Once in awhile-now and again-this is us

We didn’t take many photos in Portland, we were having a good time, and a lot of our shots didn’t turn out. The weather was nice most of the time, but the afternoon after the gardens it was hot. Portland does get hot in the summer, it helps those hops grow, don’t ya know. We stopped at a farmers market and Jessica got some very interesting looking pasta to cook after we left. She sent a picture of the finished dish, looking very fancy.

Jerry wanted an afternoon nap so we went back to our place and Jessica and Carter got some free time before dinner. Jessica picked a great restaurant and we all loved our food and had a great time. No photos taken though.

Next day we drove by their new house they had just bought. We couldn’t go in since it hadn’t closed yet, missing it by a just few days before it was theirs. Darn.

It’s a beautiful house, I love the style and the color of the paint. We drove around a little more traveling along the Willamette river, seeing glimpses of it now and then. It runs through the city of Portland, which is, by the way, a complicated city. They use St,SW, and Ave all in the same address. There are little pocket neighborhoods, with shops and places to eat in every one, kind of like New York. They said one drawback to the new house it’s more in a suburb and won’t have all those close choices to choose from. I think they’re going to love the openness of their new neighborhood.

We ate at a bbq restaurant the night we got to Portland. It was in one of those pocket neighborhoods, just a few blocks from the Airbnb. We could have walked to it but chose not to. Unfortunately Jessica hadn’t picked it for us and it was so spicy we couldn’t eat it🥵very disappointing. The name ‘podnahs’ Jessica explained was slang for ‘pardners’ like “howdy pardner”😄

That final night we had another great meal at this really fun restaurant. We were buying all our meals the whole trip, just as we did for Hannah and Javier, so I encouraged them to eat well and experiment with cocktails. We all did that and enjoyed everything. It was fun meeting Carter, he’s such a cool, down to earth guy. Just right for Jessica. They drove us back, we hugged and said our goodbyes, hoping to see them again.

here’s a short side story~~~~

Around 2008 when Jessica was 13, she adopted a kitten from a litter of four kittens that found their way from the alley to our back yard. With help we were able to have them all fixed. Jessica was wanting a cat so she came and looked at them. I had names for all of them. One who had a two part crooked tail, I named Zorro. It looked like a z. That’s the one she picked. With help again, a long story, we found homes for the other three. We think Midas was a litter mate but he came to the front yard instead and adopted us. But he only wanted to live on the street, and he did for almost 17 years.💗

There were two with bent tails, I forget which one Zorro was, probably the one in between the two, trying to get to the food. She does like to eat.

Zorro today⬇️

She’s a house cat so doesn’t have to deal with the dangers Midas did. She wouldn’t come out from hiding while we were there but maybe next time. I love the color of her eyes, not as much as Midas’s gold eyes though 🤩

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The picture of the girls in the last post was actually at a birthday party. Hannah said they were having a good time but a friend snapped that picture at an odd moment.

I love Scarlett’s new haircut.

I’ll end with this photo all mothers know and have dealt with. Sorry Scarlett, this photo may be used to embarrass you in the future.

We have a new adventure coming up. We’re taking the train to Tacoma again September 17 arriving the 18th. We will be bringing the coach home again. It developed problems too expensive for Hannah and Javie to afford to fix.

So stay tuned for what develops.

💗jilly