from one day to the next, or a few questions

do you suppose
that the falling leaves
fight the inevitable
as much as we do?

and should I feel
ashamed of how much
I appreciate their beauty
as they flutter to their end?

I wonder if anyone
will appreciate
"her delicate grace"
when I meet my demise?

Back to Basics

You know that Monday Night Football song where they scream "Are you ready for some FOOTBALL?!" I always felt slightly pleased with myself, because for me the answer was always a quiet, self-satisfied "nope", and I felt so happy knowing that I didn't have to be ready for some football, because my husband, bless his heart, didn't watch it. Oh, he played it in highschool, but he's just not one of those sports guys. We go to baseball games sometimes, and occasionally we'd catch basketball on the tube, but thank God, we didn't live or die by what games we got to see on television.

When I was growing up, my dad and my brothers LOVED watching sports. And it used to scare the bejesus out of me, because they were SCREAMERS. They'd get so worked up, they'd yell and shout and I was just a delicate flower and it made me jumpy. I HATED it when sports were on. I'd retreat to the back bedroom and play "Cockles and Mussles" on my chord organ, or head downstairs to play Barbie dolls.

So imagine my surprise when our son started to like sports. He's this sensitive, artsy rocker kid, but last year my brother-in-law and nephew watched him while my sister and I hit the sales. On Super Bowl Sunday. That was it. He had to watch the rest of the game at home, and for the last couple months has been BEGGING me to get him some kind of a football jersey. Well, we did a little school shopping the other day, and I picked up a Seahawks jersey on sale. How was I to know they suck? I don't watch football. But the neighbor kid informed me, but then added, "it looks nice though!"

Today, JH and his daddy were out playing a little football, so I took out the camera. And it's weird, because even though it's not a ritual here, it felt like Autumn had arrived.

Fall's Booty

Yesterday was the perfect fall day, even though technically, Autumn didn't arrive until 2:51 this morning. That's merely semantics, though, because while the calendar might have still read "Summer", Fall was in the air, from the crisp apples at the Farmer's Market, to the nip in the air and the fluffy white clouds.

We celebrated by attending a very Portland event: The Portland Pirate Festival. This city takes it's pirates veeeerry seriously, and while we had a good time, both Charley and I were stumped about the attraction. There were a million stalls selling VERY well made and VERY expensive pirate gear. From the beautifully crafted swords to the authentic costumes, many people were dropping some serious dubloons.


There were swashbucklers and swishbucklers and whole-family-pack-bucklers. Pirates of every stripe. And of course there were pirate themed bounce houses for the littlest pirates. There was even a pirate ship that we managed to tour for five minutes. And of course there was pirate food: Corn dogs and kettle corn and fried oysters. Yummmmmm.


My favorite part of the day, besides being with my amazing family, was being able to haul my camera out of the dust and take a million pictures. There was such a bounty of pictitude, I was vibrating with happiness while I clicked away. The most amazing thing about the event wasn't even the people, it was the setting: under the glorious, and I mean GLORIOUS St. John's Bridge.

It was a feast for the eyes. The weather changed every thirty seconds from warm enough to take off your jacket to chilly enough to put it right back on.

At the end of the day, I even talked my husband into stopping at my favorite abandoned building in Vancouver to snap a few pics. I wasn't alone - there were a few other people there taking pictures, so I didn't have the place to myself like I wanted, but it was enough to give me a start. This building is the reason I wanted a good camera.


Today is cold and cloudy, and definitely not summer anymore. But yesterday? AAAARRRRRR, me hearties, yesterday was FINE.