Beervana

I now have two OBF's under my belt and the difference in my ability to maneuver though lines and to have a healthy buzz in between this year and last year was akin to being jumped ahead from Kindergarten to High School. We arrived via light rail and just about the time that the taps opened for business - claimed a couple of umbrella tables (sweet!) and had at least two samples under our belts before most others had even figured out what was going on.
I managed to taste everything I wanted to and to intersperse it with some local eats (I think the Horn of Africa will soon be a permanent fixture at OBF for me) the most notable beers being:

• Ninkasi's 'Believer' - double Red,
• 4+'s Wildfire - Organic Extra pale,
• Russian River's Pliny the Elder (again) - double IPA
• HUB's Organic IPA - I cannot wait for this Brewery to open for business
  

All in all it was good times with a good group-we had a pretty good show of people at our house pre and post festival and all beer drinking aside, is it okay that my proudest moment was this?:

On a side note, I think It's finally dawned on me that we are adults, really really. Something about getting together with people that you've known for about ten years has a tendency to trespass time. This past weekend though, our age and habits showed through as we were all up either by way of internal alarm clock, little critters or toddlers by 7am'ish.

A big thanks to everyone who came down to hang out with us :) Here's to next year!

Seven & Seven

So, this week I finished two series books; both I had no strong interest in reading when I picked up the first book of the series on loan and both completely took me in, capturing my heart and my imagination. I finished Harry Potter on Saturday and the Dark Tower on Monday. I'm glad all seven Dark Tower books were out when I took the series up (I imagine those who started it in the '70's are wishing they had waited too...since the final book was released in 2003)--there were five Harry's out when I gave Sorcerer's Stone a whirl and after devouring the rest, it became an exercise in 'forced' patience to wait for the continuation of the story. Having read the Harry Potter series more than once, reading each book back to back, I see them in the same light as Lord of the Rings, just one long story, so I was definitely anxious for the final chapters. I loved the endings of both of the series and now that they are done I can read them easily again and again without any anxiousness. Although I probably won't revisit the Dark Tower for awhile. I am incredibly thankful for both series-- in keeping up the fight of good and evil and in keeping generations eagerly reading. And most of all for helping me to lose myself whenever I please.

I've got a loverly bunch of coconuts...diddly dee

...well not really, but if I did, they'd be as beautiful as these. My only complaint is that they haven't had enough time to really grow...definitely starting inside next year.






















...and finally I've reclaimed the back porch, isn't it splendid? It took four giant piles of sawdust and the assisted suicide of the kitchen broom, but we had our first proper BBQ'd meal on the back porch last evening. I'm not sure we really needed to heat up the back yard the extra degrees that we did through lighting the fire to cook the meal, but it was well worth the additional sweat. And...due to the abundance of yumminess at the Saturday market, my new favorite BBQ item is artichokes- we've done three now in our backyard fire pit (alongside the other veggies in out basket) and had them with an adobe chili and mayo dipping sauce I put together...scrumptious. Ah, summer.

Bookstore Banter

A customer that I helped to find a travel guide today had some "friendly" advice for me..."always go with Lonely Planet. Every other guide is just in the corporate back pocket, all about the money...especially those Frodo's guides."

heh heh, Frodo guides...I wish.

Why wasn't Eve tempted with berries?

We made our first of (hopefully) many trips out to Sauvie Island for raspberries and blueberries this past week. Glorious. What didn't make it into our tummies ended up being about 6 lbs of raspberries and 1 lb of blueberries ($10.50)...and to quote Joe..."we'll be heading back for more soon" Our freezer will definitely be full this year. Blueberry pancakes, blueberry pie, raspberry jam, raspberry corn muffins, raspberry scones etcetera, etcetera... and in a couple of weeks the blackberries and marionberries will be ready to pick too....mmmmm cobbler.

Done and DONE.

The picnic table is finished.
Er...well, mostly. The construction is complete, but the finishing is not. We completed construction yesterday and celebrated by having a our first BBQ'd meal (very carefully) on the unfinished surface.
This morning we stained every surface--we chose a fairly dark stain hoping that it will weather nicely over the years. Going by the instructions on our stain we're meant to give it a full two days of drying before oiling or sealing. So in a few days we'll apply a coat of poly-urethane and then give it a few more days. So our deadline of OBF is certainly met.