Hello, goodbye

Jessica moved to Oregon from Nashville about a year ago and we met through a friend of a friend. After our first coffee at Ava Roasteria where we knew we had lots in common, we've visited over many cups of coffee, enjoying getting to know one another and introducing each other to new favorites in the area--she said I would love Insomnia Coffee (I do) and I insisted that she try the milkshakes at Burgerville (she did). And now she is heading East again to attend graduate school and be closer to family. I'm thankful that our lives have intersected for this short period of time and that I'll have a friend in Pittsburg and Nashville when I ever get around to visiting those places :) I'll miss you Jessica!

As a going away lunch, we went to the Vita Cafe in the Alberta Arts District in North Portland and then wandered about an enjoyed the gorgeous day and cool shops. I could totally see living in that neighborhood!

Tastiest fruit salad ever

Local strawberries and raspberries, fresh from the farmers market (you cannot believe how sweet and red they are!!), plus bananas and mango, tossed with some plain non-fat yogurt and a little Stevia. On a whim, I tossed in a handful of Grapenuts. So amazingly delicious and perfect for a hot summer afternoon like we had today!

City of Roses

We were downtown Portland a few weeks back on what was quite possibly the first really gorgeous day of the year and we weren't the only ones! The Rose Festival was in full swing and folks were lining the streets all over downtown in preparation for the Starlight Parade, which began after dark. Thankfully, it seems that all our walking was against the crowd and we got our of town just before the real craziness began. Seeing the parade would have been fun, but getting a good night's sleep before church was better! We enjoyed such a lovely walk around the city and enjoyed some local Pizzicato Pizza and ice cream sundaes from Burgerville--fresh strawberries are in season, mmmmm......

Believe it or not, I was there, too!

Almost summer!

I'm very sad that not only is the school year over for PODER, the family literacy program where I've been teaching English to adults for the past two years, but the program is ending due to a lack of funding. I have had such a wonderful time getting to know the women in my class and have been inspired by their commitment to learn and to grow as people and as parents. Here are some of my students with poems they wrote after reading the book, The Best Part of Me by Wendy Ewald. I will definitely be keeping in touch with some of these amazing women who have become dear friends.

Reyna, Clara, me, Maria, Lucia, Selene:

Eric fixing up his bike in front of the four freezers in our garage. Never thought I'd have freezers full of meat, but having a food pantry changes things :)

Walking on a rainy evening through the beautiful, historic Irvington neighborhood of Portland.

The houses were just gorgeous, the streets tree-lined and many of the yards full of native plants.

After a beautiful sunny day today, the clouds returned and the rain will likely stay for a couple more days. I'm ready for summery weather, but boy is the grass green!

Overheard at Quatama Elementary

Just a few of the recent moments that remind me why I love working with kiddos:

Teacher: "I'm thinking of an animal with a long tail that likes to swing from tree to tree."

1st grader: "A pony!"

Teacher: "I'm thinking of an animal that is long and green, has big teeth and lives in rivers or swamps."

1st grader: "A rooster!"

Teacher: "The farmer is holding a pitchfork. Do you know what a pitchfork is used for?"

Kinder kid: "They're gonna eat some really big pitches!"

After being shown a picture of a potato, a kinder kid: "I love kopatos!!!"

2nd grade boy looked at me and demanded: "Why are you always smiling???"

Me: "Because I'm happy." I smiled.

Boy: "See--just like that!"

PDX

Went into Portland yesterday to enjoy the lovely weather, visit REI for their annual member sale, and participate in an action to oppose the recent anti-immigrant law passed in Arizona.

Dinner at Vita Cafe, an incredible vegetarian/vegan restaurant in the Alberta Arts District. Boy would we love to live in this neighborhood someday. We had the vegan nachos and the vegan club sandwich with french fries. Amazing.

At the action downtown:

A musical drama depicted the doomed marriage between local law enforcement and ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). Numbers included "Ice Ice Baby" and "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga. So great.

The march.

Just passing through

Lil is spending her second summer with Outward Bound in north central Washington and passed through Oregon with Justin on her way up. Our visit was way too short and but we enjoyed the time we did have on a gorgeous, sunny Sunday.

Wandering through a lovely park that we just happened upon in Hillsboro:

Always taking pictures. My kind of girl.

Eliser and Justin and I with my "new" bike outside the amazing pupuseria we recently discovered:
Breakfast with Evan at our place. Eggies McScramblins. Mmmm.

I recently visited a friend who lives with her husband and kids on one side of a duplex whose other half is inhabited by her brother and his family and have been thinking ever since about how great it would be to live next door to any of our siblings and their families: Justin and Lil, Rose and Robert, Scott and Hilary, Mike and Tanya. Maybe we live in a giant house together. For now, we are dispersed: California, Michigan, Oregon, Georgia (soon to be Chicago!), Washington. But man oh man, we'd have a great time!

Michigan love

A lovely poem by my step-dad, Jim, that makes me miss my home state even more:

The word ‘Michigan’ is a Frenchification of the Ojibwe word ‘Mishigama’ which means ‘large water’.

MICHIGAN (acrostic)

M ishigama my love,
I nto your water wonderland of brook trout and deer I
C an hear the cherubic song of chirping robin and rustling pine.
H eavenly harbors and pristine beaches shape a welcoming hand
I nfused with indigo lakes and teeming streams. And three
G reat lakes enshroud to form a kirlian aura of rippling verve.
A live for but a flicker of time, my Michigan home away from Home
N urtures and readies me for the final cruise to the Wonderland of Love.

© 2010 James Rasmusson

ABCs

My adult ESL students are creating a fun set of photo alphabet cards for the classroom wall, an idea I got from the teaching artist at my elementary school who lent me the book Secret Games by Wendy Ewald. I took some of the photos but they took most of them, chose which would represent each letter, and created the cards on which these are now mounted.

A is for apple.
F is for flag.

I is for intelligent.

L is for list.

M is for mothers.

P is for push-ups.

Q is for quiet.

X is for x-ray.

Z is for zebra.

This project has been so fun and I've been impressed by their photographs!

What we've been up to

Helping with the Community Table food pantry. We received over a ton of food from the post office food drive last weekend!

Planting and watering veggies in the labyrinth garden. Jazmin kept saying, "This baby is heavy!"

Checking out new places to eat. This restaurancito is just three blocks from our house and was recently opened by Guadalupe, who I know from my time volunteering with Adelante Chicas, and her husband. That's Guadalupe in the window.

Guadalupe and her family are from Mexico, but one of the cooks is from El Salvador and makes the most amazing pupusas, which are basically thick tortillas stuff with cheesy, beany goodness. This here is a delicious quesadilla full of fresh spinach. So good! Eric says it's his new favorite place.

Enjoying the gorgeous, summery weather that finally showed up! We're on the hunt for a good used bike for me, so yesterday we walked across town (which takes about 15 minutes) to check out a place (with no luck).

We rode our bikes to Forest Grove for pizza, coffee and more window-shopping for bikes. Still no luck. But we had a great time, of course.

This picture is from Days of Prayer and Action for Colombia, when we decorated portraits of displaced people in Colombia with requests for President Obama to end military aid to the country. Andres is our neighbor and is just about the cutest kid around.

During an ESL class last week, it poured down rain and then this beautiful double rainbow appeared, so we paused class and just hung out by the windows for a bit.

We've been super busy with church work and with school. This spring has been the most scheduled couple of months I've had in years--something that has helped us get to a better financial place but that has also been quite challenging. My days are full of wonderful people and good things but my current amount of rest time and social time is just not enough. I am loving my days with the K-3 kiddos but have decided to not return to my position as an ESL assistant next fall so I can focus on my ministry and be more present in my own community and with Eric. And now only four weeks remain until summer vacation!!!