First Snow!

It's snowing!

I made a snowman and the snowman made a friend. They will probably get married.

Christmas Stuff

In Oregon, Christmas lasts for days!

Today was the final Christmas celebration. We went over to Skip & Lisa's for a post-Christmas brunch with the Comer side of the family. As usual, I ended up on the floor with my friends.
On Christmas Eve, we went to Lorie's to celebrate Christmas with her, Eric (Kathy & Peter's nephew), and Lorie & Eric's son, Dane. Toy Story is now super cool again for kids. Here is Dane showing me all the fancy things his Buzz Lightyear action figure can do.
Kathy & Peter were also very impressed by this toy. (this photo may or may not have been staged)
On Christmas Day, we spent the morning at the house, opening presents and our stockings. Peter made some yummy blueberry waffles. In the late afternoon, we went over to Skip & Lisa's for Christmas dinner with Lisa's Keyes-side of the family. Saturday we took a much-needed day off from the holidays.

Winter?

Well, I am pretty sure it's winter since it's December and all, but considering that there's no snow here it's a pretty different winter for me so far. Yesterday everyone in Portland went crazy because some freezing rain and a couple of inches were forecasted. It was ridiculous. And what happened with this crazy storm?? Nothing. No snow came. A teeny bit of rain fell, but by then the temperature was above freezing. Another reason it's

hard to believe it's winter is this:

a winter-flowering viburnum at peter & kathy's

This past week it's been in the 20's but since it hasn't been windy, it hasn't been too cold to be outside. I do my best to go on walks every day, even though when I first step outside it's very tempting to just go back in. Yesterday I went for a nice long walk, I used GoogleEarth to measure out my route afterwards and learned that I walked at least 3 miles.

Today I walked to go get a latte and a cookie at Stumptown. On my way there, I walked through Laurelhurst park looking for signs of winter and admiring all of the beautiful trees. I just love the trees in the park. They are all so different from each other as well as very different from what we have in Maine.

I like this tree. It is really tall and is really colorful. Just right there on its trunk it's got brown, blue, green, and white.

I think this tree is really cool-looking. It almost looks like some kind of creature.

This tree is just weird, I mean look at it! It looks like it has hair. Very strange.

I like this tree too. It's hard to tell in the picture, but this tree is really leaning to the right.

These trees are interesting with their bubbly things and their pale-colored bark.

Here's just a bunch of pretty trees.

This is a big one.

This one is another strange one with its multi-coloredness and its bumpy trunk.

This one looks old.

I wonder who lives here.

These are some more tall ones. They are also very straight.

Mailday!

Today I have re-named Saturday, Mailday. This is because I got 2 pieces of mail! 5 if you count "current resident", "our neighbor", or the piece pictured below:

New Scarf

Here's a closeup of the new scarf I made:

Here it is all laid out:

And here it is if you hold it up to the light.

Pajama Sale

This morning Kathy and I went to Twisted for their Pajama Jammy Jam- 20% for wearing pajamas! I don't have much for official pj's so I just wore some tights with shorts and a top... I felt silly looking like I had nothing on under my jacket.

But as you can see, I had pj's on.

Thanksgiving 2009

We went to Kathy's brother Frank's house for Thanksgiving dinner... talk about a big family! Frank has four sons and seven grandkids (two weren't there). Here is the newest grandchild:

Here we are getting ready to sit down and eat.
Now for my new friends...as you can see, only one of us was ready to be in a picture.
Here we are again.
And here I am reading a book to Emma.

Wild Arts

Saturday we went to the Wild Arts Festival which was a special event put on by the Audubon Society of Portland. It was held at this neat building below.

Inside there were these neat birds hanging from the balconies.

Here's a look down onto the second floor of the Festival, there were many artisans there selling everything from inexpensive art to cards to sculptures to books.

Potato Champion

Last nigh we went to Potato Champion for some fries. The plan was to get some to have on the side with some other food... but as you'll see, we ended up with a lot more food than we had planned.

I ordered a "small cone" which is just fries with a side "fancy" condiment, for which I chose the Rosemary Truffle Ketchup. (which I actually didn't end up trying, but Kathy did and said it was very spicy)

Kathy and Peter decided to be big shots and each ordered a "Double Poutine". This is a ridiculous amount of french fries smothered in cheese curds and Potato Champion's homemade gravy.

Goodwill OUTLET

That's right an outlet. This place was amazing. All clothing purchases are priced per pound, paperback books are 25 cents, hardcover books are 50 cents, and furniture is wicked cheap too. The store is located in a pretty good-sized warehouse building and considering the merchandise and clientele, it didn't smell that bad either! All together I spent $3.18, here are my purchases:

A nice new scarf, it's very soft!

A new purse (I got it for Amelia and then decided I wanted it).

A shirt/dress type of top.

This never-been-used coloring book! Check out the pictures of some of the pages!

Now for something I didn't buy... this dresser which a child (or perhaps a group of children?) had covered in faces he/she(/they) had drawn.

Red, White, and Blue Store

Yesterday Kathy, her friend Ellen, and I went to the Red, White, and Blue Store... a giant thrift store whose sales benefit veterans. Here are my purchases:

4 Necklaces, all 1 dollar:

A fancy grandma-style purse! Just perfect for me.

Yeah that's right, Cole Haan... all I know is that I googled Cole Haan and their bags cost like 300 bucks, so I'd say I made a good investment for $20...good quality, waterproof, and zippers... a big step up from my red canvas bag!