The first of May

It's a new month and I'm filled with optimism about several things:

-- Spring's arrival. Slept in until 8:30 and woke up to glorious sunshine. Heading into this weekend, we'd had rain 67 of the last 77 days in Portland. No wonder people were gloomy. Today feels like we've finally turned the corner toward warmer, drier days.

-- Life, lived simply: Took Otto on a long walk and appreciated anew some of the simple sights in our neighborhood: Someone's beautifully maintained bed of tulips. A young couple out for a morning run. A couple of graying boomers playing tennis. A yard sale bringing together the young and old. Nice to see the neighborhood coming alive.

-- My health: Went to the store to stock up on the various items I need to prepare for tomorrow's routine procedure: a colonoscopy. Been through it once before, so I know what to expect. Keeping my fingers crossed that there are no problems. And feeling fortunate to have affordable health insurance in these times.

-- Tuesdays, reclaimed: With the end of our bowling league season last week, I can look forward to four months of Tuesdays with no obligations. An extra weeknight will be a luxury for Lori and me. Knowing it's there in the bank makes it easier for me to think about starting another activity -- possibly drop-in volleyball on Wednesday nights. We'll have to see how the knees respond.

-- Work: Just completed four months in my new job as a community news web editor. At times there's been a gulf between what I expected to do and what I've actually done these first few months, but I realize it goes with the territory. Main thing is I feel comfortable in the web-first news environment and hope to have something splashy and tangible to show for my efforts as I work with others on the development of a network of independent bloggers that wound be linked to from OregonLive.com. More details to come in future posts.

-- My blog: I'm adding a new feature, the A to Z Music Month. See the post below for more details.

Photo: www.freepixels.com

Sunday sunshine

I think all of Portland is celebrating today. A special occasion? Yep, the return of the sun.

In recent days, I think even native Oregonians were getting tired of what seemed to be constant rain. Last Thursday and Friday seemed especially dreary.  Saturday was dry but overcast. So when the warm sunshine finally broke through, it lifted spirits, sent people outdoors and restored a little order to the universe.

Lori and I went up to the roof of our condo and had lunch there while Otto laid down on his side and soaked up the rays. Nice.

It may seem counterintuitive to write about such a pleasant day while I'm here inside at the computer. But it's only for a few minutes. Just long enough to say that...

pozole

-- I'm looking forward to cooking dinner tonight. I'm making pozole -- a Mexican soup made with hominy and chicken (or pork) that goes really well with corn tortillas and beer. I'm using a recipe I found in Esquire offered up by the owner of a cafe in Mount Vernon, Iowa, of all places. (For some reason, neither the article nor the recipe is online.) Anyway, the ingredients include onion, garlic, kale, poblano, jalapeno and chipotle chiles, chicken stock, tomatoes, cremini mushrooms and, on top, chopped cilantro, sliced avacados and crumbled goat cheese.

-- I returned to the scene of the crime of my multitasking faux pas on Saturday. (See my previous post: "Multitasking to a fault") As I walked into the grocery store, my iPhone was already put away and so I shut off my iPod, removed my earbuds and went about my business. Went through the checkout line as if it were pre-1977, the year cell phones* went public.

* According to cellphone.org, cell phones were still a rarity 15 years ago, but now most of the world now communicates by cell phone. "The cellular business was a $3 million market 25 years ago and has grown increasingly to close to a $30 billion per year industry," the website says. (Emphasis added.)

Photograph of sunshine by shaheen
Photograph of pozole by Meutia Chaerani / Indradi Soemardjan http://www.indrani.net

Simple pleasures

Josh Huff scores on an 85-yard run vs. Arizona

Funny how a simple change in weather can brighten your outlook. It's sunny and 40 degrees as I write this, yet it feels 10 degrees warmer after last week's cold snap and this week's constant drip-drip-drip with dark gray clouds on a light gray horizon.

It's not that I was down in the dumps, by any means. It's just that I find myself in a particularly good mood this morning and so I'm taking note of simple things, such as:

-- People gearing up for tomorrow's Civil War football game. I noticed two clusters of Beavers fans, wearing their orange and black, as I ducked into (pun intended) a coffee shop for my morning caffeine. The only Ducks fan I've seen so far with an Oregon T-shirt is Trish, the co-worker who sits on the other side of my  cubicle. I'll be at work tomorrow when the game gets under way. I expect the UO to kick some butt and earn a berth in the national championship game. (Can't resist sharing these photos from last week's win against Arizona.)

-- A tasty slice of chocolate cake with peppermint cream cheese frosting from Seattle's Best Coffee. Hmmm. I've made an effort to snack on fruits, nuts and yogurt this week but somehow when Friday comes, it feels like a "reward" is in order. (Hey, at least I ran this morning. And I've got carrots and another apple to go with my tuna sandwich today.)

-- The CD mix I made last night and left for Lori to give it a listen this morning. She likes it. Yay! Typical of my decade-hopping, genre-jumping tastes, the playlist includes: the B-52s, Michael Jackson, The New Radicals, Aerosmith-Run D.M.C. (What else but "Walk This Way"?), Eric Clapton, Susan Tedsechi, Robben Ford, Buddy Guy, Lisa Stansfield, Stevie Nicks, Eminem, Journey and Stevie Ray Vaughan.


Photograph by Thomas Boyd, The Oregonian

Foiled!

Had today gone as planned, Lori would have driven up to Orcas Island to get set up for Thanksgiving Day and I would have followed two days later to join her, Jordan and Jamie, and Jamie's parents and younger sister -- a total of seven people for a holiday celebration at our favorite place.

Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other thoughts. Lori wisely canceled her plans to drive up I-5 into the teeth of a winter storm that has dropped a frigid layer of winter weather on Washington state, making it treacherous and probably foolish to think about traveling north at this time.

Although the much-hyped winter storm stalled last night at the Columbia River, pretty much sparing Oregon, the cold weather has really settled in up north.

According to our neighbor Ken, there's been a five- to six-inch accumulation of snow on the road leading up the hill to our cabin, plus icy conditions requiring chains or cables. "It has been VERY COLD, 17 degrees this morning, now in the 20's. Not the best time to be on Orcas."

So, we hope Plan B will come together. That would mean Jamie and Jordan traveling south from Olympia and Jamie's parents, Jeff and Linda, and their youngest daughter, Katie, traveling north from the Medford area to converge here on Thanksgiving Day for a turkey dinner with all the trimmings. Easy enough for us to say, let's gather here. It's a little more complicated for our would-be guests, as they still have to navigate cold, possibly icy conditions, on the freeways leading to Portland.

Here's hoping we can pull it off. If not, Lori and I will have to tackle this 20-pound turkey by ourselves. Even for me, that's a bit much....

Photo: www.bigfoto.com/themes/nature/winter/

Br-r-r-isk

For the last few days, the local media have ramped up for what promises to be the coldest stretch of weather so far in 2010. People are out buying studded tires and chains; the mayor is doing weekend press conferences to warn us to be careful; and the Portland TV crews are on high alert, just waiting for those snowflakes to fall.

Me? I went out for a run before the weather had a chance to turn nasty.

The morning started out sunny and clear, the kind of day that lulls you into thinking it's warmer than it is. But when you step outside, it's frosty and there's a definite nip in the air.

I managed to time it just right today when I left the condo just before noon, headed for the Pearl District -- via the Broadway Bridge and Lovejoy Street ramp -- and Naito Parkway, then back over the Steel Bridge to Lloyd Center and home. As I motored along, enjoying the solitary experience and the brisk conditions, I was glad I'd taken the time to rummage through a box of winter clothing. Today was the first time this season I'd had to put on gloves, hat and running tights.

Adding to the pleasure: No issues today with discourteous drivers.

Photo: www.thearchipelago.net/

Surprise! Snow!

The flakes began falling during the early afternoon. I got up from my desk and rushed over to a co-worker's office to look out the window and see for myself.

For anyone who's lived in a place where snow is a regular occurrence, it probably seems silly the way Portlanders fall over themselves -- sometimes literally -- whenever it happens here.

I guess it happens seldom enough that it's still kind of magical. You can almost sense the whole city stopping what it's doing to look up and see these delicate flakes floating down from the heavens, somehow piling up in such quantity that they leave beauty wherever you look.

Walking home after a longer-than-usual bus ride, it occurred to me that snow is like a great equalizer. It puts a Saab on an even footing with a Subaru or a Ford. Without proper traction devices on the tires, they're going to slip and slide. It makes a wealthy neighborhood look like identical to a poor one. Snow obscures a manicured lawn just as it does one where car parts are strewn about.

Lights gleam brighter. Silence envelops whole neighborhoods. Ice clings to tree branches in the hills and on the flats. Ain't no difference anywhere.

Photos: Above, looking north on N.E. 13th Avenue; at left, our condo, with holiday lights.

First day of winter

Wasn't it just yesterday I was writing about the first day of spring?

Whew! Time does zoom by when you're busy. No need to rehash the specifics, so I'll just launch into a late-year Quick Takes entry.

-- It's 44 degrees and dry at the moment, a far cry from the frigid weather (highs in the teens) of two weeks ago and the thorough soaking we got last week. A year ago, we had a white Christmas -- actually, a little too much snow for most Portlanders' taste, as it ground things to a halt in this snowplow-averse city. I wouldn't mind a light dusting this year, but the forecast is partly sunny with a patch of morning fog. I'll take it.

-- We hopped on the bus at mid-day yesterday and bought a lovely photograph for our new place at Saturday Market. It had been a couple of years (shame on me) since I'd been down there, so it was a pleasant surprise to stroll through the booths under a clear covering just south of the Burnside Bridge. You can smell the market before you see it (a generic greasy smell, comingling the scents of elephant ears and various stir-fries) but it's always fun to see the characters on both sides of the artists' booths.

These last few days at the market are called The Festival of the Last Minute, but there was plenty of elbow room yesterday. Hmmm...Does that mean people had already done most of their shopping? Or is it a sign of the still-weak economy?

-- Today's top headlines are all about what I'd come to fear would never happen: The Senate moved incrementally closer to passing a universal health care bill. Yeah, yeah, yeah...it's far from perfect. But as Obama has said, "Let not the perfect be the enemy of the good." **

We'll see what happens next when the Senate and House conference committee members try to resolve differences in the two plans.-

** Evidently, the quote originated with Voltaire. (I'm not in the habit of quoting 18th century French philosophers, so how was I to know?) Anyway, I learned of that when I clicked on this Web site: The Happiness Project.

From it, I'm sharing author Gretchen Rubin's Twelve Commandments below. Not a bad list...

Twelve Personal Commandments

• Be Gretchen.
• Let it go.
• Act the way I want to feel.
• Do it now.
• Be polite and be fair.
• Enjoy the process.
• Spend out.
• Identify the problem.
• Lighten up.
• Do what ought to be done.
• No calculation.
• There is only love.

Sweatfest 2009

I've never been a big fan of the heat, even growing up in year-round sunshine in California. This week reminds me why.

After two days of blistering, record-high temps of 103 and 106, we're supposed to hit 107 today, which would tie the record for this date in Portland.

What I hate is that there is no escaping the discomfort.

I went for an early run yesterday, figuring it would be 20-30 degrees cooler than mid-morning. Still, it took a good hour for me to cool down, even after a shower. When I left for work, it was already 86 degrees inside the house.

At work, a fellow editor threatened to stay overnight in his cubicle, knowing it would be far more comfortable than the humid conditions at home. During the afternoon, a staff columnist e-mailed to say it was 92 in her home office and 103 upstairs. She was thinking of coming in to work after dinner, just to get some air-conditioned respite.

This morning, I went for a swim. Thankfully, the water was only 84 degrees; the gym that I belong to normally keeps it even warmer, for the sake of the older swimmers. Still, here I am in the basement -- supposedly the coolest room in the house -- and still perspiring an hour after walking in the door.

I look at our pets and see that they, too, are trying to make the best of it. Otto, the Jack Russell terrier, is laying down on his side beneath the dining room table, only a couple feet away from Rudy, our senior cat, who's flattened himself with paws stretched out as if he were diving into a pool. And Roxie, the rabbit, is chilling out on the linoleum flooring of her cage, having already devoured the cool carrots and grapes I fed her.

If I had any sense, I'd take a furlough day and head to the nearest river. Instead, I'll dress as lightly as common sense allows and hope the city bus I ride to work is one of the rare ones with A/C.

Bring on the rain!

The sun, the moon and the stars

A catch-all headline is what you get when you haven't written for two, nearly three, days. So here goes...

The sun. We're officially a month past the start of the vernal equinox, so it only makes sense that we'd be having warm, trending to hot, weather these days. Personally, I'd rather add layers than shed clothes, but here I am sitting in a T-shirt and shorts in the basement, owing to the lingering heat from this afternoon. We're in for a hot stretch these next few days, with predicted highs of 85 Wednesday and Thursday, 91 on Friday, then 98 on Saturday and Sunday. Ugh. Enough of the sun. Bring on the cool fall weather.

The moon. Yesterday was the 40th (fortieth!) anniversary of the moon landing. The question that seemed to be everywhere: Where were you when Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon? My colleague, the multitalented cartoonist Jack Ohman, wrote a wonderful reminiscence for The Oregonian. I was 16 at the time, but I've got to confess: I have no idea where I was. I don't have any explanation other than some people and events simply matter more. In our Mexican Catholic family, John and Robert Kennedy were revered as saints, so I sure remember where I was when each of them was shot. Same goes for when Saigon fell, the Challenger exploded and the Twin Towers were attacked. Though I feel sheepish for not recalling the event better, it is pretty (expletive) amazing that human beings could figure -- with absolute precision -- how to send a man to another celestial body, millions of miles away, and bring him back.

The stars. As I left work last night around 6 p.m., I emerged from the tunnel (well, actually more of a breezeway) onto Jefferson Street and couldn't help but notice the scene across the street. Dozens of people -- many of them holding cameras, lights and other portable equipment -- filled the sidewalk outside the brick-facade University Club and snaked around the corner onto Sixth Avenue, while a traffic cop made sure cars and buses didn't come close to disrupting what was going on. It was the cast and crew of "Leverage," a TNT series that's been filming at various locations around town. Instantly recognizable: Timothy Hutton, the star of the show, who was seated in a chair, holding a small child in his lap. I have yet to see the show but, with this touch of Hollywood so close at hand, I now have the incentive to check it out. Especially since Hutton seems to be a pretty good guy.