Tag: friends

Hello to New Couch!

The new couch has arrived! It’s a bit more burgundy than I remembered, but it’s also super comfortable and was better than free.

How was it better than free? My friend Julie had us out to her beach house in Pacific City. Her and her husband Graham gave us a tour of the gorgeous beach house they have been building for the past eight years, they fed us lunch, and we had a walk on the beach. We hauled the couch up the stairs (which was fun for me) and we put it on top of their car. Then Graham strapped the couch to their car’s roof and they drove it to our house where we carried it inside.

We got a great day at the beach and a new couch. Better than free!

I need to do some shuffling of things. That blue chair isn’t going to stay there permanently. But it works okay for now.

Arbor Lodge Jazz Concert

Matt, Laurie, and I headed over to Arbor Lodge Park for a neighborhood jazz concert featuring The Lorna Baxter Quintet.

The concert had been moved from a date earlier in the season due to excessive heat, and this was a perfect day.

The quintet kept us in good tunes.

The neighborhood association had streamers they handed out to the children atttending. It was very fun to watch them dance around.

Roger McLain’s Memorial Service

Roger McLain, father to friend Laurie, died in July and today we attended his memorial service. I loved this picture on the front of the program.

The service began with family members bringing in items and setting up an altar of things Roger loved. I liked that detail.

Along with the full mass came singing along with “Shiver Me Timbers” by Tom Waits. After the service, we went to the parish hall to tell stories and eat Roger’s favorite foods: pizza and strawberry shortcake.

I also loved this sculpture at the church.

Farewell to Roger, who lived a good life and left many people who will miss him.

Chihuly Bridge of Glass

After breakfast we finally told Laurie and Burt that we had lured them to Tacoma so they could be our witnesses. They were excited.

Laurie, looking for outdoor things to avoid COVID, had found the Chihuly Bridge of Glass, which was a not-far walk from our hotel. We set out to explore.

Matt and Burt and a traveler.

Looking up is imperative at the glass bridge.

Here is just a bit of what you will see.

There are also these massive sculptures.

A view of the museum.

Then you can explore this wall of glass.

I had everyone pick a favorite and pose.

Laurie’s:

Mine (it had orange):

Matt’s:

Burt’s:

I also liked this one, with the sea creatures.

Oregon City Ghost Tour

Matt bought a ghost tour of Oregon City at a charity auction and our friends Burt and Laurie met us for the tour.

Oregon City was dressed up for Halloween. Even the municipal elevator got into the action.

We skipped the elevator and walked up the stairs. I enjoy stairs, as I rarely encounter them. North Portland is very flat.

Aside from taking us by some houses that were haunted, our tour guide took us off the beaten path of the tour to see a very festive house. I could not capture the scale due to lack of light, but it was quite impressive as the next three pictures attempt to get at.

The moon was also stunning and eluded capture by my camera.

It was a fun outing in a year with few fun outings.