There she goes. Sort of makes it look effortless, doesn't it?
One final shot of what must be a lot of fun to these brave, coordinated lovers of the wind in the Columbia River Gorge.
Showing posts with label fun. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fun. Show all posts
Sunday, October 02, 2011
Thursday, August 25, Part 4 of this day's fun, the last of our stop at Hood River, Oregon, to watch folks on the Columbia River
There she goes. Sort of makes it look effortless, doesn't it?
One final shot of what must be a lot of fun to these brave, coordinated lovers of the wind in the Columbia River Gorge.
Saturday, October 01, 2011
Thursday, August 25, Part 3 of this day's fun, watching this woman and her dog!
I hope you have as much fun looking at these photos as I did watching the two of them playing in the Columbia River!
First, here's a photo, out of sequence, so you can get an idea of what I'm talking about here. The dog had been in the river well before the activity caught my eye. I don't know if the woman had thrown a stick out over the river or not, but it's obvious from this shot that the dog wants that stick!
This is the next photo in sequence after the one at the top of today's post.
Someone sees just where the stick landed!
And it's not the woman!
I am so glad that I got the dog looking back to see what the woman is doing. I believe that's because the instant the dog gets on dry land, it'll be ready to do it all over again. If you've ever played with a dog, you know I speak the truth!
First, here's a photo, out of sequence, so you can get an idea of what I'm talking about here. The dog had been in the river well before the activity caught my eye. I don't know if the woman had thrown a stick out over the river or not, but it's obvious from this shot that the dog wants that stick!
This is the next photo in sequence after the one at the top of today's post.
Someone sees just where the stick landed!
And it's not the woman!
I am so glad that I got the dog looking back to see what the woman is doing. I believe that's because the instant the dog gets on dry land, it'll be ready to do it all over again. If you've ever played with a dog, you know I speak the truth!
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Who's having the most fun?
I'd say it's a toss up on the fun question although the man does seem to be smiling. However, it's certain that all four appear pleased to be out and about last November 20, walking west on SE Belmont. Well, the dogs are walking; the humans are striding, steppin' out.
The restaurant's wall makes for some nice contrast with the man, his jacket, and his Golden Retriever.
I have not been to Two Brothers Cafe & Grill, although I admit to being curious about what it might be like. I found the reviews at Citysearch and Yelp mostly positive, so one of these days ... maybe on a weekend.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Christmas Day, 2009--My Loved Ones, My Nuclear Family in Portland, and My Christmas Cooking Saga
I took this photo after we'd been together for a few hours, enjoying good company and good food. The kids and Ginger were about to go when I remembered that I hadn't taken a photo of everyone. You can tell from this photo that Mama's not back to her pre-heart-attack-self. Even with the continuous oxygen, her strength and stamina are not what they were. We're going to see the lung doctor on New Year's Eve. I hope that woman can give her some help.
Back row, Kailey, Ginger, Leland.
Front row, Mama, Duncan, Lamont.
Now for the Christmas Cooking Saga--I had me some F-U-N!.
I started on Christmas Eve night. I called Lamont, and asked, "Would it be OK for me to chop my onion and peppers and squash tonight, put them into plastic bags, and then the frig? I want to saute them in the canola, olive oil mixture tomorrow." He said, "Sure. That'll work." So I stood at the counter for almost an hour, chopping a whole sweet onion, a whole yellow bell pepper, a whole orange bell pepper, two small zucchini and one small yellow, crookneck squash, putting each vegetable into a separate little lidded, plastic container. Next I scrubbed five sweet potatoes, dried them with paper towel, wrapped them in foil and baked them in the oven until soft. About 10 p.m., I began baking two packages of Toll House Cookies, those ones that have the little chunks you break apart. I had a good time making them, even if I didn't do scratch Toll House cookies like my darling husband LeRoy used to do. I set the timer every time I put the cookie sheet in the oven and sat down to watch some more of "Meet Me in St. Louis," one of my all time favorite movies; it went off at midnight, right after I finished baking cookies.
Christmas morning, bright and early, I made some biscuits from scratch. Dismal failures they were, too, in the area of rising--they didn't--though they tasted pretty good. "Oh, well, I'll have to try this again," I thought. I thoroughly enjoyed eating those flat but flaky biscuits with Steen's 100% Pure Cane Syrup which our friends Milton and Kay got for us down in Mississippi and then mailed to us. It was at Talladega that I rediscovered the smooth, unique taste of this good-memory-evoking breakfast favorite of my Daddy and me--more about how the discovery came about when I get to that day in the never-ending tale of vacation, promise.
That's some Tyson bacon that I fried and ate with the biscuits--I didn't eat all of the bacon or the biscuits--I saved some for Mama. I have to report that I don't like Tyson bacon as much as I do Oscar Mayer bacon, nope, Tyson's doesn't get as crispy as Oscar Mayer, in my estimation.
Once fueled with syrupy biscuits and so-so bacon, I began to cook in earnest, starting with browning the beef roast in the aluminum Dutch oven. I sprinkled some sea salt on both sides of the roast, added a bit of water to the Dutch oven, turned the heat up to get the roast good and hot all the way through, put the lid on, then turned it down to slowly cook on top of the stove. I scrubbed and cut into chunks five good-sized white potatoes and three medium-sized carrots, then put them aside for a while. I didn't want to put them into the Dutch oven too early and have them turn into mush. Later on I turned the roast over so that both sides could get nice and brown and put the carrots and potatoes in, sprinkling a bit of sea salt on them, then putting the lid back on the Dutch oven.
I opened the box and unrolled the Pillsbury pie crusts, putting one into the bottom of a 13-inch square glass baking dish--I don't have a round one--filling it with a can of apples, then topping it with the second crust. I put that into the oven to bake, according to the recipe on the can. Later on I got it out and and set it on the table to cool. I wasn't too sure about how it looked, but I figured it was worth the try.
I poured the tea we had in the pitcher that we use to make tea into a different pitcher and put it back into the frig. I made another pitcher of tea and set it into the frig, too.
I prepared six Brussels sprouts by washing them, trimming the stems shorter, and making an X in each one. I put them in a boiler filled with cold water, set it onto the burner and put the knob on high. In a little while the water rolled, and I set the timer to 4 minutes. When it went off, I put them into a bowl of ice water, then drained them on a paper towel.
I boiled six eggs, let them cool, peeled the shells off and made deviled eggs with mayo and sweet pickle relish, set them into the plastic deviled egg container and then frig to chill.
I washed and trimmed seven broccoli crowns, making sure they would fit into the steamer sections that I got out of the cabinet. I figured if I had left over steamed broccoli all week, more the better.
I washed the boiler and used it for the butter beans and okra. Some folks call them lima beans, remember, but we call them butter beans. Both the butter beans and the okra come frozen in bags at the Fred Meyer--the only problem, and it's a small one, is that the okra is sliced, not whole. I got them into the boiler, covered with water, and sprinkled in a bit of sea salt and a squirt of the oil combo. Once they started to boil, I turned them way down and set the lid on the boiler, at an angle so that the possibility of boiling over was negligible.
I got out the Pillsbury Hot Roll Mix box, followed the directions about what to add and greasing the baking dish, and started to make the rolls. What a good time I had kneading that dough, turning it towards me over onto itself, mashing it down with the heels of my hands, turning it a quarter turn, and doing it all over again! I know how much my whole family loves a good dinner roll, so making these meant a lot to me. Before I knew it, I had 15 balls of dough rising in a 13 x 9-inch glass baking dish. Whoopee!!
As the dough rose, I put the broccoli into the steamers, put both of them atop a big boiler full of water, set the lid on it and turned up the heat on the back burner.
I got one of my great big, heavy saute pans out of the cabinet, squirted in some of the oil combo, set the heat on high. From the frig I took my collection of little, lidded plastic containers and pulled the tops from each one. Once the oil was hot, I poured in the onion, stirred it around some, making sure all of it had oil on it. I let it sit for about a minute, then I poured in the two containers of peppers and the one container of squash, stirring it all together. While it heated, I cut the Brussel sprouts into quarters and tossed them into the mix. I then sprinkled some sea salt on the whole mixture and covered the skillet with its twin, turned upside down.
When the timer went off, I put the rolls into the oven, to bake according to the instructions on the box. After a while they smelled pretty good!
By the time the rolls were ready to come out of the oven, everything else was done. A major miracle, let me tell you. I don't even remember the last time I tried something like this. For some unknown reason, I had decided to go crazy, cooking all of this stuff, like I was trying to make up for lost time, not having cooked a holiday meal in three years. And I wanted my sons, who cook all of the time to have a total day off from cooking, to just help their plates and eat. Boy, did they ever do that! It was wonderful, fulfilling, just what I wanted. Mama, Kailey and I did our part, too, enjoying our family Christmas dinner.
The apple pie, the Toll House cookies, the deviled eggs, and a store-bought, Fred Meyer, pecan pie.
The rolls, Leland cutting the roast and putting a roll and some roast onto his plate.
The broccoli, the potatoes and carrots still in the Dutch oven.
My plate--the guys filled theirs much fuller, but I was too taken with watching them eat, watching them enjoy the food that I had prepared to even think about the camera. I guess you could just call me goofy!
Mama and I are thrilled to still be eating left overs. I'm throwing out the apple pie, though--it's awful, not even good heated up with a scoop of ice cream, pitiful pie.
Back row, Kailey, Ginger, Leland.
Front row, Mama, Duncan, Lamont.
Now for the Christmas Cooking Saga--I had me some F-U-N!.
I started on Christmas Eve night. I called Lamont, and asked, "Would it be OK for me to chop my onion and peppers and squash tonight, put them into plastic bags, and then the frig? I want to saute them in the canola, olive oil mixture tomorrow." He said, "Sure. That'll work." So I stood at the counter for almost an hour, chopping a whole sweet onion, a whole yellow bell pepper, a whole orange bell pepper, two small zucchini and one small yellow, crookneck squash, putting each vegetable into a separate little lidded, plastic container. Next I scrubbed five sweet potatoes, dried them with paper towel, wrapped them in foil and baked them in the oven until soft. About 10 p.m., I began baking two packages of Toll House Cookies, those ones that have the little chunks you break apart. I had a good time making them, even if I didn't do scratch Toll House cookies like my darling husband LeRoy used to do. I set the timer every time I put the cookie sheet in the oven and sat down to watch some more of "Meet Me in St. Louis," one of my all time favorite movies; it went off at midnight, right after I finished baking cookies.
Christmas morning, bright and early, I made some biscuits from scratch. Dismal failures they were, too, in the area of rising--they didn't--though they tasted pretty good. "Oh, well, I'll have to try this again," I thought. I thoroughly enjoyed eating those flat but flaky biscuits with Steen's 100% Pure Cane Syrup which our friends Milton and Kay got for us down in Mississippi and then mailed to us. It was at Talladega that I rediscovered the smooth, unique taste of this good-memory-evoking breakfast favorite of my Daddy and me--more about how the discovery came about when I get to that day in the never-ending tale of vacation, promise.
That's some Tyson bacon that I fried and ate with the biscuits--I didn't eat all of the bacon or the biscuits--I saved some for Mama. I have to report that I don't like Tyson bacon as much as I do Oscar Mayer bacon, nope, Tyson's doesn't get as crispy as Oscar Mayer, in my estimation.
Once fueled with syrupy biscuits and so-so bacon, I began to cook in earnest, starting with browning the beef roast in the aluminum Dutch oven. I sprinkled some sea salt on both sides of the roast, added a bit of water to the Dutch oven, turned the heat up to get the roast good and hot all the way through, put the lid on, then turned it down to slowly cook on top of the stove. I scrubbed and cut into chunks five good-sized white potatoes and three medium-sized carrots, then put them aside for a while. I didn't want to put them into the Dutch oven too early and have them turn into mush. Later on I turned the roast over so that both sides could get nice and brown and put the carrots and potatoes in, sprinkling a bit of sea salt on them, then putting the lid back on the Dutch oven.
I opened the box and unrolled the Pillsbury pie crusts, putting one into the bottom of a 13-inch square glass baking dish--I don't have a round one--filling it with a can of apples, then topping it with the second crust. I put that into the oven to bake, according to the recipe on the can. Later on I got it out and and set it on the table to cool. I wasn't too sure about how it looked, but I figured it was worth the try.
I poured the tea we had in the pitcher that we use to make tea into a different pitcher and put it back into the frig. I made another pitcher of tea and set it into the frig, too.
I prepared six Brussels sprouts by washing them, trimming the stems shorter, and making an X in each one. I put them in a boiler filled with cold water, set it onto the burner and put the knob on high. In a little while the water rolled, and I set the timer to 4 minutes. When it went off, I put them into a bowl of ice water, then drained them on a paper towel.
I boiled six eggs, let them cool, peeled the shells off and made deviled eggs with mayo and sweet pickle relish, set them into the plastic deviled egg container and then frig to chill.
I washed and trimmed seven broccoli crowns, making sure they would fit into the steamer sections that I got out of the cabinet. I figured if I had left over steamed broccoli all week, more the better.
I washed the boiler and used it for the butter beans and okra. Some folks call them lima beans, remember, but we call them butter beans. Both the butter beans and the okra come frozen in bags at the Fred Meyer--the only problem, and it's a small one, is that the okra is sliced, not whole. I got them into the boiler, covered with water, and sprinkled in a bit of sea salt and a squirt of the oil combo. Once they started to boil, I turned them way down and set the lid on the boiler, at an angle so that the possibility of boiling over was negligible.
I got out the Pillsbury Hot Roll Mix box, followed the directions about what to add and greasing the baking dish, and started to make the rolls. What a good time I had kneading that dough, turning it towards me over onto itself, mashing it down with the heels of my hands, turning it a quarter turn, and doing it all over again! I know how much my whole family loves a good dinner roll, so making these meant a lot to me. Before I knew it, I had 15 balls of dough rising in a 13 x 9-inch glass baking dish. Whoopee!!
As the dough rose, I put the broccoli into the steamers, put both of them atop a big boiler full of water, set the lid on it and turned up the heat on the back burner.
I got one of my great big, heavy saute pans out of the cabinet, squirted in some of the oil combo, set the heat on high. From the frig I took my collection of little, lidded plastic containers and pulled the tops from each one. Once the oil was hot, I poured in the onion, stirred it around some, making sure all of it had oil on it. I let it sit for about a minute, then I poured in the two containers of peppers and the one container of squash, stirring it all together. While it heated, I cut the Brussel sprouts into quarters and tossed them into the mix. I then sprinkled some sea salt on the whole mixture and covered the skillet with its twin, turned upside down.
When the timer went off, I put the rolls into the oven, to bake according to the instructions on the box. After a while they smelled pretty good!
By the time the rolls were ready to come out of the oven, everything else was done. A major miracle, let me tell you. I don't even remember the last time I tried something like this. For some unknown reason, I had decided to go crazy, cooking all of this stuff, like I was trying to make up for lost time, not having cooked a holiday meal in three years. And I wanted my sons, who cook all of the time to have a total day off from cooking, to just help their plates and eat. Boy, did they ever do that! It was wonderful, fulfilling, just what I wanted. Mama, Kailey and I did our part, too, enjoying our family Christmas dinner.
The apple pie, the Toll House cookies, the deviled eggs, and a store-bought, Fred Meyer, pecan pie.
The rolls, Leland cutting the roast and putting a roll and some roast onto his plate.
The broccoli, the potatoes and carrots still in the Dutch oven.
My plate--the guys filled theirs much fuller, but I was too taken with watching them eat, watching them enjoy the food that I had prepared to even think about the camera. I guess you could just call me goofy!
Mama and I are thrilled to still be eating left overs. I'm throwing out the apple pie, though--it's awful, not even good heated up with a scoop of ice cream, pitiful pie.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
I wasn't the only one who enjoyed Wood Village, Oregon's Nite Out, Friday, July 17, 2009
You know how it is. You take picture after picture, yet you know not what you've got. Until.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Sunday evening at Three Doors Down Cafe, SE 37th and Hawthorne
One of the many neat things about having a son for a sous chef (and, in the past, a second son in the same kitchen as a line/prep cook) is you never know what sort of goodie you just might get as a surprise when you go to the restaurant.
Sunday night when I watched our waiter bringing us a full-sized white dinner plate right after we'd ordered our appetizers and entrees, I wondered if Lamont had sent us a great big surprise--quenelles of wasabi, the bright green, extremely hot food he had me try years ago at Little Tokyo, a very popular Japanese restaurant in Jackson, Mississippi. I watched the plate come closer. I recognized a scallop beneath the quenelle. "Ah, scallops," I swooned, vividly remembering my first ever scallop, at Three Doors Down when we visited in the summer of 2005. Seconds later we knew what we had--from bottom to top--a slice of oven-roasted baby golden beet, a slice of oven-roasted cippolini onion, a pan-seared scallop, and a quenelle of green pea and truffle puree.
The four of us, Tony, Melissa, Danielle, and I, sat there, looking at the colorful, inviting dish for a moment. Then we each got one and took our first bites. Repeated "Ohs," and "Oohs," and "This is delicious," and "Wow," came from our mouths as we slowly devoured our first appetizer. Momentarily satiated, I completely forgot to photograph our second appetizer, dungeness crab cake, micro-greens salad and Mama Lil's Hungarian pepper tarter sauce. I don't eat crab, but the other three continued to repeat those same words as they made short work of it.
My turn to repeat those sounds and phrases came with our third shared appetizer, ricotta gnocchi with fava beans, shimeji mushrooms, paresan and black pepper. You can tell, though, that we all had a bite before I got the camera out for the photo. Three Doors Down is where I ate my first gnocchi.
Melissa's entree, from the risotto/pasta section of the menu, prawns, mussels, scallops in a traditional spicy fra diavolo sauce of plum tomatoes, chili flakes, kalamata olives, cherry peppers and fettuccine.
My entree, from the entree section of the menu, pan roasted sturgeon with smoked bacon, cippolini onions, fava beans, morel mushrooms and mashed potatoes.
Danielle and Tony's appetizer, from the risotta/pasta section of the menu, plum tomatoes, vodka, cream, chili flake and sweet Italian sausage with rigatoni. Three Doors Down's best-known dish.
All I can say is that every bite I ate was great and the three of them said the same about their food. I want you to understand, though, that I truly believe that even if my son, and at other times my two sons, didn't work there, I'd still have the same reaction to every bite I have ever enjoyed at Three Doors Down. Dave and Kathy, chef and owners, set high standards for food and drink and service and have held themselves and their staff to those standards since opening in 1994.
After a short wait to let our entrees settle a bit, we ordered dessert, four different ones. Tony grew up eating his mother's cannoli (description from the menu: a crisp pastry shell stuffed with creamy ricotta cheese, chocolate chips, citrus zest and crushed pistachios), so that's what he wanted. We three ladies shared a slice of banana cream pie (description from the menu: bananas layered with pastry cream in a graham cracker, brown sugar and banana crust topped with whipped cream, shaved chocolate and caramel sauce), a slice of bocca negra (description from the menu: chocolate bourbon torte with white chocolate bourbon cream), and a serving of creole bread pudding (description from the menu: white chocolate custard, cinnamon and raisins baked and served with a hard sauce). I confess, by the time the desserts arrived, my camera was the farthest thing from my mind.
Sunday evening at Three Doors Down Cafe, another wonderful memory made in Portland centered around family, friends and food.
UPDATED TO ADD: I remembered that I had a photo of the banana cream pie from 2004, taken with my Nikon CoolPix.
Sunday night when I watched our waiter bringing us a full-sized white dinner plate right after we'd ordered our appetizers and entrees, I wondered if Lamont had sent us a great big surprise--quenelles of wasabi, the bright green, extremely hot food he had me try years ago at Little Tokyo, a very popular Japanese restaurant in Jackson, Mississippi. I watched the plate come closer. I recognized a scallop beneath the quenelle. "Ah, scallops," I swooned, vividly remembering my first ever scallop, at Three Doors Down when we visited in the summer of 2005. Seconds later we knew what we had--from bottom to top--a slice of oven-roasted baby golden beet, a slice of oven-roasted cippolini onion, a pan-seared scallop, and a quenelle of green pea and truffle puree.
The four of us, Tony, Melissa, Danielle, and I, sat there, looking at the colorful, inviting dish for a moment. Then we each got one and took our first bites. Repeated "Ohs," and "Oohs," and "This is delicious," and "Wow," came from our mouths as we slowly devoured our first appetizer. Momentarily satiated, I completely forgot to photograph our second appetizer, dungeness crab cake, micro-greens salad and Mama Lil's Hungarian pepper tarter sauce. I don't eat crab, but the other three continued to repeat those same words as they made short work of it.
My turn to repeat those sounds and phrases came with our third shared appetizer, ricotta gnocchi with fava beans, shimeji mushrooms, paresan and black pepper. You can tell, though, that we all had a bite before I got the camera out for the photo. Three Doors Down is where I ate my first gnocchi.
Melissa's entree, from the risotto/pasta section of the menu, prawns, mussels, scallops in a traditional spicy fra diavolo sauce of plum tomatoes, chili flakes, kalamata olives, cherry peppers and fettuccine.
My entree, from the entree section of the menu, pan roasted sturgeon with smoked bacon, cippolini onions, fava beans, morel mushrooms and mashed potatoes.
Danielle and Tony's appetizer, from the risotta/pasta section of the menu, plum tomatoes, vodka, cream, chili flake and sweet Italian sausage with rigatoni. Three Doors Down's best-known dish.
All I can say is that every bite I ate was great and the three of them said the same about their food. I want you to understand, though, that I truly believe that even if my son, and at other times my two sons, didn't work there, I'd still have the same reaction to every bite I have ever enjoyed at Three Doors Down. Dave and Kathy, chef and owners, set high standards for food and drink and service and have held themselves and their staff to those standards since opening in 1994.
After a short wait to let our entrees settle a bit, we ordered dessert, four different ones. Tony grew up eating his mother's cannoli (description from the menu: a crisp pastry shell stuffed with creamy ricotta cheese, chocolate chips, citrus zest and crushed pistachios), so that's what he wanted. We three ladies shared a slice of banana cream pie (description from the menu: bananas layered with pastry cream in a graham cracker, brown sugar and banana crust topped with whipped cream, shaved chocolate and caramel sauce), a slice of bocca negra (description from the menu: chocolate bourbon torte with white chocolate bourbon cream), and a serving of creole bread pudding (description from the menu: white chocolate custard, cinnamon and raisins baked and served with a hard sauce). I confess, by the time the desserts arrived, my camera was the farthest thing from my mind.
Sunday evening at Three Doors Down Cafe, another wonderful memory made in Portland centered around family, friends and food.
UPDATED TO ADD: I remembered that I had a photo of the banana cream pie from 2004, taken with my Nikon CoolPix.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Our Memorial Day Get-Together
First, let me say that while I didn't take any food photos because I was busy looking out for Mama and Duncan, there was plenty of it--ribs, hamburgers, Zenner's Big Dogs (Louisiana Red Hot Sausage, Old Fashioned Double Smoked Sausage and Beef Coney Dogs--at least I think those are the ones I bought for them), home-made tortilla chips and hushpuppies, a really delicious pasta salad, fresh salsa, and all of the fixings. Everyone enjoyed being together, laughing, talking, eating. The kids had a great Memorial Day get-together for all of us family and lots and lots of their friends.
Here are a few photos I did get to take--wish I'd stopped to take more, but part of the time I also ate some delicious food and played in the street with the young people--see below.
Mississippi friends' Leslie and Chris' darling Rottweiler, Brixx.
My darlin' sons, Lamont and Leland, with their fresh flame in the background. In no time at all, it was ready for some of that luscious food I listed earlier.
Mama and Duncan, on the back porch.
Duncan and Brixx, nose to nose.
Neighbor Emily's baby boy, Duncan and Mama.
Leland with friends Anakin and Philip, playing street Frisbee, but it's not Frisbee, it's another Frisbee-like thing that isn't solid, hard, firm, or heavy.
Brody and Lamont going for the Frisbee-like-thing.
Mississippi friend Mabry lets it fly.
Three Doors Down fellow cook, kitchen, back-of-the-house friend Flash with a bit of a rib in his left hand and his phone in his right.
Rhododendrons in Ladd's Circle, seen on the way back to the apartment.
Here are a few photos I did get to take--wish I'd stopped to take more, but part of the time I also ate some delicious food and played in the street with the young people--see below.
Mississippi friends' Leslie and Chris' darling Rottweiler, Brixx.
My darlin' sons, Lamont and Leland, with their fresh flame in the background. In no time at all, it was ready for some of that luscious food I listed earlier.
Mama and Duncan, on the back porch.
Duncan and Brixx, nose to nose.
Neighbor Emily's baby boy, Duncan and Mama.
Leland with friends Anakin and Philip, playing street Frisbee, but it's not Frisbee, it's another Frisbee-like thing that isn't solid, hard, firm, or heavy.
Brody and Lamont going for the Frisbee-like-thing.
Mississippi friend Mabry lets it fly.
Three Doors Down fellow cook, kitchen, back-of-the-house friend Flash with a bit of a rib in his left hand and his phone in his right.
Rhododendrons in Ladd's Circle, seen on the way back to the apartment.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
My most unique birthday, ever, on Dec. 12, 2007 ... and it's not because I turned 60!
Our new Portland friends, Fred and Lori, participate in the Christmas Ship Parade on the Columbia River, which is in between Oregon and Washington. They invited us to join the fun, and I was thrilled to pick the evening of my 60th birthday for our ride.
Here Fred is walking and/or helping Mama board the back of the Trader Vic, his family's boat. As you can see, other friends went, too. I counted five children--Fred's two and three of their friends--and 14 adults, including Mama and me--and one precious, well-dressed little Chihuahua named Lexi.
I'll go ahead and tell you that I managed to get on the Trader Vic in much the same manner, with lots of help.
Wikipedia: In the Hawaiian language, mele Kalikimaka is the translation of "Merry Christmas", and is used as such around Christmastime in Hawaii. The Hawaiian language does not have as many letters as the standard English Language (notably the letter R), and when Hawaiians heard the phrase "Merry Christmas", they tried to say it in their native tongue, thus was born "Mele Kalikimaka". The song "Mele Kalikimaka" (derived from the greeting) was penned by Robert Anderson. One of the earliest recordings of this song was by Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters in 1950 on Decca.
Fred's lights spell out the greeting for all to see and enjoy!
He made a palm tree for each side of the boat. They turned out very well as you can see.
While Fred didn't make this hula-skirted snowman--or is that a snow-wo-man?--it fits the theme perfectly and looks great at the front of the boat.
Here's a shot of Fred beside one of the palm trees, not too long before we moved out for the parade.
Flat Stanley couldn't help but notice Santa and a couple of reindeer in their convertible, sitting on the windowsill. The kids knew to push a button on the hood, then stand back for the fun. Turns out it's a lowrider, complete with the song, lights and up and down action. Here you can see that the car is up--check out the front wheel.
In this shot, you can see that less of the wheel is visible, proof indeed that this little car operates like a real, live lowrider. Personally, I love the thought of driving/operating and/or riding in a lowrider, music blasting, jumping up and down at red lights or in parades. I know, dream on, Lynette, you crazy nut!
You can see in this photo just how comfortable Mama's entire ride in the Christmas Ship Parade was--we were moving for at least two hours! We couldn't resist a photo of Flat Stanley and Lexi, both resting comfortably in Mama's arms.
Four of the kids stood with Flat Stanley, in the narrow area outside the cabin, at the back of the boat. Aren't they all cute as can be?
Flat Stanley picked this photo from several I took of him. He especially likes this one because the boat in the distance looks like a hat on the back of his head!
At one point I easily counted 20 different boats, and I couldn't see certain spots in the line due to maneuvers, etc. Naturally I took loads of photos, some of which turned out OK after trial and error on my part--the joys of digital photography!
We went east, we went west, we circled, we made figure eights, we went underneath the Interstate Bridge what carries Interstate 5 from Portland to Vancouver, Washington, we rode by restaurants and dwellings on the banks, we lined up facing the bank, and we spun around all in a row, several times. It was absolutely wonderful, every second of it.
Fred listened to a broadcast of which thing to do next and executed it all seamlessly. And thanks to my acu-pressure motion-sickness wristbands, I suffered not one second of queasiness or dizziness. I believe everyone had a blast, eating scrumptious finger foods like tiny Thai chicken pie, baguette pizza, spinach dip, rolls of salami and cream cheese, deviled eggs and loads of other goodies, all the while looking at the nearby brightly lit, beautiful parade of boats.
Here are some of the photos I took from the back of the Trader Vic.
See the Red Lion Hotel on the left of this photo? I think it's in Oregon, so you're looking more west than any other direction. Those tiny, straight-up-and-down pale whitish lights--sort of in a row about the height of the star on the Christmas tree-looking boat--I think they're on the Interstate Bridge.
You can tell that very often this brightly lit boat was closest to us. It was so beautiful that I couldn't resist taking numerous photos of it.
Here's two artistic photos of the bridge. If you believe that, I've got some beach front property to sell you, up in the Oregon high desert! You can tell that I was playing around with the settings on the camera.
Towards the end of the parade, we circled around several times in a cove or some such--I don't know all this nautical terminology, as you can tell by reading this post. Anyway, when this happened I got some pretty good close-up shots of quite a few of the boats. In the background you can see Christmas lights on all sorts of buildings, too. And you wouldn't believe the boats of all sizes docked all over the place. It was too dark to get photos of them, but they were something to see, too.
This boat with Dale Earnhardt's NASCAR number on it is special to me.
a>
At the end of the evening, Fred and Lori pulled out this beautiful birthday cake, and the entire group sang "Happy Birthday" to me! Plus, everyone wished Fred an early "Happy Birthday;" his is Dec. 14.
Several of the kids enjoyed some of it before we all headed for home. A gal couldn't have asked for a more unique birthday celebration.
Here Fred is walking and/or helping Mama board the back of the Trader Vic, his family's boat. As you can see, other friends went, too. I counted five children--Fred's two and three of their friends--and 14 adults, including Mama and me--and one precious, well-dressed little Chihuahua named Lexi.
I'll go ahead and tell you that I managed to get on the Trader Vic in much the same manner, with lots of help.
Wikipedia: In the Hawaiian language, mele Kalikimaka is the translation of "Merry Christmas", and is used as such around Christmastime in Hawaii. The Hawaiian language does not have as many letters as the standard English Language (notably the letter R), and when Hawaiians heard the phrase "Merry Christmas", they tried to say it in their native tongue, thus was born "Mele Kalikimaka". The song "Mele Kalikimaka" (derived from the greeting) was penned by Robert Anderson. One of the earliest recordings of this song was by Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters in 1950 on Decca.
Fred's lights spell out the greeting for all to see and enjoy!
He made a palm tree for each side of the boat. They turned out very well as you can see.
While Fred didn't make this hula-skirted snowman--or is that a snow-wo-man?--it fits the theme perfectly and looks great at the front of the boat.
Here's a shot of Fred beside one of the palm trees, not too long before we moved out for the parade.
Flat Stanley couldn't help but notice Santa and a couple of reindeer in their convertible, sitting on the windowsill. The kids knew to push a button on the hood, then stand back for the fun. Turns out it's a lowrider, complete with the song, lights and up and down action. Here you can see that the car is up--check out the front wheel.
In this shot, you can see that less of the wheel is visible, proof indeed that this little car operates like a real, live lowrider. Personally, I love the thought of driving/operating and/or riding in a lowrider, music blasting, jumping up and down at red lights or in parades. I know, dream on, Lynette, you crazy nut!
You can see in this photo just how comfortable Mama's entire ride in the Christmas Ship Parade was--we were moving for at least two hours! We couldn't resist a photo of Flat Stanley and Lexi, both resting comfortably in Mama's arms.
Four of the kids stood with Flat Stanley, in the narrow area outside the cabin, at the back of the boat. Aren't they all cute as can be?
Flat Stanley picked this photo from several I took of him. He especially likes this one because the boat in the distance looks like a hat on the back of his head!
At one point I easily counted 20 different boats, and I couldn't see certain spots in the line due to maneuvers, etc. Naturally I took loads of photos, some of which turned out OK after trial and error on my part--the joys of digital photography!
We went east, we went west, we circled, we made figure eights, we went underneath the Interstate Bridge what carries Interstate 5 from Portland to Vancouver, Washington, we rode by restaurants and dwellings on the banks, we lined up facing the bank, and we spun around all in a row, several times. It was absolutely wonderful, every second of it.
Fred listened to a broadcast of which thing to do next and executed it all seamlessly. And thanks to my acu-pressure motion-sickness wristbands, I suffered not one second of queasiness or dizziness. I believe everyone had a blast, eating scrumptious finger foods like tiny Thai chicken pie, baguette pizza, spinach dip, rolls of salami and cream cheese, deviled eggs and loads of other goodies, all the while looking at the nearby brightly lit, beautiful parade of boats.
Here are some of the photos I took from the back of the Trader Vic.
See the Red Lion Hotel on the left of this photo? I think it's in Oregon, so you're looking more west than any other direction. Those tiny, straight-up-and-down pale whitish lights--sort of in a row about the height of the star on the Christmas tree-looking boat--I think they're on the Interstate Bridge.
You can tell that very often this brightly lit boat was closest to us. It was so beautiful that I couldn't resist taking numerous photos of it.
Here's two artistic photos of the bridge. If you believe that, I've got some beach front property to sell you, up in the Oregon high desert! You can tell that I was playing around with the settings on the camera.
Towards the end of the parade, we circled around several times in a cove or some such--I don't know all this nautical terminology, as you can tell by reading this post. Anyway, when this happened I got some pretty good close-up shots of quite a few of the boats. In the background you can see Christmas lights on all sorts of buildings, too. And you wouldn't believe the boats of all sizes docked all over the place. It was too dark to get photos of them, but they were something to see, too.
This boat with Dale Earnhardt's NASCAR number on it is special to me.
a>At the end of the evening, Fred and Lori pulled out this beautiful birthday cake, and the entire group sang "Happy Birthday" to me! Plus, everyone wished Fred an early "Happy Birthday;" his is Dec. 14.
Several of the kids enjoyed some of it before we all headed for home. A gal couldn't have asked for a more unique birthday celebration.
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