i've changed from a boring blogger to a non-existent blogger...
time to change that!

lots and lots and lots has happened in the last 3 weeks, and i am going to list them here, mostly because i really like lists...

1. i got medical insurance. although this might be the most mundane thing on the list, it's my most favorite, because now i am less petrified about being hit by a car, coming down with something odd, or getting pink-eye...and my insurance covers (partly) 'non-traditional' therapies (acupuncture here i come!). that is exciting. my life is about to get so much better.
2. i went to iowa for 4 days. des moines. it was really fun. i met lots of very nice people, played catch, ate chicken with a can in the butt, slept in a camper, played with guns, met the friendliest cat ever, started a campfire, and had lots of nice talks. i'm sure there is even more (like the really fun red-eye flight, someone please remind me to never do that again)that i can't think about now...but that's just because there was so much stuff that happened.
3. i went to san francisco for all of 26 hours. however, they were some of the best hours ever. it's always nice to see old friends, and meet their boyfriends as well.
4. did i mention i got health insurance. i'm going to get my ears cleaned out.
5. my real-person job got extended through the end of july. i will enjoy the friendly paychecks, computer work and co-workers, but the hours of schlepping by bike are losing excitement.
6. i won tickets to a concert (sadly not the indigo girls) during the opb pledge drive. it's on the 4th of july. yay.
7. i got to help build cob structures, my new passion in life.
8. an upcoming grantwriting class makes me excited.
9. permaculture classes and learning is in my future. yipppeeee.
10. engagements. it's started. in the last 3 weeks three of my friends have e-mailed me announcing their engagements. i knew it would start sometime, i'm just glad it's happened with a rush. much congrats and good luck to the recent engagee-s (2 of whom may still read this blog)...i'm pretty darn thrilled for you.
11. the garden is beautiful! the gardening effort started out small scale, and pretty hopeless. s and i didn't really know what we were doing out there. a few lucky things happened to make the garden look at pretty and taste as good as it does. we are lucky enough that our small plot is surrounded by the green-thumb work of some very good gardeners. so not only does their lush greenspace make ours look better, but they've also been wonderful about giving helpful hints, as well as just creating a good garden to learn from. things to harvest now and soon: green lettuce, red lettuce, bok choy, english? cabbage. we've already worked through the peas. the tomatoes are growing (the first one is already much bigger than a golf ball) and has almost 10 little brothers and sisters to match. the corn transplants continue to grow, and the seeds are coming up too. things to look forward to: chinese cabbage, carrots, arugula, some other fancy salad green, basil & dill. some long shot hopefuls include squash, muskmelon and watermelon. keep your fingers crossed about those.
12. the succulent plants are doing fantastically, and s adopted some new jade and aloe from iowa. what a little succulent garden is growing inside of doors.
13. i'm undoubtedly leaving many important things off this list, but that's ok.
i'm going to enjoy the rest of this beautiful day by cleaning my space and cooking a delicious meal! what happy times!

wahooooo!!!
would anyone in pdx like to come with me?

mornings are the best joyful quiet time ever, i love them, yay! yesterday was an uber-productive day, and those are my favorite. the one thing i didn't get to do was fix the problems going on with my sinuses. weird stuff, but no pain. it's amazing how the stuff in our bodies is connected.
things i am excited about:
visiting san francisco this weekend!!!
visitng iowa next week/end
getting rid of my darn cough
building a bike kayak trailer
creating some new duct tape accessories
finishing my long-lost quilt project
building a hanging lamp
making cute aprons with old ties and scrap fabric
tuning my own bike (by myself!)
looking to the future (work ends 7/7, what next?)
sunny days! i love sunny days!

hmmm, i should probably get ready to go to work. what a boring blogger i've turned into. oh well.

oh joyful happy day!
it is beautiful outside, and i am taking a whole weekend to just relax. what a novel idea. ok, so there is just a little bit of working in there, but no complaints. i get to drink juice in bed and read great books! i'm reading middlesex, and it feels so nice to be wrapped up and completely engaged in a book. such a treat. and gardening (chinese cabbage and corn go in the ground, carrots and dill and basil as well) and then some bike tuning and cleaning. oh phenomenally exciting things.

last week i went on a paddling adventure on the columbia river...and on the way there, noticed that the route is a bike lane. this detail (along with the story of the man who bike from the east coast to the west coast, unassisted, and pulling a canoe, gear and dog...and then paddled from the west coast to the east coast through the panama canal...) inspired me to make (hopefully) a nice bike trailer that can haul a 16.5 foot kayak so i can peddle away for weekend adventure of paddling and biking and camping. that would be the best thing ever. so, if anyone has any advice or experience making or owning a kayak trailer for a bike, please let me know.

these are the interesting links i have found so far.
paddleboy (would this woman in her tennis whites really pedal her craft to the lake?)
bikes at work
wike bike trailers (i don't think i want a seat hitch though)
tony's trailer's $$$
so, that's that. it's nice to have another project to add to the long list of projects to work on in the future/finally finish one day!

it's been so long since i've posted. oh well. does it make anyone feel any better that every day i post things to the blog in my imagination? i didn't think so.

today has been quite a sentimental family day, sort of. i called my dad tonight and we talked for a long time, which was nice. i talked about all the crazy natural building and permaculture plans i have for their new house (little do they know...enter evil child laughter here!). i was also cooking some artichoke at the same time, which i haven't done since i was a little kid. we used to boil large artichoke and dip the cooked outer leaves in mayonaise with lemon juice, and just smelling the artichokes on the stove made me think back to those fun summer nights in the harvest gold kitchen i grew up in. it's amazing how much familiarity a specific smell can drudge up from your past. then my mom called from new york (she's such the business traveler) because she met a musician who is mentioned in a raffi song...so i thought of endless raffi songs, and the time she and i spent days in new york when i was looking at colleges (you couldn't pay me enough money to go to school here...and where did i end up? geez) regardless, it made me think of the noreaster of that year, and drafting big rigs to get up a snowy freeway, and raffi songs and driving to the cabin and, yes, more artichoke. then i curled up in bed to do some work online, and i wanted to sleep, and maybe i even shut my eyes a little, even though it was still light outside (even though is was 9.10pm) and it flashed me back to the beginning-of-summer days when i was a kid, when school was almost out, but bedtime was still before 8 o'clock (could you imagine!?) it was so challenging to go to bed before the sunlight ran out...but i guess they coaxed and calmed me somehow. what a novel idea to relax enough while there are still working hours in the day! it's dark now, so i can sleep peacefully...and maybe dream about all the exciting things that i am looking forward to in this summer of long-lit days: almost-midnight gardening, bike rides for ice cream at all hours, climbing to roof, geez...endless adventures.

and now that the sun is down, it's time for me to sleep! (yes, it's 10pm, but apparently my body is on granny time, and i'm just going to go with it!)

cheers and happy summer memories.