weekend!

Saturday was warm and pleasant, and we had tea in the back yard.  Curried chicken salad sandwiches, carrots, sugar cookies with bacon-flavored frosting, cinnamon meringues, lemon flavored and glazed mini cupcakes, and chocolate shortbread buttons sandwiched together with Nutella.  Also clementines and cantaloupe balls.  We had a splendid time even though there were only 8 of us. The bacon cookies were quite popular and I may do them again.  We drank hot tea, hot coffee, iced tea, iced peppermint tea, lemonade, and cucumber water. Pat mended three items of apparel for her daughter.  I just about finished a kid's hat for Med Team Intnl. Moma was working on a pretty scarf, and wore the gorgeous mauve linen top she knitted last summer.  LG  is just a few rows away from finishing her baby surprise jacket.  Linda A was wondering what to do for her daughter's 50th birthday. I suggested male strippers, but was vetoed.  That's OK.  I don't even know Linda A's daughter It's not like I would have been invited to the party anyhow, so I don't care if they have strippers.

Sunday, DH and I rolled out and tried a breakfast place suggested by Carol -   Genie's.  Forty years ago, Genie's was the sort of bar where they swept out teeth on Sunday mornings after the Saturday night fights. The windows were painted black on the inside. It was what we call an animal shelter.  There were a couple of winos who lived in the blackberry  bushes out back.  But that was then, and the neighborhood has gone much up-scale since then.  Genie's is bright, clean and cheery.  They serve a damn fine brunch with real, honest  food and decent prices.  Add to that, they have pretty good coffee and cheerful service.  We will definitely return.

Our plan was to have breakfast, then go for a walk. But a weather front moved in last night, and it was raining when we finished breakfast.  Well, this is Portland.  If you don't walk in the rain, you don't walk. So we went home for our slickers then set out to walk the Esplanade, a trail downtown that meanders along both sides of the river, with access to all the bridges.  (Portland is a very green sort of city. The river front is public, scenic, and clean.)  After about twenty minutes though, we realized that what had seemed like a like mist was actually a penetrating drizzle.  Our rain jackets had failed in their duty, our saturated pants were clinging to our thighs like wet newspaper, our shoes were squishing, and my hat was leaking an occasional cold drip onto the crown of my head.  So we cut our walk short and headed home.  That's when we started encountering super heroes.  First we saw two young women dressed as Batman and Robin with fluttering capes, jogging along the path.  Then Superman trotted by. Then a family with the 4 year-old dressed as Batman, Dad in a Superman t-shirt, Mom in a Captain America t-shirt, and a darling little re-headed cherub in a pink sweatshirt and cape who I assumed to be Hello Kitty!  The infant in the stroller was just an infant in a stroller as far as I could tell.  Evidently, someone was doing a superhero fun-run.  We saw Wonder Woman and Catwoman, Flash, Green Lantern, King Neptune,  and various caped crusaders that we couldn't identify.  Lots of families with little kids.  I cheered for every super hero under four feet tall, and they all smiled and waved.  Super heroes are wonderful that way.  It warmed the very cockles of my heart as the rain soaked through my my clothes to my underwear.  By the time we got to the car, I could wring out my socks.  My, it was refreshing!

We got home, peeled off the wet things, and jumped into the hot tub.  Steam rose from the surface of the water. Rain made rumbly sounds on the roof.  Squirrels ran through the branches and cursed us, and little birds feasted in the feeder that DH has fastened closed with a bungee cord to keep the squirrels from opening the lid and stuffing all the birdseed into their cheeks.  Life is good.