Taking The Long Way Home

We have a car, just one to share, but because parking is $125 a month, and public transportation in Portland is just dandy, we're going to consider selling the car at some point. That's a big one, letting go of one's own wheels, so no rushing into it. First we'll take some time to explore letting the streetcars, busses, and Max trains drive us around. Our first big trek took us all the way out to the zoo, which we both had really mixed feeling about. Vegans aren't supposed to support zoos, and I'll talk more about that over at Positively Vegan at some point. For now I'll just say that I loved the zoo so little that I wasn't inspired to take even a single photo. The transportation experiment however, was most encouraging. So much so that we hopped right back out there the next day to do some shopping. This is kind of a small downtown Target, but it's right on the streetcar line, and we find most of what we need there. For the huge store ...

We've finally finished ferrying stuff from the storage unit that's 20 minutes from here, and either finding the right place for it in our new place, or stuffing it in an even smaller storage "cage" in the basement of our building - for an extra monthly fee of course. We've also made three major trips to Ikea, and either hauled home, or had delivered two tiny rooms full of furniture. This, of course, needed to be removed from flat boxes and assembled. And this, of course, mostly fell on Rick because he's the big strong man and because he likes puzzles and tools. The only specks of furniture from our past life are two nightstands, which also happen to be from Ikea, and only made the cut because they have good storage and doors that close. The only other piece we brought is my antique oak dresser, with its carved mirror and built in hat box, and it does't even fit in the apartment (visually or physically). We could't have known that ahead of time,...

I hear it's been typical spring weather back in Taos - cold and snowing - while here in Portland we're enjoying hot sunny days and evenings warm enough to walk down to the river in t-shirts. I am not delusional (usually), and I know it rains here, sometimes a lot. We've already had a mixed bag of weather in the short time we've been here. And that tells me a couple of things. One, don't put away the winter clothes and rain gear in the summer. And two, we need to go out and play whenever we can. That's just what we did last night, after a long day of Moving Stuff Around, which I hope we'll be finished with soon. The full moon is always a reason to go out at night, and the promise of it sparkling on water is too much for me to resist. After dinner we rounded up the dogs, left our sweaters behind, and strolled down to the river, a ten minute walk from our door. There were lots of people out enjoying the weather and the moonlight. Even the dogs appreciate...

I've never used a glass cooktop, but it's a great place to set champagne. To save space, we have wine glasses, but not champagne flutes. Not a problem. Not for us. Just 2 weeks and a weekend after leaving Taos, and our world has changed completely. We moved into our sweet little studio apartment on Friday, and we love it more than I ever could have imagined. It's like the Universe plopped us right here in the perfect spot for us, which of course is exactly what happened. The apartment is a spacious 571 square feet, with a low wall that divides the bedroom from the kitchen/living space. The kitchen is small, but workable for us. The bathroom is fairly large. In fact it feels bigger than our Taos bathroom, and it has a nice little stacking washer and dryer in it. I love that. I am being wowed by things most people take for granted, like a dish washer, clothes dryer, and garbage disposal. What wonderful inventions! I haven't had any of them in years and I'm reall...

I have a little charm I wear on a necklace that says, "Move Like A River." It's my mantra of the moment. All I can do these days is go with the flow, drifting along with what I can see on the surface, surrendering to the unseen currents that run beneath, and dodging the rocks and tree limbs the best I can. Portland is pretty wonderful so far, and I love that there's an enormous river running through the middle of the city. We came here to be nearer to family in Seattle, San Jose, and Reno, and to see how Portland works for us a a hub that's roughly central to the other three places. It looks really good on paper, with it's wealth of vegan restaurants, fun neighborhoods, culture, and outdoor fun to explore. Finding our place here, when we kind of pick up our feet a float along with what wants to happen, is easier than I think it is at times. Moving is stressful, and we've been on the move for quite a while now, from sorting, packing, and selling our thi...

We made it to Portland on schedule, after a long almost-week, some ups and downs, and a lot of emotions - mostly mine. This is no small thing, uprooting ourselves "at this age" and starting all over again on a course that's not very clear to us. I cry a lot. I have fun. I do my best to roll with whatever happens, and to trust the Bigger Plan that we can't see. It feels right to be doing this crazy thing. And then, every so often, I completely fall apart. I gauge my days by how many times I cry. Yesterday was a 4-cry day. Today was only 2, but one was a real meltdown, and I deserved it. We spent last night in a somewhat sketchy Motel 6 just outside of Portland. I had a bad feeling about it instantly, but we were tired and decided to spend the night there because it was relatively close to the storage unit we'd booked ahead of time. Long story short, we should have listened to that gut feeling. Someone cut the lock on the UHaul during the night and stole 2 suitcas...