An embarrassment of riches

My step-dad, Jim, uses this phrase when we seem to be having an overabundance of good things happening and it has been popping into my head lately. You may remember my post about a pair of Chaco's that wandered into my life, but things got even more amazing after that! Just a few days after that post, my friend Cessie, who visited a month ago, randomly sent me these in the mail:

Can you believe it?? Now I have not one, but two pairs of Chacos!!! And these two pairs of Chacos will come in handy when we are hanging around this place:

Yes, my friends. We leave tomorrow for Maui where we will spend the week playing on the beach, snorkling, hiking, reading, and just hanging out on the lanai (balcony) from which the above picture was taken. Just the two of us.

An embarrassment of riches indeed.

Gettin around

For most of my adult life, I have had a love-hate relationship with public transportation. In Chicago, we relied on the L and buses to get to work, to church, to see friends. For the most part, I was incredibly grateful for the comprehensive nature of the Chicago Transit Authority, but I also struggled with letting its unpredictability affect my mood. Too-full buses, late trains, running for blocks to catch something, waiting in the sideways-blowing snow on an elevated platform, sprinting from one platform to the next and just barely missing a connection. Sometimes I would call Eric as I left work after a perfectly fine day and arrive home in tears after a long, particularly trying trip. But I love the L and miss the random encounters with people and the adventure of it all--and I loved not needing a car!

In the West, things are a bit different. We're in a small town connected to a large city and quite close to the very end of the Tri-Met system and we do rely on our car (too) often. But a bus passes just 3 blocks from our house (the same distance we walked to the bus stop in Chicago) and we can take that bus west about 2 miles before the line stops in Forest Grove, or take it east, then hope on the Max and head downtown or all the way to the other end of Portland if we so desire. Pretty handy.

And unlike the CTA, trains here are quite, smooth, clean, and, remarkably, devoid of a constant urine smell. Even more surprising is that everything has a schedule and actually sticks to do, something that's unheard of in Chicago (I can't tell you how many times I waited for 35 minutes, then had two buses come right on top of each other!). And we can call a number from home to find out when the next two buses will arrive.

The best part, though, is that here, I've experienced being treated more often like a human being. A few things have happened recently for which I've been thankful. Last week, Eric was trying out the new-to-us inter-county bus line that runs from Hillsboro to McMinnville and passes Yamhill, where Eric's second church is, on the way. It only runs about 5 times a day, so I drove Eric to the stop, schedule in hand, and waited with him for the bus. We saw it approaching, then both raised our arms as it got closer, and the driver looked right at us....then kept on driving! What? Eric called the number on the schedule and the dispatcher contacted the bus driver who actually turned around 2 miles down the road and came back to pick Eric up (not an easy manuever on a divided highway)! They were now 20 minutes behind their schedule, but we were thankful.

And then on Sunday, I took the bus to church in Hillsboro, forgetting that the cost is now $2.05 and not $2.00. But I put my two bills in after searching for change in my purse--no dice--and the driver just handed me the ticket anyway. And instead of the normal two hours, he had torn the ticket much lower on the schedule and I know had 3 1/2 hours to use my ticket! Usually, I spend just enough time at church to miss traveling again within the two hours, so he saved me two bucks! Yay!

Not only is taking public transit good for the environment and wallet, but it allows me to read a bit or call someone while I walk or talk to my neighbors or just look around and enjoy what's there.

Whole Foods date

Every couple of months, Leah and I decide that we need to get our Whole Foods fix, so we make a date. Really, the men are not usually involved in making the plans, though it's assumed that they will come :) There are soooo many options, but I usually go for the salad bar with tons of sweet and sour tofu on top.

Eric was still in need of some sandals for our upcoming vacation, so convinced Mat and Leah to stop at REI after dinner. Not a hard sell, really. We all love that place and can browse for hours. We didn't have luck there, though, so we stopped at another sports store where the boys eyed the sandals (success!) and the girls hung out by the socks.

I'm glad Freya had a good time, especially because she started the evening like this:

Pobre Freya. She decided that she was upset and that she would stay that way for a little bit. A dancing, flying stuffed doggie eventually brought a smile back to her face, though.

I also got to spend time with these guys today. It's a rough life, I know.

Kayleigh Bea turned 6 months old yesterday!

Around here

The lovely Mt. Hood in the light of the setting sun, from the middle of a street in southwest Portland:

Eric and Bobby on our Labor Day golf outing. This gorgeous, but normally pricey, course had a holiday special and we certainly got our money's worth, playing well past sunset. Remarkably, we only lost one ball and Bobby had one of the best shots of his life, a chip-in birdie (I had to ask Eric just now what to call his shot).

A corner near our house. From the car.

The three sand castles made for me and presented on this piece of driftwood by my Creation Vacation family, which had three sweet boys. They now sit on the front porch railing and make me smile when I pass.

Outside Maggie's Buns on a rainy day coffee date.

The amazing women I get to work with on the Witness For Peace Northwest regional board.

We recently had our yearly two-day board meeting in Portland and I left challenged, inspired and honored to be a part of this important work.

Farmers Market

Nearly every Wednesday evening, Eric and I head down the road to Forest Grove for the Adelante Mujeres Farmers Market. When I realized that we'll be missing the next two weeks while on vacation and will only have make more market day before it closes for the season, I started getting a bit sad and decided to take a few pictures of our market friends.

We always buy from Reyna and her husband (either Salvador or Santiago--eeks, I get mixed up!), who sell organic produce and who always teach us about traditional Mexican herbs and veggies that they have for sale. Reyna and her kids participated in our church's bilingual theater program earlier this year and it was great to reconnect with them at the market this summer!

Norma, who participated in the family camp I deaned this summer with her smiley kiddos, is one of the sweetest people I've met. And her tomatoes are incredible. I just ate a whole one with my lunch.

This picture is from a few weeks back, but Leah, Mat and Freya (with Leah's mom here) are more of our regular market friends.

One picture I failed to take is of Guadalupe and her husband, Noel, who bring their Restaurancito Acapulco to the market to sell their amazing pupusas. I couldn't grab my camera because, well, my hands were occupied by a plate with a giant bean and cheese pupusa (they were out of squash flower--darn), cabbage slaw-ish stuff and amazing green salsa. And we sat and ate and enjoyed the live music and talked until they shut the place down. I love that place.

Amiguitos

Last weekend, a new friend, Terri, invited us over for a little back-to-school barbecue with some families from camp that we have stayed connected with. I originally met Terri when she was Leah's long-term sub during her maternity leave and I got to know her better when she volunteered to be a family friend at Creation Vacation this summer. She has such a huge heart and is one of the most joyful people I've ever met!

So on what may have been (but I hope was not) the last gorgeous weekend of the year, Terri and Bob had us over last Sunday to eat fresh corn on the cob, fruit salad, veggie burgers (chicken for most), and lots of cake in their cute little backyard gazebo! Both Terri and Ilyne had just had birthdays, so they blew out the candles on this yummy pastel de tres leches together.


So good....
These crack me up every time I look at them. Terri had this wig around and the girls kept putting it and and posing. And then they wanted all of us to try it on.

I love these people.

When we couldn't eat any more, we slowly wandered with the girls and the dogs through the neighborhood and nearby park, watching folks picnic and play volleyball and just enjoy the sunshine. So nice.

Guelaguetza

The Guelaguetza is an annual celebration in the capital of Oaxaca, in southern Mexico, and many Oaxacans here gather for the Oregon Guelaguetza and enjoy familiar food, dancing, and other traditions. With Alexis and Lalo, some friends who just moved to Portland from Oaxaca this spring, we drove down I-5 to the Salem fairgrounds for the event yesterday. It was pretty cool to watch the regional dances with folks who actually know something about the meaning of the dances.

We also waited in line twice for tlayudas, a traditional Oaxacan food, but the the vendors ran out each time we reached the front of the line. Oh, well. We had sopes instead. Alexis and Lalo also found some ingredients to make Oaxacan mole at home.

Amazingly, we ran into a couple of people that we know, including Eliser's brother and his family. His wife is from Oaxaca and knows how to make tlayudas, so she said she'd invite us over when she makes them next--yay!

Here's a short video of a neat dance where the men wore giant feather headpieces.

Since Alexis and Lalo hadn't been to Salem before, we also walked around downtown in the rain and pointed out the good cafes and used book stores.

And, of course, we picked up a couple of orders of General Tso's "chicken" at Marco Polo on our way out of town. It smelled sooo good that it was hard to wait until we got home to eat it! Eric wondered afterward if he may have built it up too much to tell our friends, "it will change your life." I bet they liked it though. It really is the best food we've ever eaten.

Happy Feet

Call me the anti-shopper, but I do not like spending money and malls leave me feeling exhausted. But after years of coveting my friends' Chacos (and resisting paying $70 to get them--on sale, none the less--from REI), I spied one sandal in the above pair buried under some ugly black pumps on a rack at the Goodwill just before the store closed. Could it be? I drew my breath in and held my prize up to Eric: "It's in great shape. Do you think it will fit???" I tore my running shoe and sock off and (if thinking about trying on used sandals without socks makes you queasy, you may want to stop reading here) slid my foot through the straps and tightened them. It fit! It fit!

Then came the voice over the loudspeaker: "Attention Goodwill customers. The time is 8:00 and our store is now closed." Frantically, I scanned the sea of black footware, searching for the other Chaco. Demanding Eric's help, I lifted boots, platforms, slippers (ew!) until...victory! There she was. We made our way to the checkout, paid our $4.99 and danced out the door. Ok, I was the only one dancing. I may have even jumped up a few times to click my heels together.

It has occurred to me to remind myself more than once that these sandals are just things that in the grand scheme of things do not matter in the least. That this shopping high will fade. But in the meantime, I am enjoying this little find that causes me to click my heels together.

To market

Portland is home to the amazing Saturday Market (the largest continually operating outdoor arts & crafts market in the nation!) and it had been way too long since we'd been (like since our first time living in Oregon--yeesh!), so when I was making plans with my new-old friend, Alexis, it seemed the perfect time to visit.

The morning had been cool, windy and cloudy but by mid-day, it was just about perfect and we were not the only ones to enjoy our lunch on the warm grass, in earshot of the lively band, but out of earshot of the sidewalk preacher with a microphone--sorry, man.

Alexis and I met when traveled to Oaxaca and the US/Mexico border in 2008 to learn more about the reasons so many were leaving to go north, the impact of all that migration on local communities, and the amazing ways that grassroots organizations are resisting and creating alternatives to migration. Alexis was working with Witness for Peace then and was one of two amazing delegation leaders who served as our guides and interpreters and shared honestly about their experiences living in Oaxaca. So this spring, Alexis and her husband, Lalo, a Oaxaqueno, moved to Portland, and I was excited to see her again for the first time a few weeks ago!

With an ever-changing soundtrack we passed by countless street musicians, we had a great time visiting and slowly meandering through the crowded rows of booths, examining local, handmade jewelry and clothing, gazing at every imaginable kind of art, and smelling homemade soaps. You can sample avocado oil, have your palm read or your caricature drawn, or try on strange headware at Spoonman Creations (Un)Ltd. I know you've always wanted to look like your head has been impaled by some salad tongs.

It's also possibly the best place in the world to people watch. In addition to the sparkling silver statue man who is always entertaining, we saw a posse of teenage girls walk by in dresses made of newspaper and several people with giant snakes wound around their shoulders. And we weren't even trying.

Here we are back at Alexis and Lalo's place.

And here we are with other delegation members in Tucson at the end of our 75-mile Migrant Trail Walk in 2008. A powerful experience to have shared.

I am really happy to have these friends nearby.

Back to the beach

For the second time in less than a week, Ron and Cathy came by in their efficient vehicle with the rear camera on their way to the coast. This time, I was the only one who got in and the three of us headed to Camp Magruder to volunteer as Family Friends for the Salem Creation Vacation, a camp for low-income families that is similar to the one I deaned in July.

Another difference was that our blue skies were gone and the sun hid nearly the entire time behind a think blanket of gray. And on the third of our four days there, rain poured down from that gray like you would not believe! Nap time was a bit longer that day and the craft cabin a bit more crowded, but the rain did not keep the families from having fun. Some kids (including one hardy boy from my assigned family) donned a life jacket and braved the freezing water to wave jump, even as the rain pelted them from the side. Afterward, many of them swam in the lake (which was relatively warm), waited in line for the big swing, and made sand candles. Another of the boys from my family joined me and some others for a wet dune walk on which we spied salamanders and beetles, ate huckeberries from the bush, raced down (and then back up!) the dune, and enjoyed gorgeous views of the ocean and Tillamook Bay, even as the rain poured down. I stood by the fire with some hot cocoa for a while after that one.

On our last day, the sun came out again and I spent most of the morning out in the lake on a rowboat or kayak. My assigned family was awesome and I loved talking with them as we ate our delicious camp food and decided which fun thing to do next. Instead of being charged with making sure that everthing was going as well as possible and that everyone was having a great time, which was my task as a dean for the last Creation Vacation (a job that I love), it was wonderful this time to focus on one family, getting to know them and helping them have the best time possible in their short days together at camp.

One thing that turned out to be a huge blessing for me is that the family preferred to not be in any photos, so I put my camera away (hard to imagine, no?), and was able to be fully present with them the whole time. I love taking pictures but I also love not taking pictures. In this instance, it allowed me to just be there. I played on the playground, dug in the sand, rowed boats, held hands, did all the motions at campfire, untangled fishing wire (I even put corn on the hook--who knew fish liked corn?), did dishes, carried luggage, held umbrellas over little heads, laid masking tape lines for a game of poop deck. And all these things required my two hands.

Thankfully, I also had some time for quiet walks through the woods and along the beach. Did I mention that the Oregon Coast is beautiful in any weather? It really is.

A rainbow!