The Cake People

Paul, a good friend of Goose's from elementary school, got married this weekend and we surprised him by showing up at his day-before party. These two, who did cub scouts and played baseball together, last saw each other in 9th grade!

Ann and Brody were really excited to see Paul's dad, who was Eric's baseball coach, and mom, who, with Ann, was their troop's den mother. Many an embarrassing story was shared.

The box Ann is holding contains a mini carrot cake, which Paul's dad made for us. He actually made this cake (and the cake for the wedding reception!) using a recipe Eric and Brody created for a cake auction when Eric was in elementary school. Paul'd dad battled it out with the little brother of another friend of Eric's and paid a ridiculous amount of money for that cake, then started making it himself all the time. Not only did he bring us our own little cake since we wouldn't be attending the wedding, but he brought an old, stained index card with the original recipe written on it. On the top it said, "Eric's Carrot Cake." They told this story to lots of folks at the party and the Conklins were known as "The Cake People."

Ann and Brody had flown from Chewelah to Camus, WA (just north and west of Portland--across the Columbia River) for a weekend fly-in. The town is celebrating "Camus Days" and are holding events at the airport as part of the festivities. Here are Eric and Brody covering up the Brody's plane before heading to Olympia:

These are all Navions, a particular kind of airplane. The pilots are being briefed before heading up together do a fly-over--fly in formation--of the Camus Days parade.

There were some beautiful flowers at the airport.

On the way home, we made a stop at Burgerville, which is always a treat! It's a fast food place that serves local food, composts a lot of their waste, donates 100% of their oil to be used for bio-diesel and cooks up a tasty veggie burger! One of their seasonal items we could not resist was a basket of Walla Walla sweet onion rings! Even Brody, with his extremely high onion ring standards, would have been more than satisfied by this humongous, thick, flavorful fried things!

U pick

This afternoon, Leah and I went to a farm just south of Cornelius to pick some blueberries--something I'd never done before. Some of the bushes were sparse and others had lots of unripe ones, so finding those ready to be picked required more work than we had expected. It was really fun!

I pick.



Leah picks.




On our way back to the barn to weigh and pay, a kid in overalls, hose in hand, asked if we wanted to wash our hands with his "special recipe" soap ("90% germs"). We accepted. In a plastic toy baseball helmet, he mixed hand sanitizer with dish soap, sloshed it around with some water, then had us hold our hands out. It worked pretty well! Go ahead and borrow the recipe if you want--he was clear about it not being a secret.

It wasn't until we were driving down the road that we noticed a note--obviously a kid's handwriting--stuck under the windshield wiper. We could see "you are" at the top. I imagined it was a cute note telling Leah that she had been nice or something, but when we got back to my house, we discovered that this was not the case.






Yikes! I think says that we are in the wrong parking lot and that our fine is $1.00. Who'd have guessed that the resident homemade soap dispenser and the parking lot attendant at the berry farm would be the same person? And we were delinquents and skipped out without paying!

Later, Eric used the berries to make some delicious oatmeal blueberry pancakes for dinner! Thanks for the recipe, Leah!

Good press

The Hillsboro Argus, the paper of a nearby town, published a really nice article about Eric. You can read it here. Besides a limited understanding of the structure of the United Methodist Church (something for which a non-UM cannot be faulted) which resulted in a few confusing sentences, it came out really well. And they included a huge picture!

Summer evening

Goose and I have established Mondays as our day off and we have, so far, successfully guarded that time to rest and be together. We spent most of the day gettting things done around the house and garage, which was extremely satisfying!

In the evening, we rode our bikes to McMenamins for a round of disc golf. Here I am with my new-old bike which, Goose pointed out, is Cubbie-blue with red hand grips. If you look closely, you can see that it has an inflatable seat cushion--something I never knew existed before.

Goose putts.

Going for par.

It's a bit hard to see with the sun going down and all, but this picture shows the McMenamins Grand Lodge with their Yardhouse Pub to the left. There is a great outdoor seating area that is bordered on two sides by the disc golf course--something that makes me a bit nervous.

Our place is shaping up! The rooms are still pretty spartan, but it's starting to feel more like home. Here is Goose waiting for me to sit down so we can eat our tacos!

Good things

There are a few things about our new home and community that I am particularly excited about:

People. I have really enjoyed getting to know the folks in this community. A few days ago, I visited with our neighbors across the street, who are from Guatemala. On the corner are Max and Roxie who are spunky and great.

Small town living. People in small towns often seem friendlier, less hurried, less suspicious. I have loved returning for a second time to places--the library, the farmers market, the coffee shop--and not only seeing some of the same people, but being recognized by them.
There is less red tape. The day we moved into the parsonage, we called the city to have our water turned on. Literally two minutes later, a truck pulled up while we stood in the yard, the driver got out and was greeted by name by the parishioners helping us unload, and we had water! And also--people wave to each other! I love that!

Biking. I bought a vintage blue Schwinn cruiser from a man down the street and have been riding it everywhere! It has a basket on the front, which I love filling with library books or groceries. I'm thinking of getting an old fashioned bell for the handle bars.

Being on a gym schedule again. We joined the Anytime Fitness that is just a few blocks away and have gone every morning so far (it's been almost a week). They have all new equipment with individual TVs on them--dangerous. And we have access to the place 24 hours a day.

Driving. People are much more patient here and do far fewer stupid, dangerous things than Chicago drivers do. I am still getting the hang of driving a stick shift and I am amazed that I have not been honked at a single time, even though I have stalled (more than twice) at intersections with lots of traffic behind me. Also, people actually stop at crosswalks--even the ones that are don't have the painted white lines. A note to my Chicago friends: there is a crosswalk at every intersection and you are legally obligated to stop for pedestrians. I didn't know if you knew this. I love living in a place where crosswalks are taken seriously!

Commuting. Goose and I live about 30 feet away from the church building where both of our offices are. Perhaps we will tire of this proximity, but I am currently loving it. I don't have to pack a lunch. I don't have to waste time waiting for a bus or sitting on the train or stuck in traffic. And because our offices are next door to each other, we can go home together for lunch and just check in whenever. I love it!

The produce. Everything grows well here and we have loved buying local stuff. The berries? Better than any I have ever had. Ever.

Breakfast. With our flexible schedules, Goose and I have been able to return to the morning ritual we have loved in the past but hadn't been able to manage for quite a while--breakfast together. We ride our bikes to the gym each morning then he makes oatmeal (with fresh fruit!) or something else and I make the coffee. And we get to eat and sip and talk and laugh and set up our days. It's the best.

Life in Oregon

Things here in Oregon are going really well. For the first time in a long time, Eric and I both feel like we are where we are supposed to be and doing the work we are supposed to be doing. That is a good feeling.

In a sense, we are in a completely new place, but we also feel like we have come home. We are about an hour from where we lived a couple of years ago, so we know some folks around here and lots of places are familiar, but the particular communities we are part of are new! I have really been enjoying this combination exploring the new and reconnecting with the well-loved.

Mat and Leah are two friends we are particularly happy to be spending time with again. We visited them when they first purchased their home in Forest Grove (which is just down the road from Cornelius, where we live). The house was nice before, but they have done some amazing work inside and out. I wish I before and after pictures of their yard--their flowers are so beautiful!

On Wednesday, we met them at the FG Farmers Market, where we bought some tamales and fresh produce for a salad.

After dinner on the back patio, we walked a few blocks to McMenamins Grand Lodge. This place, one of several McMenamins establishments in the Portland area, is amazing. The property, formerly owned by the Masons, contains buildings that were once a retirement home, orphanage, and mortuary. Now it is a hotel with two restaurants, a brew-and-view-style movie theater, and a disc golf course! The grounds are gorgeous and the buildings a bit mysterious.

Mat, Leah, Goose and I enjoyed throwing the frisbee around on the huge lawn until it got too dark to see and the frisbee got stuck one too many times in a tree. We then split a delicious milkshake and brownie a la mode. Mmmm... We will definitely be back to that place and are looking forward to checking out other McMenamins joints in the area!

Yesterday, Goose and I took public transportation into Portland for a meeting and decided to make a day of it. Our first stop was Powell's, a new and used bookstore that takes up a whole city block! We are excited about our one purchase--a used book about using what you already have to re/decorate your home.

We bopped in and out of lots of random stores and spent more time in one place called Storables--which gave us plenty of ideas about how to organize our stuff.

For dinner, we went to the Blossoming Lotus, a yoga place with a vegan cafe. The food was amazing! Here is Eric waiting to get a table--there was only room for about 20 people to sit inside.



Across the street from this place was a little cafe specializing in three of my favorite things: coffee, chocolate and wine. We had the most perfect little dark chocolate things for dessert.

Here is Goose waiting for the Max to take us home. There are so many trees in Portland!


Taking public transit into the city seems the best option. It's cheap and reliable and fairly quick. It took us about an hour to get home--perhaps a little longer going into the city with more traffic. And we don't have to worry about trying to figure out all those one-way streets!

We have arrived

We've been in Oregon for about two weeks now! Our church positions are going really well so far with both of us meeting lots of great new people and excited about possibilities. The church folks at Cornelius (one of the two congregations Eric is serving) had obviously been thoughtfully preparing for our arrival for a long time and have extended generous hospitality.

We love our new little home and are slowly unpacking and getting settled. I will try to get some pictures up here soon!

One really exciting thing about being here again is reconnecting with folks we got to know during our previous time in Oregon. Just a few miles down the road are Leah and Mat, who are both teachers in the area. We did lots of hiking and a bit of camping with them and are excited to be so close!


Eliser, who has visited us in the Chicago the past two Christmases, came up from Tualatin, just about half an hour away, to visit. We checked out Maggie's Buns in Forest Grove (the town where Mat and Leah live) and shared THE most amazing (and biggest!) cinnamon roll I have ever seen! We will definitely be back to visit this funky little place.


We stopped by the Goodwill to check out their furniture selection. And their sombrero selection.
It's a good collection.

We headed in to the downtown Portland one evening to meet Jared (a college friend of Eric's), Christina and little Hailey for dinner.

Just a bit south, past beautiful wineries and a buffalo farm, lies McMinnville, home of friends Paul and Michelle. Paul and I worked at the church in Woodburn together in the olden days. It was great to see them--and we experienced rolling our own sushi for the very first time!

And one of my very favorite things about summers in Oregon--berries! Here is the half-flat we got at the farmers' market just a few hours after it was purchased. Now, three days later, only a few little berries remain!

Today we attended an event that included lunch and one woman had brought dessert--angel food cake, cool whip, and fresh berried picked from her yard yesterday!!! I cannot tell you how delicious this dessert was.

Here is Eric, just a little bit ago, finishing up his sermon for tomorrow in his church office.

Just over the fence you see behind him is our back yard. Yes, we live quite close to the church.

The trip

It took about 7 hours to get from the cabin to our new place in Cornelius, Oregon and our new car, Silvie, carried us faithfully there! I even drove a good deal of the trip, which was an accomplishment given that I had just learned to drive a manual two days before.

I'm happy because I'm not trying to get into first gear on an incline:


Coming down through eastern Washington from Spokane is pretty but seems ho-hum compared to the drive along the Columbia River Gorge. I love this part of the trip!


We both got so excited when Mt. Hood came into view. This is one gorgeous mountain.


As we got closer to Portland, a tad bit of rain fell, just to remind us that we were in Oregon again.

Coming into downtown Portland.

This picture may not look remarkable (for Oregon), but it is taken only 3 minutes after the previous one--this is right next to downtown!

From the interstate to Cornelius. The mountains in the background are a coastal range. Just on the other side--the Pacific Ocean!

Here is the Gooseman in our temporary home (we couldn't move into the parsonage for a couple of days), playing with Waddle, our new GPS--thanks Annie and Brody! Waddle and Silvie (our car) are named for some sports talk show guys Eric sometimes listens to.

We celebrated by enjoying some Oregon raspberries and strawberries with a lovely Willamette Valley Pinot Noir. We have arrived!

Mo' WA pics

We spent our last weekend in Washington at the Conklin Cabin on one of the Twin Lakes (Upper or Lower? I can never remember which!) with Mike, Tanya and Em.


Enjoying Papa Murphy's take-n-bake on the deck. Mike was really enjoying it.

Emmy, Tanya and Guthrie making faces at each other.

We had a such a lovely weekend relaxing, eating, playing games and just visiting. Hopefully Mike, Tanya and Emerson will be down to visit us soon!

The obligatory new car shot:

!!

We are in Oregon and have been in our new place for about a week now. Things are going well! I plan to post pictures and more about what we've been up to very soon!