Summer 2010 Highlights - Part 1

The Dinnertable is back from its summer break. Too much has occurred since July for a complete recap but here's a few of the highlights:

Sylvia scored her own personal bike chariot. Mush papa, mush!

The berry season began.

The pool required filling.

Time for a big girl bed with access controlled by short people.

Still passes the bounce test.

Uncle Brick, Aunt Meg, Ayla and Baby Ranger came to town.

Baths were required.

Portland's new Director Park opened.

Sylvia enjoyed the few hot days our fair city experienced with a dip.

We shared the park with our buddy Sam from Seattle,
who was visiting from that little hamlet to the north.

The sky was clear and the sun shone as brightly as my little bunny's smile.

Mini-Break: Seattle - Part 1

Since we figured that getting away for an impromptu mini-break might be more difficult once the little chicken arrives, AJ and I zipped up to Seattle Friday evening for a getaway. Three and a half hours in the car saw us in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood, which is full of big houses, their remarkable windows, and our B&B: the Salisbury House.

Not Salisbury house but typical of Capitol Hill.

Our room was cozy and thanks to AJ"s awareness of my sensitivity to doilies and tule, the frills were at a minimum. We ate at a great restaurant that specializes in coastal food, featuring a different region from time to time. When we arrived Peru was on the menu. Then we hit the sack to enjoy the best kind of rest: hotel sleep. I don't know if it's the high thread count in the sheets or the fluffy towels but I always sleep well at B&B's. So does AJ.


Saturday morning dawned grey but mild and after a vegetarian breakfast, no bacon...sigh, we meandered through the neighborhood, ogling windows and some nice public signage that I think I will try to emulate near our house.



Our general destination was Volunteer Park, designed by the Olmsted brothers who also worked on the Portland Park Blocks, Central Park in NYC and the Boston Fens. Smack in the middle of the park is an open reservoir and a large water storage tank. The tank is an imposing drum of clinker bricks and concrete bands that form the shell around a massive riveted steel container.

The door says it all.

The interior stairway leads to an overlook of the park and is rumored to be a great place to score some weed, smack or hunk o' burnin' love. None of those things were offered to our party, us being the only people there, and we were forced to be content with a view of the park below through the heavily barred windows. (no picture-imagination time).

Just up the meandering path from the tank is the local conservatory that boasts some fine orchids, cacti and, at least briefly, the hottest momma in the Northwest.




Later that evening we hung out with my UVA schoolmate Sam and her beau John, just back from trekking in Nepal. We were too busy talking about mountains and babies and eating gravy drenched french fries, pizza, and beer to take pictures.

Next time: "A Ferry across the Sound" or "The Sun Comes Out"