An Invincible Summer - A Woman's Journey

It happened so slowly that I didn’t really know it had. This little big town has become home. The largest city in Oregon, with less than 650,000 people, has half the population density per sq mile of my home town of Los Angeles. Traffic can get bad but nothing by comparison.  The people are unique, hence the city motto of “Keep Portland Weird”, and they’ve grown on me. In general, they are a little more small town than I’m used to so….a bit kinder. It’s a forest. I love the trees. The food is amazing! Gourmet food carts, hole in the wall restaurants, frequent nominees and winners of the James Beard awards (best new restaurant 2023  Kann ). No need to step foot in a chain restaurant here, there is food on every corner and it’s good. I’m finally feeling connected. It’s taken awhile. I had to get beyond my grief and I have. It doesn’t hurt anymore which is lovely. It helps to be out in the garden after a long winter. The rhodys and azaleas were stunning, as were there dogwood and...

I’ve finally gone over to the dark side.  I had honestly never heard of it when it showed up in our town. No telling what rock I was hiding under but that was 8 years ago and now I know too much. All the years of long lines never once made me think, “Hey, I should go give it a try”. The night I am speaking of we were just tired, hungry and a little bit punchy. Living in a new area and not having yet established any “go to’s”, we were at a loss to find something. I said to the Boy Scout, “Let’s  make a pact. Whatever one we come across next, that will be where we stop.” We fist bump and keep going. All the sudden he starts laughing hysterically, having a hard time catching his breath. I look at the direction he is looking and there, in all its glory, is………….Chick-fil-a. What was I suppose to do, we bumped.  We get in the looooong line and wait our turn, order our food and finally drive off to find a cool spot to sit. For the life of me, I cannot fathom what in the heck peo...

Last night we had two couples over for dinner. Being my introverted self, I am usually pretty content to not have people over but the Boy Scout is a social being and has the gift of hospitality to be sure. So the invites went out and were quickly and warmly accepted. After the invites were conveyed, there was a bit of back and forth regarding dietary restrictions. A couple of Paleo's, one non-dairy, no vegetarians. The Boy Scout took each constraint gleefully, as if a test of his ability to adapt and produce good fare despite the handicaps. He did a fantastic job! This girl is not a chef, not even a cook....more of an "as needed (meaning I'm hungry right now) put together whatever takes the least amount of work" kind of gal. I am in awe of his talent but, even more so, his ability to do it with such ease and confidence, as if he were accomplishing a task that he has done since childhood. Perhaps it is my fear of failure that keeps me from enjoying the task....he do...