Sunday Salon...June 23

Peninsula Park, NE Portland, Oregon

Weather: Rainy.  The way to tell it is summer in the Northwest...the rain is warmer.

Yesterday: My husband and I drove down to Portland, Oregon for a romantic evening as an early celebration of our 31st anniversary and to see friends visiting from the East Coast. Unfortunately I was nursing a bad cold so I don't think our romantic week-end quite lived up to the hype.

Today: we met our friends in NE Portland for brunch at Pine State Biscuits where we sat a covered picnic table and shared and ate the amazing biscuits meals. Afterwards we visited a nearby rose garden in Peninsula Park. It is appropriate to visit a rose garden in Portland since it is the Rose City. Thanks for the visit Ken, Carol, Allison, and Kevin. We love you.

This past week: was the first week of summer vacation for me but I worked or went to classes everyday.  The last two weeks of school are just a killer and I couldn't get everything done that I needed to do to close out the school year.  Now all the purchase orders are finalized, I've talked to the Principal about the technology needs for next year, and have cleaned up all loose ends except for the textbook repair.  I will probably work away on these repairs for a few hours here and there for the next few weeks. It is supposed to rain for the next few days so this may be as good a time as any to finish up this odious task.

Books read the past two weeks:

• Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl---this was an audiobook selection that I listened to as I drove back and forth to work and during the rode trip down to Eugene to help my sister celebrate her retirement. It was my first qualifier to the Big Book Summer Challenge as the print version is over 400 pages.
• Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen---I finished this book in less than six weeks reading around 50 pages per week to stay on track.

Currently reading:

• Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver--- my current audiobook. Kingsolver is an amazing writer.
• The Summer Prince by Alaya Johnson---a possible Mock Printz selection, so far not a favorite but it could have something to do with reading it way too slowly.

From the kitchen: Salsa Chicken with polenta.  I made up the recipe. It's easy.

In the garden: three of four rhododendrons deadheaded; sweetpeas transplanted; lilacs starts relocated; and pesky blackberry upstart yanked out.