"Cavemen, this fall, on ABC," intoned the voice-over announcer.

I'm watching Game 3 of the NBA Finals. I hear something like, "This fall, evolution will be filmed." I look around in time to see someone's creative take on those evolution posters--you know those that show from monkey to man. Then I hear, "Cavemen, this fall, on ABC."

Oh, my. I need Google and right now! Here's what I found out. ABC has "Cavemen" on its fall schedule, Tuesdays at 8 p.m. There's short video clip, a cast list, and this:

"Over the last hundred thousand years, mankind has evolved from primitive creatures into the sophisticated beings we are today, with the exception of a small minority who unfortunately didn't physically evolve.

Meet Joel, his younger brother Jamie, and his best friend Nick, three cavemen living in modern-day Atlanta. These cavemen continually find themselves at odds with contemporary society as they struggle to overcome their physical appearance and the accompanying stereotypes.

Joel is content with his life while pursuing the American dream, and has recently become engaged to Kate, a lovely Southern Caucasian girl. However, he must constantly vie for the respect of her conservative parents. Joel's relationship with Kate and his personal contentment are constantly being put to the test by Nick and Jamie's emotional demands..

Basing the show on their popular GEICO "cavemen" commercials, Joe Lawson, Will Speck and Josh Gordon (Blades of Glory ) have created a hilarious and thought-provoking social commentary on race relations in today's America."

Wel-l-l-l-l, I just don't know. What do YOU think?

Neighborhood Flowers from Monday, May 21

First, I want to thank Marsha from my work for identifying the flowering tree from a couple of posts ago. It's a cornus kousa Chinese dogwood, she told us. I found some pictures on the Oregon State Web site that look practically like mine, plus it appears I should be on the watch for some interesting shaped berries at some point in time. I'll keep y'all posted--ha!

Now I want to give you a tour of flowering plants on Everett, Flanders and Glisan--remember, we live in the Alphabet District?

This is the bud I've posted earlier; it's on Everett. I don't remember any other rhododendrons doing this leaf thing.



Here's a view of the flowers on the same bush that have come out completely. Lovely, delicate.



Even all of this particular bush didn't do that leaf thing; I wonder if it has something to do with where the bud grows on the bush or with the amount of sunlight the bud gets?



I love this one!



This particular bush is on Flanders.




All of the rest of these are on Glisan, in one yard across the street from the William Temple Thrift Store.

A bit more about Saturday, May 19, and then on to Sunday and Monday, May 21-22

Kay walked down to Fred Meyer Saturday afternoon, after we got back to the apartment, while I stayed at Walgreen's with our photo cards. She planned to make home-made frajitas, so she knew just what she wanted. Were they ever delicious! Smelled great cooking, too. With NASCAR on TV and good food in the apartment, we felt like four blessed individuals. Well, Mama's not quite a NASCAR crazy as we three are, but she didn't care what was on TV 'cause she was with us!

Since we have four darling young people in our lives who now work at four different restaurants, Mama and I decided we'd begin our restaurant tour with the Sunday brunch at Newport Bay Tanasbourne where Cristina is a manager. With rain forecast off and on, we had decided the night before that we'd head for the Spirit Mountain Casino after brunch.

I got on MapQuest to get a set of directions that should shave several miles off our trip by eliminating any backtracking. The only problem was I couldn't remember exactly which business was in which town along 99W, until I remembered this little tavern just on the outer edge of Newberg, Someplace Else--not that Mama and I have stopped there--we're just taken with its name. I printed the info and put it on my desk, right beside the keys to the car. As we got ready to head for the car just before 9 a.m., Mama asked, "Have you got the map?" Thank goodness her brain was on high power, or my best laid plans would have gone awry and we'd have wasted some pricey gasoline!

When we walked into the restaurant, the hostess recognized our name as being Cristina's family--I love it! She led us to the booth where we had eaten our first meal at the restaurant, last year with Cristina's folks and Leland. Best of all, it was right beside the brunch buffet table.

Mounds of fruits, cheeses and baked goods filled the table, and not long after we were seated, a plate full of just-made beignets and honey butter was delivered. With all of that at our fingertips, plus the tempting menu, it wasn't long before all four of us had eaten our fill. Mama and Kay got Belgian waffles with strawberries and whipped cream, I decided on the classic scrambled eggs, sausage and potatoes, Milton had a plateful of breakfast goodies but I cannot remember exactly what it was called. He didn't leave a morsel, so I know it was good. All of us left completely satisfied and happy to have been with Cristina at that time of the morning, too, because she was able to stop by to check on us. Just before we got up to go, more and more people started coming into the restaurant--their Sunday brunch is popular. Thank goodness she had a minute to get into the group photo you see below!





Our short-cut path led us through parts of Portland we'd not yet seen and then into the countryside. Orchards and fields lined the roadway--possibly nut trees, but I don't know for sure. About an hour and a half later, we parked at the casino and went inside to play--the ladies headed for the penny slots and Milton found the black jack tables. It was fun even if Kay was the only one of us who won! Here's Milton walking Mama back to the car; she's got herself a cup of water to go.

Monday morning Mama woke up not feeling well at all, shivering and shivering. We bundled her up and put her back to bed, checking on her until she fell asleep again, Duncan curled up by her side. After she woke up a couple of hours later, she groggily assured us that she'd be OK, to go do what we wanted to do.

We knew that we needed to go to our rental company's office some point after 10 a.m. to pick up our new exterior door key, so the three of us walked over there first, to 20th and Glisan. Milton and Kay like bargains as much as I do, so at some point we made it to the Goodwill, one block south, and to another thrift store, two blocks north. I cannot remember the exact order of any of this. (Now you know why I love this neighborhood, right? I've been a pretty good girl, really and truly, staying out of them about 97% of the time.)

Then we got in the car and went to the Village Market, another fun thrift store, in the southeast, before heading over to the Fred Meyer at 39th and Hawthorne. It's a great big store, complete with clothing and hardware. I had copies of the new door key made for the kids and got two six-packs of Mirror Pond beer to take to supper. I had thought we'd ask the kids over for finger foods so that we could watch the last night of competition on "Dancing With the Stars," to which Mama and I happily admit addiction. However, Lamont thought we ought to come over to where he and Lindsay live, in southeast Portland, because they have much more room, plus he said he'd cook. Leland and Cristina had lots of errands to do during the day, but they'd be finished in time to come, too. (In fact, they ended up visiting with Mama that afternoon, which was so thoughtful.) Milton and Kay had brought a box of Franzia (I think it is) zinfandel, and we planned to take it, too. On the way home from Fred Meyer, we detoured a couple of blocks by the kids'place and left the beer with them since we didn't have any room in our fridge.

Here is one of the two cats that the kids are cat-sitting, which means three live with them 'cause Lindsay already had Zach. I love this shot of him on their deck wall when we had stopped to leave the beer. He's got Jawa eyes.



Lamont, Lindsay and Brodie have planted all sorts of greens and tomatoes. Lamont built the raised bed walls you see there in the shot with the tomato cages.




Lindsay went outside and picked the greens for the salad.



While Lamont manned the grill on the deck, Lindsay stirred the polenta.



Lamont quickly grabbed a bite of salad.



That's pork chops and asparagus on the grill--yummy.




Each of us had a plate like mine! I got so involved with some good wine and food that I forgot to take any other photos of people--shame on me!

Milton and Kay are here from Mississippi! Day One and the Evening Before ...

Our buddies, our adopted family members have driven up to see us, all the way from Mississippi! The left Byram, where they spent Mother's Day with their children's families, at 2 a.m. Mississippi time and were in Pueblo, Colorado, by 6 p.m. Colorado time! By noon Friday they were just about at our apartment. It's a great big thrill for all of us to be together again. When I get some more time, I'll fill in the details of our friendship that is seven years old.

As they used their wits, their GPS, their Chevy Silverado diesel, and their driving talents to make their way from Mississippi to Oregon, both of them took pictures, too. Kay and I have made one trip already to Walgreens to put the photos on our cards onto CDs. We're gonna see lots and lots more this week, so we have to be ready!

Friday afternoon Leland came by for a visit before he went to work. Later that evening, after dining on roast, potatoes and carrots that Mama had cooked in our cute apartment, the four of us took the #15, then the #14 over to Three Doors Down so we could surprise Lamont. I should point out thatn We just went for dessert--Mama got the bread pudding, Milton and Kay got the banana cream pie, and I got the bocca negra (I thing I spelled that correctly). Every morsel was divine.

Today we met Lamont, Lindsay and Leland at a restaurant at 23rd and E. Burnside, the Screen Door, for brunch at 11 a.m. today. (Christina had to work, doggone it. But she sent her love, sweet gal that she is!) We rode the #20 over and enjoyed looking at the flowers in a couple of front yards across and down the side street from the restaurant. Then we dined on some great breakfast foods; there's a good chance we'll go back there again. After riding the #20 back towards the west, we got off and walked down the stairs to the Saturday Market, an arts and crafts show. The kids came on their bicyles. Next we rode on home to get ready to watch the NASCAR All Star Challenge.

As we walked down the hill from Burnside, I took the last few pictures of those light green blossoms. They are on several different trees. Once again, I need your help. What is that tree, please? Thanks!



Milton took the first pictures is of the road out of Jackson Hole. The next two pictures show our Mt. Hood, as Kay drove them towards Portland on I-84.





We waited for the #20 Saturday morning right across the street from the Walgreens. Lo and behold, this is the exact same place I used to wait for the bus back to the Benson Hotel on our first visit to Portland in the summer of '04! I'd go into that store and put my photos on CDs, print some of them, and cross the street and get onto the #20 when it arrived.




You can see the building called The Big Pink; Lamont and Leland used to work on the 30th floor at the Portland City Grill.








Kay and I couldn't believe it when a lady on the porch where the iris bloomed told us to smell them, that they smelled just like grape KoolAid--it was astonishing!







Here're the bike riders! Leland, Lamont and Lindsay arrive! Seeing those helmets makes a Mama proud, let me tell you. We did miss Christina, though, because she had to work!

Here's the answer! And a serendipitous extra, informative, tidbit.

The very next morning after posting my plea, on my desk at work I found an open book, "The Garden Planner," with a slim sticky note attached to its fourth illustration. "It's a form of pieris. Marsha'" the note read. I knew someone up here in Portland would know the answer. Marsha lives and breathes gardening, so it came as no surprise to me that she had the book with the answer in her desk. Neat-o! Marsha also gave me the name of those beautifully delicate and odd chartreuse plant-thingeys I had posted back in March, part of the natural pink and green photographs that led up to the Sweet Potato Queens. According to Marsha and her book, those chartreuse parts on euphorbia are "big bright flower heads ... particularly striking in spring and early summer." How understatedly true.

That flagged entry mentioned that Pieris Forest Flame mimics the red shoot tips of Photinia Red Robin. Catherine, another avid gardener I work with every day, had e-mailed photinia as a possibility for my mystery plant. Using Google Images, I saw that while photinia fit somewhat because of the color, it was not this particular mystery plant. Serendipitously, it turned out to be the answer to the question I'd been asking myself almost every morning as I walked to the Burger King for my senior Coca Cola. "What is that shrub? The one with the brand new, bright, shiny red leaves, glowing in the early morning sun?"

Y'all in Mississippi know which one I'm talking about; I believe I saw them for sale at Home Depot, in smallish black plastic tubs, labeled Red Tips. Folks love 'em in this area, too. Just this morning I saw a man pruning the photinia border around a downtown parking lot between SW 1st and 2nd Avenues, at the western foot of the Hawthorne Bridge. Unfortunately, the slicing electric blades denuded the chest-high shrubs of the majority of their beautiful red leaves.

Man's intervention is unbounded; in fact, that entire little block is destined to become filled with a 15-story building. One can only imagine the construction/traffic havoc that will ensue. What will happen to the traffic flow once it's built? Busy intersections will define its corners. When you consider that 30,000 vehicles cross the bridge daily (from Sharon Wortman's "The Portland Bridge Book") and that the streets to the north and south of this building cross the bridge either going west or east, do you cringe? I do, and then I thank my lucky stars that I ride the bus!

Pat, a bud since the late 1970s--transplanted to Seattle from Kansas City, Missouri, by way of Tallahassee and Houston, Texas--also e-mailed me. "Those shrubs are Pieris--Lily of the Valley Shrub," she sent. I found some great photos of it on Google Images. Her husband of 30 years (Happy Anniversary!!!!) Bob Robert had e-mailed me that she'd be the one in their family who would know.

Last week as I waited for the #10 bus at the usual spot on SW 3rd, just north of Salmon, I noticed that the trimmed Lily of the Valley shrub had undergone a transformation, from the sort of salmon red of the April 30 post to what you see below. Wondrous.

Anyone know what these are? If you do, put me out my misery, puhleezzee. Tell me!

A few weeks ago, like I do every weekday morning, I got off the #17 at SW 3rd and Salmon, then walked back north half a block to wait for the #10. This particular morning something totally different jumped right out at me, there behind one of the metal, backless benches. Here are six photos of the lovely group of plants with a somewhat astonishing mix of color, shape and size.








I don't have a clue what these beautiful plants are, and I have to report that one day last week they were changed. No, the reds didn't change to greens, the little bell-like flowers didn't blow away in the breeze. Some human being pruned them back to half their original height of about four feet! I'm so thankful for my camera and that I took time to notice them instead of just looking for my next bus!