Month: August 2012

Last night & Thanksgiving

Last night, Rena and I had wonderful dinner again with Annie (Donald’s girl friend) and Donald at Cafe Castagna in Portland.  The food was good and we chatted a lot.  Maybe, this weekend we can get together again with them.  Maybe with their friends too.

Before that, late afternoon, a friend of ours from Bellingham, WA, came to visit us while en-routing to his son’s family in Portland.  Rena prepared some egg rolls together with veggie juice before they departed about half hour later.

At noon time, we had another scheduled.  We were invited to a friend’s house on top of a mountain which just locates on the north side of the Columbia River, for potluck and BBQ.  It has 50 acres with many beef cows too.  The view is stunningly gorgeous and it is very beautiful.  On the way back, Rena and I thought if we were10 years younger and with our current situations, we will very temping to buy this place.  But, right now, we know we can’t keep up with all the work comes with the property there.

While at dinner last night, we discussed about our Thanksgiving gathering – east coast or west?  Let Donald and Annie figure it out and, then, we can firm up with all our immediate family members – hers and ours.  Don’t know just yet at this moment.

First day of school –

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Today was the first day of school, but instead of showing you the lovely first day of school photos – I am still luxuriating in the days we spent at the beach last week. Julia invited us to stay at her beach house in Maine for a few days and we eagerly took her up on the offer.

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We spent a few hours each morning on the beach – Edda had one incredibly glorious day at the beach. The next day she wasn’t as happy there. But we all boogie boarded and got sand in our shorts.

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We spent the afternoons napping and cooking. Vince spent the afternoons glomming wireless services from the neighbor.

Maxi and Boston

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We arrived in Boston with Maxi in tow – because we had the dog, we couldn’t really leave her in the car roasting while we dined in air conditioned bliss so it limited our lunch options with my pal Lana. We gave up on dim sum (which I was really interested in), and ended up at a food truck in Boston Commons. We ate at Clover – famous for chickpea fritter pita and rosemary fries. I had the eggplant and egg pita – very delicious.

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Right after lunch, Vince accidentally let go of Max’s leash and we spent a good few minutes chasing her around the park and when we caught her, all the lunchers applauded our efforts. Thank god Maxi didn’t run into Boston traffic.

After lunch, we went swan boating (see everyone in the front row?) and then headed back to the car for another adventure.  I did want to go to MIT to see the old haunts, but we didn’t really have time to stop, so we were just able to drive by 77 Mass Ave and give a good wave hello to the Infinite Corridor.

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Our 42nd Wedding Anniversary

Today, August 22nd, is our 42nd wedding anniversary.  Rena prepared us a healthy and big breakfast (see attached picture).  This afternoon, we went shopping and got Mom a Bulova lady watch which is self-winding.  Mom always wants a good working watch with big characters on it.  On it, it has two hearts and a purse with see-through part to some of its internal mechanical gears. Looks pretty good.

Looking back, 42 years of togetherness is really a long time.  But, in certain sense, it is pretty short too.  Oh, btw, Mom would like to have an addition master bedroom at the first floor just behind the half bath (beyond the half bath window on her left side at the back).  Tomorrow, an estimator will show up and go over some details as well as pricing.  See what will happen next.

Sitting on a sun porch.

I was lucky enough to spend the afternoon napping on and off in a screened-in-porch with Edda. It was an incredibly beautiful day and I snacked on chips and cheese while keeping Edda company.

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Frankly, I was a little paranoid to move Edda as her mood has been a little hair-trigger lately. We still haven’t resolved her various episodes of complaints and with my pessimistic nature, I think she will be pissed off for the rest of her life. So I was thankful for an afternoon of relative quiet happiness with Maxi by her side and some snacking and summer breezes for me. There is nothing more relaxing than letting one’s to-do list purposely lay idle for an afternoon.

A Short Trip North

Last Wednesday (8/15), Rena and I took a short trip north to Bellingham, WA.  A classmate of ours has a summer home there.  Bellingham is a nice small town.  The only problem, we see, is that is at north of Seattle.  To get to the SeaTac Airport at Takoma, south of Seattle, is really a nightmare.  Due to its geographic situations, the traffic of Seattle is really bad, especially on the north-south run.  To get to the Vancouver, Canada airport is much closer.  But, due the border crossing, it isn’t easy either.

Anyway, Rena and I had a wonderful time there with our classmate.  On the way back, we visited another classmate in Seattle.  He and his wife are crazy about Peking Opera.  It was fun of visiting them and sat on the basement sofa to listen and watch their Peking Opera session.   They do it almost every week we were told.

After listening for several hours, we headed back home at Washougal, WA.  We arrived about 10:00 PM.  It was fun.

Mirror Lake, Klamath Falls, Crater Lake & Silver Falls

Last Wednesday, Rena and I took a short trip to Oregon to see Mirror Lake (around Mount Hood), Klamath Falls Lake (at California Border), Crater Lake and Silver Falls State Park which consists of 10 falls.  We spent an hour to walk to Mirror Lake, Stayed overnight at Klamath Falls, drove around Crater Lake and walked all 10 falls.  To walk around 10 falls, we started at 10:00 AM and completed around 4:00 PM, about 6 hours.

The first picture is Mirror Lake, the second is Klamath Falls Lake, the third and fourth are Crater Lake and the last two are Silver Falls.

After that, we are very busy at our yard work.  Hopefully, it will get done soon.