07-31-15

Friday, last day of July, another hot one.

Guess where we went this evening?

Trying to walk where there is a breeze.

And where we can use our Ingress gear rather than collect it.

Yep, Rainier.

07-30-15

For the past two days Xander has been job shadowing me, tagging along to my meetings and assignments, and even a tour of the export log yard.  He wasn't sure about the standing workstation.

07-29-15

Sunset from zen pond on the Japanese garden island.  Weather was too warm today, but this evening it was glorious!

07-28-15

Fruit bars for a hot day.  I don't take photos when I'm on our adopted block, because I'm concentrating on being present, chatting with residents, knocking on doors, and helping the kids with crafts.

07-27-15

Just another Monday, just another nice day, just another lake walk.

07-26-15

Happy birthday Jesse!  Seventeen!

A much needed day at home.  A walk to the coffee shop, paddle boarding in the drizzle, move out inspection with a tenant, crossing off neglected to do's.  And lunch with Xander and Jesse.

07-25-15

"Are fountains fun to look at in the rain?" -Bruce

Weather rained on our plans today, just like two weeks ago.  We have been so spoiled with our dry warm weather, I'll be the first to admit that I want to pout about this typical Northwest drizzle.

Such is life.  Just need to add a better rain jacket to my Christmas list.

07-24-15

Friday night, out and about in the late evening enjoying the nice weather.  TGIF!

07-23-15

Saw big bubbles on one of our evening walks.  I should ask them if they want to come to the block party!

07-22-15

The theme of this week is stress...

... early mornings,
... low inventory in my Ingress account,
... trying to avoid sweets and extra calories,
... a big presentation hanging over me,
... the adopt-block party quickly approaching,
... too much on my calendar

07-21-15

In the news, Richard Gere pretended to be a homeless person in NYC as research for a movie.

I'm seeing more and more homeless people in our Longview parks.  Getting asked for spare change.

Richard Gere only collected $1.50.

07-20-15

How does my garden grow?

I seem to keep planting seeds and not seeing much results, but my kale and zucchini are big and strong!  They must have a high tolerance for low water conditions.

07-19-15

Celebrated our anniversary today with a 7 mile hike at Multnomah Falls and Ingressing in Troutdale and Gresham.  It was hotter than heck, actually willing to stay in the cool car for a change.  Nice day with Bruce, looking forward to many more years of adventures big and small.

This is not THE falls, we followed a lot of water on our hike, all beautiful in different ways.

07-18-15

Twenty three years ago July 18th was unusually warm in the Pacific Northwest.  The sweat dripping off our poor officiating pastor attests to that.

And today the weather was even more stifling, close to 100.  Glad we have AC, wish the places we like to frequent did too.  Like the lake!

Happy anniversary!

07-17-15

Made it to another weekend!  Our anniversary weekend!

Warm evening, walked the lake.  Glad the Japanese garden was open.

07-16-15

Monkey face.

Debbie brought a bunch of plums.  I was wondering how best to use them, since there were so many.  Didn't need to waste any brain cells on that, though, just needed to point them out to the 17 year old human disposal.

Down the hatch!

07-15-15

Time to say good-bye to the garden.

I've seen it all, but have not had a chance to cover every inch five or more times!

These statues in the children s sections always make me laugh.

Till next year!

07-14-15

Can you name the architect?  He's famous!  And one of my favorite!

This was the destination for my jog each morning, at the edge of the resort property.  Not a very long jogging route, but a steep hill.  Others ran it multiple times; once a day was enough for me.  Loved peeking into the windows of this house.  It was moved here by the conservation group when new owners were planning to tear it down.  It is one of his minimalist housing styles, designed for the middle class to afford.  Pretty, no, distinctive, yes.

Got it figured out?  Why, Frank Lloyd Wright, of course!

07-13-15

It's June, time to head to Oregon Gardens (in Silverton, near Salem) for a few nights with my co-workers!

The grounds are gorgeous, the "resort" in the background is great, and the information and teaming is always valued.

07-12-15

It's Sunday... time to go to Ghee Lay Ghee for sushi and Indian food!

Quiet day at home getting ready for another work week (with a two night trip!) while Bruce finished getting the duplex move in ready.

07-11-15

Garage sale was a success!

Pretty frustrating to wake up to rain.  Had to go to plan B.  Books, scrapbook supplies, and board games on the porch.  Put anything that rain could hurt under the tables, or at least be ready to scoop the items under the tables.

We worked our butts off getting everything up from the basement and laid out, and it was a steady stream of customers all morning.  The afternoon brought more rain and price drops.

We had two tenants come.  We had dogs. We had parking nightmares, people are not willing to walk very far at all.  We had people thrilled to find things.  We had people wanting to talk prices way down.  We had an elderly foursome dressed for church in heels.  We had a grown man in pajamas counting the pieces in our board games.  

I enjoyed the people watching and camaraderie with our neighbors (we ended up with seven sales on our block), and the $400 is great too!

07-10-15

After a long week, Bruce and I took a break from what we've been busy with, went to dinner at the new Thai restaurant in the Highlands and went on a long walk in Rainier, enjoying the warm weather.  TGIF!

07-09-15

A bit different perspective of our lake concert.  We enjoy walking around the concert, hearing the music but more in the background.  Another lovely evening for sure!

07-08-15

We walked downtown tonight.  Some friends drove by and asked us why we were there, we just waved our phones.

The middle storefront belongs to our new property manager.  She has our vacant unit rented out for Monday, with a $125 rent increase.  A rush to get it ready, but yippee!

07-07-15

Today at work in Vancouver a co-worker was asking for donations to Relay for Life.  She relays in honor of her Nana.

When we moved to Aberdeen I started relaying with our office team in honor of my dad.  Since then I have known a lot more people with cancer.

Now I am captain of our Weyerhaeuser team in Longview.  As the event approaches the meetings get looonger.

I wish we spent more energy on prevention...

07-06-15

How do you photograph quiet?

The company has gone home, the lake is still, and Anastasia is in a jet plane.  Heck, even the miserable hot weather is gone for an evening!

07-05-15

A united front into the river for a swim...

The cousins went for a swim at Kalama on Friday and had so much fun they wanted to do it again.

I didn't plan it, but the flag banner int he corner is kind of cool.

07-04-15

Happy 4th of July!

This was right before Anastasia got her temporary tattoo.

The lake got quite crowded as the time for fireworks got closer...

07-03-15

This is the first time in weeks I've been chilly.  The weather was cooler than forecasted, making a great day to hang out at the lake taking in the Go Fourth festival.

A day later this spot was overrun with other people all around...

07-02-15

And let the Go Fourth festivities begin!

A usual, came home form work to zero parking in our neighborhood.  Tonight was the cardboard boat regatta.  Lot's of fun boats and plenty of sinkings this year.  The theme was "you'll go down in history", so plenty of Rudolph boats.  The trojan horse was pretty darn cute, and surprisingly agile.

07-01-15

Happy July!

Let the count downs begin... one more day of work until a three day weekend, five days until Anastasia flies far far away, ten more days until a multifamily garage sale.

Tonight was set aside for calling the neighbors about the garage sale and starting to make the signs.  Check!