Day 1 of the Great Adventure

Oh my, where do I begin?
I have so much to tell you.
I am completely overwhelmed.
And another trip in exactly a week with a list a mile long to accomplish before we leave.
So today, you get Day 1.

As aforementioned, Charlie took us to the airport very early on Thursday morning. We flew to Long Beach and then on to Dulles. Kudos to jetBlue for the unintentionally free movies and blue potato chips. After arrival I called the hotel to ask for the shuttle and then went to the bathroom. A recurring theme on this trip. The bathroom, not the cell phone. We had no checked baggage so proceeded on the long and winding road across concourses and down hallways to the bus area.
Where I discovered I no longer had my cell phone.
And we couldn't go back through security.
And no one seemed to know where the "lost and found" was.
I hate airport employees, who seem to have absolutely no concern for travelers.
Yes, I know "hate" is a strong word, but I felt rather strongly about it after having walked up and down the baggage area several times on the advice of uniformed people who obviously couldn't care less.
I deduced I must have left the phone at the jetBlue gate and was out of luck until our return trip.
So I scrounged the use of a cell phone from a poor woman who had been stranded at the airport all day and had finally been given a hotel voucher by the airline.
See, there's always someone worse off than you!
I called the hotel and we finally arrived there just before 8pm.
Hungry, having not had an actual meal all day.
Myron the concierge, bless his name forever, got us a meal from the kitchen.
Lasagna and creamy chicken pasta.
It was manna to our hungry bellies.

Another pleasant surprise:


The Staybridge Hotel is set up for extended stays and is like a little town. We paid less than $100 and were upgraded to a two-bedroom unit. It was as big as an apartment. Too bad we didn't have time to enjoy it. We had to be up and out early the next morning to get to the big city.

Score for the day
Bad guys:1
Good guys:1
That's a draw.

Godspeed Charlie

Very early on Thursday morning, Charlie took us to the airport. In an ironic twist of planning, we were scheduled to leave a day before him. Thank you, Marine Corps, for making life interesting once again. They seem to be unable or unwilling to make a plan and stick to it.


Bethany took the family responsibility on her tender shoulders and took Charlie to the PDX on Friday morning. Things were a little (!) emotional.


I had contacted the fearless leader of the Oregon Soldiers' Angels, Sherry Crenshaw, who promised that she would organize a memorable send-off for our Marine. She is a member of the Patriot Guard, which turned out in fine form. These men and women might look a bit rugged, but they are some of the best-hearted people you could ever want to meet.


The honour guard....


...and a prayer circle.


Please, God, take care of our boy.

Rabble-rousers all

We're off....
....into the wild blue yonder.
JET Blue, of course.
Off to change the world.
Maybe.
With our trusty banner.


Stay tuned for (hopefully) frequent updates.

Pink Martini

On Saturday night, Jeff and I went to a concert at the Oregon Zoo.
It was one of those concerts where you have to carry in your own seat, not knowing if it's going to rain, so you also carry your umbrella and raingear.
Where you have to arrive two hours early to make sure that you get a parking space and a place in which to park your chair.
You know those kinds of concerts?
I think I'm getting too old for them!
But Pink Martini was playing and the tickets were less than $20 each.
So we braved it.
We sat through an hour of the Oregon Army Band, which was okay, especially the part where everyone claps and cheers (especially me) for the branches of the armed services as they play the anthems.
Then an hour of an excruciatingly corny show called "Oregon, Oregon!"
Which made you almost ashamed to call yourself an Oregonian.
(If you were so lucky as to be able to do such a thing)
And then the show that we had waited for for four hours.
Pink Martini.
The incomparable China Forbes.
Whose voice can soothe, thrill, or amuse you.
Whose voice is sometimes like honey, smooth and dulcet, but at the top of her range is reminiscent of Sarah Brightman, clear and pure and totally controlled. She lilts, croons, and sometimes shrieks, with a voice so big it commands every bit of your attention.
These videos are a few years old. China is now a little larger than she used to be. In my opinion, her voice is also better.

Here are a couple of tunes for your enjoyment.
Turn the volume WAY up!



And my personal favourite, which now resides at the top of my playlist...

Let's hear it for the boy!

Charlie and Annie are home.


Charlie drove home from San Diego through the night.
Sixteen hours, on his own.
I was impressed....till I found the caffeine shots in his truck.
Ah, that's how he did it!
Still, his Marine training is showing.

The house has been crawling with family and friends all week.
Grandchildren having sleepovers.


Daniel and Joshua adore their Uncle Charlie.

My schedule has gone crazy, trying to fit in all the family stuff as well as work.
On Wednesday, for the first time, I missed a music therapy session.
I remembered at 11:30 on Thursday night.
A symptom of my recent cognitive dissonance.
Partly stress over our upcoming trips.
But mostly, I suspect, at the prospect of Charlie's deployment.
It is no longer an intellectual exercise, but reality.

Bits and Pieces

Note the new blog link on the right, Cake Wrecks.
Thank you Ellen, it is hil-arious.
And a little bit naughty sometimes.
So be warned.
But only a little bit.

Also, check out the David Bowie song at the top of my playlist.
It was quite popular in the 70's on the radio and as unlike any other DB song as you can imagine.
There are a couple of his songs from "Labyrinth" on the list as well.
Osborne kids take note.
And any of my peers that fell secretly in love with David when they saw the movie.
Go on, admit it, you did too!



And one more.
My favourite.
Just want to eat David Bowie up in this one.


Mmmm-mm.

American beauty

The first time I set foot in Oregon I knew I wanted to live here. It was green, hilly, and uncrowded. It had four seasons a year, unlike Southern California. It took a little finangling, but four years later we headed north. With two kids riding shotgun, a third one almost due, a big truck and a little Toyota Starlet packed to the roof with our belongings.

And here we are.
Still.
Till we die.
Our burial plots, recently purchased, are in an idyllic little cemetery on the mountain that overlooks our house.

Jeff and I spent the weekend at the beach. It was relaxing, with reading, crocheting, and crossword-puzzle-solving being high on the list of activities. We did, however, try a little hike at Cascade Head, just north of Lincoln City. The trail-heads are quite hard to find, but after a little reconnaissance, we found the north entrance. It is a six-mile, one-way hike. Knowing we weren't in the mood for 12 miles, we decided to hike in for a while and then turn around.

The forest was in its usual state of dampness and we found many weird and wonderful fungus specimens growing on old logs. Here are some of the best ones.


Some of them were just growing in the damp, brown, fertile soil of the forest, like these.


Several times along the trail I almost jumped out of my skin when one of these brown frogs hopped off into the undergrowth.
Jeff said, "You scared it."
"Well," I said,"It scared me!"


The woods were beautiful, with a palette of brilliant greens and rich browns dotted with the yellows and purples of tiny wildflowers. It must have been a rugged winter on the coast because the trail was criss-crossed with fallen trees.



Jeff mostly went over them.
I, of course, mostly went under them.
THEN
we came to some places that had been washed out, trees uprooted.


I gamely struggled on, thinking that things HAD to get better soon.
Didn't they?
But no.
We climbed down yet another little ravine, turned a corner, and saw THIS.
My nemesis.


This one looked too much like spelunking for my taste.
I have lost my yen for the derring-do.
We turned around.
Defeated.
Except for we did have a very nice hike.
At least a couple of miles.
Enough to justify a piece or two of rhubarb cake when we got back to the beach house.