Photography
The boy and I went to OMSI on Saturday while the girls did some crafts and made Christmas presents with a coworker. They have an exhibit called Monsters of the Abyss: Aquatic predators Past + Present. From the website:
Meet massive mosasaurs, a spine-chilling Spinosaurus, and bizarre creatures as you travel through millions of years, witnessing the rise and fall of Earth’s most awe-inspiring aquatic creatures as well as their present-day descendants. Highlighted by amazing fossils, daily educational programming, and some unbelievable live animals, this exhibit brings guests face-to-face with the real-life monsters who defy imagination and have inspired myths and legends.
Since they're working on updating the upstairs exhibit space, only the smaller downstairs area had programming, so this made for a quicker than usual run-through.
We ended up watching the 30th Anniversary showing of Jumanji on the really big screen. I probably hadn't seen it in a few decades. The graphics were cornier than I remembered, but it was still nice to see a show I didn't have to think too much about. I think my son had a good time as well.
Today my wife and I celebrated 10 years since our first date, which was at a now-closed bar called Kask, which was a few blocks from my old apartment in the West End. Today we went to a Sri Lankan restarant called Mirisata. We shared their special, which consisted of Pumpkin Curry, Deviled Potatoes, Tempered Okra, and green Bean Mallum. I added on the Jaggery "Beef" Curry and she had a spiced cider. Everything was very good, but we both agreed that the vegan beef curry was the best.
Afterward, we went for a couple mile stroll around Belmont, Stark and Kerns. We frequently find ourselves in cemeteries, and today took us to Lone Fir. It was a beautiful day. Dry and warm enough for mid-November. Things seamed pretty quiet for such a nice day and we both agreed that people must be taking advantage of it and heading out to be in nature.
We found ourselves in Kerns again and had some soft serve at the same place we brought the kids over Pride weekend.
We wrapped things up at Creo Chocolate, where we got an education in the manufacture and distribution of the stuff. While not at all what I was expecting, it was a nice experience. The owner, who was certainly a character, talked about how he and his wife got into the business 12 years ago and taught us about the various types of chocolate they manufacture. If you ever end up checking it out, bring water. Lots of samples!
We even made our own chocolate bars at the end.
It was a busy week full of social events and soccer. My coworker had a BBQ yesterday and I hosted a neighborhood potluck at the park today. I was too busy to take many photos, but it was a good turnout. I’m really trying to organize and build community. It’s the hole in my life I’m trying to change.
In the same way, this morning I also went to my second ever Catholic mass. I went alone to the 8 am. I’ve been trying a few churches out to see how I feel about them, community-wise.
While I’m agnostic, I’ve always been interested in Catholicism from a community perspective. I recently realized—or had the epiphany—that many of the best people I’ve ever known have been Catholic. I definitely prefer the hocus pocus over the worship rock bands at Protestant churches, too. At very least, it’s a great personal ethnography.
Yesterday we headed over to the coast for the day, which we hadn’t done yet this year. It was 30° cooler at Cannon Beach than it was at home in Portland (100°).
I saw this and had to pull over.
I spoke to the man on the bike once he got to the top of the hill. He said he was en route to Chehalem Ridge Metro Park.
It’s the prey drive.
We spent the middle of the week cabin camping with some good friends. It was memorable for me because the kids are at a great age to create some early memories. We swam, fished, paddle boarded, had campfires, cooked good food – and of course plenty of time for the kids to play and ride bikes. I purchased a cheap projector from Amazon, along with a large cloth screen, and pre-downloaded some movies so the adults could have some fun together at night. We also had an incident with my car that included a child's bike 😄.
A mule on Penny's parents' property.
Our friend, who officiated our wedding, is in town from the Bay Area. We spent some time on Alberta Street this afternoon, shopping the used book stores, eating good food, and enjoying the murals. We made our way down to Kerns afterwards, got some soft serve, and caught a tiny bit of Pride. 🏳️🌈
Some photos of train travel between San Jose and Sacramento.
Some photos of my trip to the Bay Area. I walked something like 25,000 steps this day and met up for dinner with my old college roommate. It was a really nice day.
