Classical Chinese Gardens

Before the Olympics started and I stopped sleeping, Steph (one of the world’s greatest houseguests - why? how does she do that? Carol?) visited for 2 weeks from Miami Beach. We befriended Obama supporters on the train, crouched on a street car for a visit to Powells, ate Thai food FINALLY, slept and read and walked and biked and Jake helped her practice yoga. Picked berries, ate not enough meat (she kept sneaking off for burgers,) art museum, city fairy house hike, and one night, Sabine made an impromptu party for us, spending the afternoon in her room making and wrapping gifts. Jer got origami creatures and candy, Jake and Steph got stories.

And we visited the Portland Classical Chinese Garden - a first for me, and a pleasure to enjoy this walled little treasure surrounded by skyscrapers. Steph treated us to a variety of tastes from the Tea House there…. and though the watermelon seeds were clearly spiced pumpkin (and yummy!), we truly loved the atmosphere, the licorice tea, cranberry orange tea, spiced edamame, almond cookies, steamed dumplings and steamed buns. And mango nectar. I want some, right now, actually. Please.

Come back soon!

my tuesday

started with an unbelievable hike through a cloud on a hot day, cooler in the forest.

finished with some lounging on a beach

and de-sanding before getting in the car.

Thanks for your lovely emails about the photos this week. Yes, feeling quiet still (months have passed, and I am writing elsewhere, more privately) but wanting to remember these little details through photos.

my monday

I pulled in to a farm outside of town after our picnic/bike ride, and spent a few hours in the kitchen last night. I am in documenting mode, for some reason - I want to preserve our summer visually. With the saturated colors of summer.

my saturday

more ocean, please

After the sandcastle competition, we headed south along the coast. We camped with a big group of family, and enjoyed clam chowder, saltwater taffy, mini-golf, swimming, the aquarium, walks on the beach, and the OSU Hatfield Marine Science Center. So much time at the ocean for us this year - I have not tired of living so near. And though we call it “the coast” instead of “the beach” (thanks, Fisher) we love the variations in activities the gorgeous coast provides. There is very little lying-on-a-beach-towel-in-a-bikini and much more let’s-put-on-a-sweatshirt-and-go-collect seashells, sand dollars, agates.

Or just a pocket full of rocks.

Some feel that bigger is better. And these people have a tough time following the rule that Mom does not carry your spoils home from the beach. You want it, you lug it. While we “discussed” this rule for about 20 minutes, I chose to gaze at the view:

Others looked for agates down in Newport - the golden ones easier to find than the blue.

A magical week.

a rest

in San Francisco. With girls.

I’m home now, still not settled yet. Making myself post about my July marathon one-a-day before it fades. This trip, I will remember for a while. Slippers at the end of bed. Still can remember the cherries I shared with Tasha in the backseat. That Chinese restaurant, and the preceding Italian sodas. Amy’s shops and Lara’s navigation and texting the boys. Leaving Jer at Cedar City. The $3 peanut butter cup, and my mistake of ordering cheddar instead of provolone, shocking the sandwich shop boys. A divine yoga class. Settling in with new and old old friends, lounging and chatting and soaking it in. Just THE weekend, just at the right time. And the plan for another one already hatched. Knowing that I need it, somehow, and need them. It seems that it mattered what we did, but much less than it mattered that we did it at all. You know? Alone together. Thanks, A,L, &T!!!!

Bay Center 16

A sandcastle competition. 16 members of my family gathered in late July on the Washington coast to camp, and carve a sand structure. We attended a class the day before to learn that the sand must be piled and frequently doused with water and tamped down in order to make a sound base.

Then we placed a wooden form on top of the huge mound, and the kids tamped it down while we filled it up with more sand and water.

SO much water, hauled from the ocean. Our backs ached for the cause.

Our design changed 76 times throughout the 5-hour process, and we finished with this fishing fantasy: the kids sat in their “boat” in the front of our 20 x 20 space, fishing poles in hand. As they were reeling in their catch, a gigantic fish leapt up and nearly swallowed their catch. Yes. And we had to explain it to everyone who walked by. Because, well, it was more of a vision. We are artists with a vision. Ahem.

We learned a lot about technique, and are pumped to come back next year. It was a misty, windy, cloudy, and amazingly fun day.

Ours is totally as good as “Indiana Bones,” the winning sculpture seen here in progress, isn’t it?

I thought so.

1 month left

I can’t ever remember feeling surprised that I still have a month of summer left. And I can’t believe we fit so much into our July. We are back now, home in Oregon. A bit weary. Tired, but full. My sister-law is visiting for a couple of weeks and we intend to sleep in, read, and eat. Ready to dive in, to catch up with everyone, to say thanks for a few mail surprises. How are you?

I have a million photos and I want to document our month, the July where we travelled in 5 states, spent 2 days at home in between CA and WA, and saw Jeremy not nearly enough.

After Montana came Utah, which flashed by. Cousins, the dorms in Cedar City, the Shakespearean Festival. Cyrano de Bergerac, Fiddler on the Roof, The Taming of the Shrew, and The Two Gentlemen of Verona. The red rock. Very few photos, for some reason.

The cousins dove into each other’s arms, and we couldn’t peel them apart all week. They slept in their own rooms, Sabine reading them goodnight stories by flashlight. I so enjoy spending time with cousins - wishing we lived closer. But enjoying our little taste. A talk with a father, teary after watching Fiddler, commiserating with Tevye, the pain of giving away his daughters. Watching Sabine bask in Tradition, Matchmaker, Sunrise, Sunset. Must get the soundtrack.

Jake feels his age this summer, not quite old enough to attend plays with the big kids, not quite fast enough to keep up with the cousins, not quite young enough not to care anymore. A realization, sadness at always being “the youngest one around.”

Montana finished

before it began, it seems.

Projects: bags and zippered pouches, bookmarks strung with glass beads that Uncle John and Aunt Margaret made with their new blow torches, a game made with pvc pipe goals and golf balls strung on twine, a first attempt at waterskiing (the 7-yr-olds), measuring to replace the second dock, trimming the dead tree, quilts. Crotchet, knit, sew, read, play cards.

Sabine: loves the “no lifejacket swimming time” we engaged in daily - an hour of jumping off Uncle Jonny’s shoulders into the deep lake, swimming from adult to adult, and cannonballs. She snuck to Grandma Rose’s bed every morning for some cuddling/reading time. Her cousin Jack found her lost unicorn in the hull of the boat where she had been hiding for over a year. Jack got a big hug.

Jake: He let Uncle Steve pull him on the tube behind the boat. We discovered that he is allergic to mosquitos. Also, his father apparently taught him that peeing outdoors is a cool game that boys can play. We instructed: you can do it privately if you are standing where you can’t see anyone. So he started out the summer by casually facing away from everyone, and peeing into the lake, off the dock, on the deck. We explained that not only should *you* not be able to see people, but no one should be able to see you. Privacy. So, after he tried out this new set of limits by peeing, privately, under the picnic table, his grandmother gave him a permanent private spot. Now known as Jake’s pee barrel.

Jer: came the last 4 days we were there, and took the kids hiking, canoeing, and raced JD up the road to the Ross Creek Cedars on my Aunt Judy’s 30-year-old ten-speed. Read both Better: a Surgeon’s Notes on Performance and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Put in a new kitchen faucet. Played a lot of pinochle and ate a lot of doughnuts.

I: hated hated hated to leave.

June-ing

*A first Father/Son campout:

while Sabine and I went out for Thai (her choice,) rented a movie and snacked, and slept together in my bed.

*A last day of school (finally)

*A pottery class, weekly, for a couple of my friends and their teenagers in my garage.

*A start to our summer projects - first up, collages:

*A birthday dinner out with our friends - we share a birthday, and we look forward to making this a yearly tradition.

*I realized this week - I am making friends here. Real ones.

*3 posts in one afternoon.

*A laundry marathon for our month-long outing, starting Tuesday. Montana, Utah, California, and Washington. Family and friends, sandcastle competitions, Shakespeare festivals, and summer novels, here we come!