rescued guy was in the helicopter and the crowd was cheering, the pilot did indeed turn the helicopter and dipped the nose to bow. How fun?! What a fun day! Thanks for the adventures, Jenny!

Starlight Parade

It's not very often that I get to spend time with Holly, and even rarer to spend time with Holly and her son, Isaiah. Yesterday I got to do both! Holly and I had planned to have lunch together and see the new Divergent movie. While we were at lunch we sort of decided to go to Portland Rose Festival's Starlight Parade that night. You see, the last time we went Holly was pregnant with Isaiah and he loved the marching bands. Since Holly is pregnant now also we decided we could call it tradition. Also, if ever I am pregnant we decided the tradition will have to continue. 

So...here are our smiling faces! 

Until the next pregnancy! Thanks for the fun time Holly and Isaiah!