Friday fun

Kyle had yesterday off, so we got out and about and had some good times. For starters, we got the last bit of information for the taxes and got them finished.  That feels SO good.  Rather than stick them in the mail, we decided to hand-deliver them to the accountant.  As we were driving over there, the fog burned off and we got a big sun-break!  Woohoo!  We love those sun-breaks!

 The accountant's parking lot was full, but his office is near a riverside park, so we drove down there to leave the car and walk to the office.  The noise when we stepped out of the car was astounding!  There were hundreds and hundreds of crows in the trees.  The local CrowsaNostra had assembled and were having a cawcus.  The Godfeather sat on high and directed the occasion. All the trees were loaded with crows all up and down the park for about a mile, and they were all yelling at the top of their lungs. ( I'm sure a lot of the yelling was, "Hey baby, drag it over here!"   it IS spring after all.) But I have never seen such a huge murder of crows before!  (Notice how I slipped that term of collective venery in there?  Murder of crows, unkindness of ravens, knot of toads, congress of baboons; How apt those old terms were!)



All of this crow-foolery was being supervised by a rather fed-up bald eagle.  Every so often he would fly over to another tree, and all the crows in that tree would rise up with raucous cacophony, vacate that tree, and crowd in with their buddies on other branches.  I could have stood there and watched them for hours, but we did have taxes to deliver.

Our accountant is Ray Rowntree and if you are looking for a good, honest, hardworking guy who won't screw you to the wall with outrageous fees, Ray's is your man.  And with all the clients he has, he still recognized us when we showed up unexpectedly, remembered specific personal details about us, and chatted pleasantly with us, although I'm sure he had a stack of work awaiting him attention.  His lovely wife Louise is working with him and we got to meet her, too.  Such a sweetie!

We walked back to the car and managed to accomplish our goal of two miles of strolling.  Then we drove downtown and tracked down a sandwich shop we remembered from decades ago.  Downtown Freddie Brown's serves turkey sandwiches that would make you drool on your shoes!  I used to work in the neighborhood and oh, how it has changed.  When I started working there, it was a bit seedy and run-down, but starting to be re-taken by government and big business.  The building I worked in was owned by Pendleton Woolen Mills, and had originally been built as a livery stable for the delivery vans and horses of a local department store.  We weavers were up on the top floor where they used to store the hay.  Sometimes when the wind blew especially hard, bits of hay would drift out of the joints of the timbers overhead.  I hope they saved those beams when they tore down the old place.  18 inch square 20 foot clear Douglas fir beams.  Trees don't get a chance to grow that big anymore.

If it weren't for a couple of parks, the Federal building, and the city courthouse, I might not have been able to find my way around.  Why am I so outraged that the cityscape has changed while I wasn't looking?

The clouds closed in again, and we drove home, noticing how spring is making her insistent way through the city.  Mature geese have paired off, while last year's youngsters are still flocking around together.  Buds are swelling on the trees. Robins have returned.  And after all the snow and rain of the past week, the river is running high and silty.  Right now, it's cafe-au-lait colored with all that good, rich topsoil being washed out to sea.  Midsummer, when the run-off has abated, you can see almost three feet into the water, and watch the carp frolic with the nutria.

Sewing has been going on.  I used up some scraps to make a baby quilt.  Wrap the tot in that, and no matter where you put him down, you can find him again.

And Mary Jean and I finished another quilt for the Warmth and Water Project.  This one was planned!  The next one will be scrappy, stripy, leftovers, but this one was planned.  Lynn Baker, thank you for the sheets that made this possible!