Friday, February 22, 2008

various yellows

This is my fourth February in Portland, and it still knocks me off balance when the flowers start to bloom. I feel like they're sneaking out, against their better judgment....mom and dad will find out and they'll be sentenced to their rooms for life. But somehow....they don't get caught, and manage to turn yellow, white, and purple in their bravery....

When asked quite seriously if I'm ready to move across those mountains to Bend, my honest answer is an emphatic no. Even though I spout discontentment with the meteorological patterns we've got here, I don't know if I'm ready to trade it all in for four distinct seasons. Not yet. It's not time.

Things are good.....very good, actually.

We're planning a trip with Dad to camp across the Mojave this May....We'll visit places he once camped out at in the early 70's, sleep under the stars, and visit the curiously named Zzyzx. He's going to bring out his high school banjo, and maybe I'll fulfill one perpetual new year's resolution and learn to play that thing.

Lunar eclipse on Wednesday night....driving home, we passed crowds of people (and dogs) on the sidewalks, all facing east. It felt like something from a movie - where the public is transfixed at the sight of a huge Godzilla destroying New York City and they can do nothing but stare in horror, feet rooted to the ground in fear. A little boy on Broadway called out from the roof a parking garage, "Eclipse, Eclipse, look at the Eclipse!" We watched it for a while with him and his parents, and then asked what he thought would happen when the moon was fully eclipsed. He looked at us somewhat excitedly and said, "Total Destruction".