Just caught a whiff of this in my inbox this morning! Thank you Land PDX for being so awesome! I sure love Portland.
All week while in San Francisco (for the first time!) I kept remarking about how I was falling in love with a new city, and not ready to go back to Portland's rain. But flying across the climate and geography and arriving to this lush, dense, GREEN wonderland, makes me so happy. And then, to top it off, Portland had the sunniest, cheeriest, happiest spring day yesterday.
I mosied through the parks on my way to work, checking out the joggers, the park knitters, (no cricket games like I saw in SF) and all the wonderful people outside enjoying the day.
As I rolled into the Street Yoga office, our amazing founder Mark came by, and conversation evolved into a brainstorm for Yoga Summer Camp! He said it is meant to be, because that is the second time its come up this week. I exclaimed that Yoga Summer Camp is one of my life goals, and he said ok. Let's do it.....
Now it is June, and the rainiest, coldest spring is still drizzling along.
Rain is beyond its green romantic stage. I can no longer defend the overcast skies with lush growth, because nothing wants to grow without sun!
Memorial Day gave us a brief break with sunshine and slight warmth. I weeded, fertilized, seeded some zinnias, wildflowers, and echinacea (coneflower). The wild roses had developed mold on the rosebuds and thorns, so I pruned the heck out of them, and chopped back the gigantic rosemary as well. Our zucchini sprouts are gaining height, and my mammoth sunflowers are trying to keep it up. C'mon summer!
And here is my to-do list for my remaining (2) years of my twenties. But hey, they say 30s are the new twenties, right?! So I'll do a 180 and take a new step forward.
Oh dear, such a fun, sunny weekend, and now a dreary busy work week. Monday's commute was particularly soggy... essentially like riding through a grounded cloud.
I took many pictures of the magical wonderland that is Horning's Hideout, but have yet to even touch my camera for uploads. This upcoming weekend is another yoga teacher training (with Paul Grilley!!!), which means late hours at work to cover my Friday all day workshop, and yoga homework which is always left to the last minute.
Travis began his new job of hunting for jobs this week. I can't help but envy his "mini vacation" at home, but soon we'll both be super busy, as I plan to take on more yoga teaching as his schedule fills up with bike and food related shifts.
Check out this extremely practical pattern! I love our hardwood floors, it helps me keep the cat fur in check, rather than embedded into carpet. But sometimes it is overwhelming how fast the dust bunnies return!
Wow. I was completely soaked on my way to work today. Living so close to the light rail, its too easy to forgo the bike and all its waterproofy accessories, but today I wonder if I might have been drier on bike, considering I would have been wearing waterproof pants, rather than sodden jeans.
As I type, the sun is coming out. Oh Portland, you and your finnicky weather.
Saturday we headed down to the Willamette River for the opening ceremony of the Dragon Boat Season.
The dragon boats are a gift from our sister city, Suzhou, and the opening ceremony feature monks, dancing dragons, drums and Sam Adams, aka Mr. Portland Mayor came out and dotted the eyes of the boat Travis and I were on!
(I don't race, its Travis's work team, but they needed some volunteers to fill empty spots!) The Rose Festival is in June, and the Dragon Boat races are a huge event at the waterfront. Last year Trav's team took gold in their division!!
Afterwards we hit up the Farmer's Market downtown, mostly sticking to vegetable starts for the garden. And made lists of all the cookies and cheeses we want to buy next week when our restrictions are off!
The afternoon was then spent in the garden, planting my strawberry starts, some chard, snap peas, and a shasta daisy. I repotted several indoor plants, my fushias mainly. They have been particularly haggard this winter... not too sure what they want from me! Maybe more fertilizer?
A few friends came by to play in the sunshine, and I brought out my yoga mat for some sunshine asana. All in all a lovely Saturday.
Sunday however, Travis and I were exhausted. We woke up feeling hungover which doesn't feel very cool when you go to bed early on a Saturday night with hot lemon water as your evening night cap! From what I understand day 2 & 3 can be the worst as you adjust to the toxin burning. My liver must have been expelling all those winter ales we indulged in.
I spent most of the day resting, knitting, and watched a movie. Travis went into work and felt awful, so I cooked us some cinnamon apples to revive our systems. Worked well, I think we just need to ease into this new part of our life. We had never detoxed fully before, so I think it was especially hard. Hopefully next time we'll be ready for it! Maybe take a day off from work and schedule some massages...
Oh and I also planted seeds for my wildflower/butterfly gardens! And some mammoth sunflowers... I hope the rain didn't wash all of our little seeds away!
Facing East on Washington Ave at Park. Cute girl with a vibrant umbrella. The leaves are so amazing right now... reds, yellows, some greens still hanging on.
A new food cart is emerging on my block! More details when I return from Thanksgiving festivites in Texas and Oklahoma.
As I was scoping out this lovely afternoon, I caught a rare sighting of a Travis-Bunny.
