Today Dave and I said good-by to his parents. We drove them to the airport early this morning. The farewell was sad, as most are when family and friends are involved. We both hope that one day there will be no farewell and no end to their visit to Portland. Until that time it is up to us to continue showing them all the wonders that make up our fair city.
Some of the places we highlighted on this trip were: Powell's, Saturday Market, The Screen Door, Flying Pie Pizzeria, Mt. Tabor Park, Montavilla Antique Mall, IKEA, Genies, and Cannon Beach. Each day was so full that we needed a mid-afternoon nap in order to gather enough strength for the next item on our itinerary. I was so exhausted from our trip to Cannon Beach that on our drive home it took less than 20 min. for me to fall asleep; my head bobbing up and down, swaying gently with curves of the road in the soft heat of the car.
While we rested well, we also ate well. I don't think my stomach ever had a fair opportunity to realize that it might be hungry. We estimated that while we were at Cannon Beach we must have spent over $20 on candies alone. I found one candy shop that had the most amazing caramel. It was soft and chewy, buttery and slightly salty; it was everything one could desire from a morsel of caramel. Originally I bought only one--silly me. Shortly after I ate my caramel I realized that I most certainly needed another. I went back to the candy shop and showed more restraint than I thought possible and bought only two more.
This morning all the candies and mementos were packed up in suitcases, then loaded into our car. Dave and I watched as the suitcases were checked and then as his parents walked away through the security check. I have to be honest, I am not a fan of good-byes.
*In keeping with Johnson Family tradition, all photos posted on this blog show people walking away from the camera.
My Mom made the long trip from Ferndale, WA down to Portland, OR this weekend. She pulled into Stumptown, USA around 2:45pm on Friday and left around the same time the next day.
Along with her she brought her dog Bo, sometimes called Bo-Bo. Bo is a min-pin/pug cross. He is a small, excitable dog that bounces rather than walks.
My Mom, Bo, and I enjoyed chit-chatting until Dave came home from work on Friday. We then ventured into downtown Portland, which is something that Dave and I rarely do. We walked along the riverfront and ate a delicious meal at Macaroni Grill. For the first time, I ordered something I liked at Macaroni Grill. It was the 
Marsala Chicken Ravioli. It was mm-mm-good. Coming home after our meal was necessary, as we all ate so much, we were getting sleepy.
We started off the next day with tea and berry muffins. We talked over music as we enjoyed our breakfast, then went for a morning walk up Mt. Tabor. Bo came along and wheezed and gagged as he pulled excitedly on his leash, nearly choking himself at times. My Mom couldn't move fast enough to satisfy his enthusiasm so, Dave took charge and ran him up the many stairs that go to the top
of Mt. Tabor.
At the top of Mt. Tabor you can see most of the city. The view includes Hawthorne, the Steel bridge, and the West hills. We sat on a bench and enjoyed looking over the city as we caught our breath before we heading back down the mountain.
At home, after the walk, Bo collapsed with exhaustion. He laid limply on my lap as I played
with his ears making them stick straight up and then flipped them inside out. He was so tired that when we put him in his kennel he merely curled up and fell back to sleep. With Bo all tucked into bed, we decided to make our way down to Saturday Market.
Lively music and the smells of spices and fried foods greeted us as we walked into Saturday Market. Of course, we stopped for food first. Dave and Mom ate Philly-steak sandwiches. I choose a piece of pizza, that wasn't fully cooked (the crust was still doughy). I have bad luck with food at Saturday Market. But, Mom and Dave loved what they ordered!
There were some amazingly creative merchants at Saturday Market. One merchant made hooks, bracelets, and clocks from recycled silverware. And another merchant made antique handkerchiefs into cap sleeves for tank-tops. Mom bought organic toys for the pets. She found a dried sweet potato chew toy for Bo and bought a cat-nip body pillow for Yoda.
At home she gave the presents to the pets. Yoda sniffed and caressed his new body pillow. He curled his body around it and cuddled it. After about a half an hour with his cat-nip body pillow, Yoda started dry-heaving. We are pretty sure he over-dosed on the cat nip. We now regulate how much time he can spend with his new toy. Bo also enjoyed chewing on his dried sweet potatoes.
Happy Mother's Day Mom! Thanks for coming.
Virginia Woolf, the name sounds epic. I breath it in and out once more, Virginia Woolf. This name has been elusive to me.
In college, I knew little about who Virginia Woolf was or what she was about. Whenever I heard her name, I thought about The Brother's Grimm or some other fairy tale writer. I pictured her writing the story about the dancing shoes that made the child wearing them dance until they died. A gruesome story, but one I thought befitting to someone named Virginia Woolf.
I didn't know who Virginia Woolf was.
I happened upon a book she wrote last November. Dave and I were flying back from Omaha and we stopped at a bookshop in the airport. I picked up A Room of One's Own and turned it over in my hand. The back cover talked about Virginia Woolf's theory that, "women must have a fixed income and a room of their own in order to have the freedom to create." What a devilish book this must have been when it was published.
In 1929, the idea that dedicating a room to a woman for creative purposes, would have been seen as extraordinary. Virginia Woolf mentions how little was invested into a woman's education. She laments her own lack of education and pines for a college with wealthy donors, whose walls were built from the coffer's of kings, such as the men's colleges. She states that the mind of a woman held less creative and intellectual value than that of a man. Not because a woman couldn't possess creative or intellectual genius, but because they were not afforded opportunities to develop either of these attributes.
When asked why she wrote A Room of One's Own, she says, " I wanted to encourage the young women--they seem to get fearfully depressed."
Virginia Woolf.
