Portland Summer Adventures!

Otherwise known as "Sneaky Sneak Sneak TWICE!" This weekend Shani and I sneaked up to Portland for Gypsy and Rin's surprise Welcome-To-Portland party. I was very sneaky, and texted Gyp, complaining about not seeing her. Little did she know I was driving up to see her at that VERY MOMENT! We had a nice party at Lisa's with lots of nummy, vegan food. I met a whole bunch of Lisa's crazy friends. Everybody was in costume. Capes, leapards, swords, fairies, and all kinds of fun things! I was dressed as a fairy with wings and my FAVORITE THING, a lantern! I had lots of fun wandering around with it. We all went to the nearby park, and swung on the swings, complete in our costumes, and I with my lantern. Shannon laughed at me, because I kept heading for the darkest shadows under the trees. "Where are you going" "To the darkness," and I would swing my lantern about with glee. That is when Shani started laughing at me. I really loved getting to talk to Gyp after so many years. I met her husband, Rin, for the first time too! I was glad to meet someone so important to my dear Gypsy. Lisa, Shani and I watched the new Muppet Movie after the party. It was good! I loved all the references to the old show and origins. I was also REALLY amazed at their plot devices. They were almost breaking the fourth wall by having the muppets struggle with not being famous. It was brilliant. We finally went to bed around 1 am, planning to get up at 8:30, and head to Powell's. We dragged ourselves up, and lumbered out to the car. We made it to Powell's, after a lot of driving up and down. It was pretty funny; us three girls driving around and around Portland's one-way streets, looking for something familiar, and navigating by a gut feeling that "It's somewhere in that direction. I think." We finally drove by a Starbucks Amy, Bry and I had parked at on a previous Powell's trip. "I know where we are! It's down a block, and up a couple!" Sure enough, there it was! Shani dropped Lisa and I off, and went to find parking. It took her a long time, and she finally texted she found it. We waited for her by the main entrance, and suddenly a strange man hugged me from behind! It was CALEB! He had gotten up to ride the really early bus so he could spend my birthday celebration day with us. The sneaky silly face had even texted me incoherently like he DOES in the morning while he was wandering around the bus station, fully awake. Shani had picked him up while "parking." My friends are so STEALTHY!! I really do have the best friends. They give me so much; their time, their love, themselves. I am blessed beyond measure. We got a book for me, "Soul Music" by Terry Pratchett. It is another of his Discworld series. I have more than 15 of those - they are awesome. Then we went to the Chinese Gardens! Lisa has wanted to take me there for years, and we finally got to go. I got to choose between going to the Chinese Gardens, or going to the zoo. Since it was going to be hot, I knew the animals would be hiding out. I also thought that wandering around in a hot zoo with sleepy, hiding animals would be a lot more miserable than enjoying the tranquility of gardens. I was really glad I chose the gardens. They were lovely, and cool, and very relaxing. I loved wandering around the gardens. There were beautiful sounds and and smells and sights. I had never smelled Gardenias in real life before, only in perfumes. In real life they were AMAAAAAZING! We all enjoyed the gardens thoroughly. It reminded me of the garden we visited in Taiwan. After wandering the garden, we went to the tea house there. I had amazing tea called "Silver Needles," and we shared steamed buns, a kind of turnip pie, and delicious coconut tarts. It was really fun. I enjoyed spending time with my best friends and sharing the beautiful gardens and delicious food with them. Caleb, Shannon and I had a hot ride home. Our car has no air conditioning, so we drove with the windows down all the way. I sunscreened, and wrapped my arm in a thin scarf, but the sun was still really hot, and I felt scorched. We stopped in Salem at a Burger King, and got ice crem and frosty lemonades. That helped. We dropped Shani off at her babysitting job. I came home to the kittens. It was quite warm in the house, and Scotch was overheated!!!! I made him drink water, and before I left to pick Shani up, I stuffed him in the sink and soaked him with cold water. Caramel got a similar treatment. When we got home, we kept cooling the house off, and covered Scotch in a cool, damp rag. He finally cooled down. I was REALLY worried. I am glad he is okay now. Today I am writing, and writing, and writing! Resting some too. I am focusing on doing stuff I want (in Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis mentioned a man in Hell who had spend his life doing "not what I should, nor what I wanted." That is even easier currently with the Internet and our world of distractions.) today. Playing with the kitties, writing letters, catching up on the Bible study, writing on my book, and contemplating stuff. Sounds like a good day to me!