OHMYGAWD

Okay, so my son was invited to a movie night Friday with both girls and boys... he's a 7th grade boy... At the same time my daughter had a swim meet (which she couldn't swim at, as she'd been sick that day, but I'd committed to selling concessions and the hubby was signed up for timing), PLUS, it was picture night, so daughter went for those and to cheer, even if she couldn't swim after missing school.

On a side note, daughter came in first in her heat last week—it was the 'other heat' so not the state-bound superstars, but it has lit a fire under her and she is excited about swimming again, where before it was only a 'means to waterpolo'. But I digress (and there was much rejoicing)

So anyway... drove son to this GIRL'S house (heard girls a couple houses away shrieking about him by name—my GAWD how embarrassing to have a stereotypically POPULAR child), and walked him to the door, through much balking and embarrassment on his part, and asked for the 'responsible adult'--just to ensure there WAS one, and to ensure this 'party of sorts' wasn't a surprise to the parents.

The dad? *fans self* (not at ALL unlike the man to the right) He was a darling man... cute in a sort of precious way (and by precious I mean had a nice smile and a dimple)... but... OHMYGAWD... the Irish accent gets me... BAD... especially when saying things like 'rules' and 'I'll be checking'. It's possible there was drooling involved.



Oregon

And because I am really nice, I am going to share a little of my favorite state...

Mt. Hood and Portland, from the West.

Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach--my favorite vacation spot as a teen.

Windsurfing at Hood River--a world famous place for it because the Columbia River provides a constant current and the wind never stops.





And then we have my favorite place in the whole wide world... The Columbia River Gorge...

(isn't it fabulous?!)

 And its prize feature, Multnomah Falls...


So there you have it... two of my weaknesses... I am trusting you not to use them to undermine the Naked World Domination mission.




And finally,...

Orangutan Love

This is an old story, but it is one of my favorites. We decided in late 1999 that we would leave Portland. Our family loved it and it was hard to go, but Oregon followed California into the property tax limitation folly that stopped schools from really PLANNING—taxes being more predictable than allocations of state funds... and Thing One was approaching kindergarten. Besides that, I have an MS in psychology, which in most places means low level jobs, as the high level ones require PhDs and there ARE NO mid-level jobs... except at the Institute for Social Research in Ann Arbor MI... So I started applying for mid-level jobs.

We did a few things before leaving though... spend a long weekend in Lincoln City (the Oregon Coast)... and we went to the ZOO...

Thing 2 was in a stroller at the time (he was less than 2) and we got to the orangutan pen... strolled up... and the big daddy spotted 'the baby'... He is huge. Probably 5'5” but THICK—I bet he weighs 250 or more. He approached the glass and put his hands up in the air and pressed his face against the glass and just STARED. He watched and watched... People started gathering around saying, 'look! He's watching the baby!” (MY baby!) I bet we all stayed locked like that for 10 minutes before big daddy made a kissy face at Thing Two and strolled away. It really is not that mysterious to me how babies end up cared for in the wild—we all love the babies of each others' species. (look what a good dad he is!)


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