Hi all, long time no see. We have been back from our trip to Germany for 2 weeks now and I finally got all our pics uploaded. We took about 500, i put just over 300 online. Im planning to blog about each day we were there, but for those who cant wait here is the album:

Holas! Regresamos de nuestro viaje a Alemania 2 semanas passadas. Finalmente nuestras fotos estan en el web. Tomimos 500 fotos, mas o menos, y yo puse 300 de las en el web. Voy a escribir en el blog acerca de cada dia en Alemiana, pero si no pueden esperear aqui es el album de fotos

http://picasaweb.google.com/jennandcarlos/GermanyAug08

Hi!

We are enjoying a beautiful evening on our new patio. Its in the low 80s but our patio is mostly in the shade now and there is a nice breeze. We're listening to our local NPR jazz radio station and watching the birds and squirrels while sipping peach nectar (fancy peach juice) and having some locally made cheese and salsa. I could get used to this :)

Estamos disfrutando una tarde bonita en nuestro nuevo patio. La temperatura esta 28C pero el patio esta mayormente en la sombra y hay un poco de viento. Estamos escuchando al canal de jazz en la radio y mirando las aves y las ardillas mientras bebemos jugo de durazno y comemos queso y salsa de tomate hechas localmente. Me gusta mucho esta vida :)

This morning we went to the Beaverton Farmers Market. In addition to getting my usual delicious bagel from Serious Bread we got patty pan squash, honey crisp apples, corn, basil, and yellow wax beans from Sun Gold Farm just 30miles outside of Beaverton, and salsa, a sorbet swirl watermelon (orange and yellow inside!), butter lettuce, a red pepper, and carrots (orange this week not purple as in previous weeks) from Gathering Together Farm. We got some nice ground lamb and pork cutlets from Lonely Lane Farms where we get most of our meat during market season. We have a nice beef tritip from them thawing for dinner tomorrow and some babyback ribs frozen for another time. We also got fresh line caught salmon at the market for dinner tonite :)

Esta mannana fuimos al Beaverton Farmers Market. Conseguimos muchas comidas deliciosas. Un bagel de Serious Bread y calabaza, manzanas, choclo, albahaca, y frijoles amarillos de Sun Gold Farm solo 30 millas desde Beaverton, y salsa de tomate, melon amarillo y anaranjado, lechuga, pimiento rojo, y zanahorias (pero esta semana conseguimos anaranjadas, no moradas como las semanas pasadas de Gathering Together Farm. Conseguimos algo de carne de oveja molida y filetes de cerdo de Lonely Lane Farms donde conseguimos mayormente nuestras carnes durante la estacion del mercado. Tenemos algo de lomo para la cena mannana y costillas de cerdo para un otro tiempo. Tambien conseguimos salmon fresco para la cena anoche.

Annd.. for the first time we got EGGS!! An egg guy started coming a few weeks back, last week was the first time we noticed him and he was all out. We got half a dozen lovely brown eggs. I think i will make a market omlette tomorrow.. maybe with some fresh pesto I made with the basil after we got home.. mmm

Y , por primera vez, conseguimos HUEVOS! Un hombre con huevos empezo a venir al mercado unas semanas antes, la semana pasada fue la primera en que lo vimos y todos los huevos estaban vendidos. Hoy conseguimos 6 huevos marrones simpaticos. Creo que voy a cocinar un omelete mannana, posiblemente con pesto fresco que cocine hoy con la albahaca.. mmm..

And.. handkerchiefs. No I didnt find these at the market. In fact Ive had a terrible time finding them at all! After going through a box of kleenex in 1 day during a cold last year i decided it makes a lot more sense to use a hanky. I checked Nordstrom, Macys, and Target and found no ladies hankies. Finally I gave up and got some plain white mens hankies. I got some embroidery thread to make them "girly" (and distinguishable from Carlos'). What a pain!

Y, pannuelos. No, no encontre estos en el mercado. He estado buscando pannuelos por algun tiempo y no encontre. Despues de usar una caja de kleenex en un dia el anno pasado decidi que pannuelos son mejores. Los busque en Nordstrom, Macys, y Target pero no los encontre. Finalmente compre algos pannuelos blancos de hombre. Compre algo de hilo para feminizar mis pannuelos y para distinguirlos de los pannuelos de Carlos. Que pena!

Thats it for now, Adios!

Behold, our new deck! / Mira, nuestra patio nuevo!

View from the corner by our patio door / Vista desde la esquina al lado de la puerta



Other side. See how wide the rails are? Great for drinks :) / otro lado. Mira que anchos son los topes de las barandas, muy bueno para bebidas :)



View from the backyard. The space under the deck is where we want to put some rain barrels, we are also hoping to get a very small shed for our tools next to the house where the hot tub was. The builders cut out a little hole in the deck so we could hook up the hose. Also notice how the railings dont go all the way to the deck floor. This is going to make cleaning the deck off a ton easier since we can just sweep the leaves right of the deck.

Vista del jardin de atras. El espacio debajo del patio es donde queremos poner algunos recipientes de lluvia. Tambien queremos conseguir una cabanita para nuestras herramientas en donde estuvo la spa. Los constructores hicieron un agujero en el patio para la mangera. Tambien se ve que las barandas son un poco mas cortas que el piso del patio. Estara mas facil para limpiar el patio con las barandas asi, podimos barrer las hojas por todos lados.



Here are some views from our bedroom window on the second floor. Filling the bird feeder will be much easier now :) / Aqui estan algunas vistas desde la ventana de nuestro dormitorio en el segundo piso. Poniendo comida para las aves en la casita va a ser mas facil ahora :)





Next we need to put several coats of stain on the deck. Since the rainy season is fast approaching this is likely to consume a few evenings / weekends before we leave for Germany

Ahora necesitamos pintar el patio. La estacion de lluvia viene pronto, asi que creo que vamos a pintar durante unas noches y/o fin de semanas antes de salir a Alemania

Yesterday we went hiking at Saddle Mountain. This trail has been closed for most of the hiking season due to extensive storm damage from this past winter. There was a cloud hanging over the mountain all day, we only got up to the first peak in the saddle and turned back because the weather was crappy, and the last 1/2 mile is pretty sketchy even in good weather. We did see some beautiful wild flowers along the way though.. sorry, no pics

Ayer fuimos a hiking en Saddle Mountain. Este camino fue cerrado por lo mejor de la estacion de hiking porque una gran tormenta en el invierno derrumbo muchos arboles gigantes. Ayer hizo mal tiempo en la cima, asi que solo fuimos a la primera cima de las dos. Miramos algunas flores bonitas en el camino, pero no tomamos fotos.

Thats it for now! Esto es todo por ahora!

Hello all, its been a busy month! Besides being busy with work Ive also started to learn German since we are leaving in a month for our overdue honeymoon in Germany :-D

Hola chicos, este mes fue ocupado! He estado ocupada con trabajo y tambien empeze a aprender aleman porque salimos a alemania en un mes :-D

Mom treated Bethany and I to a girls weekend in Reno / Lake Tahoe. We had a great time, you can see the album here. The water was so blue, it was incredible. It was a really nice relaxing time to just be with family. Usually the only time we get together anymore is during holidays when things are kind of nuts, it was really nice to just chill out and catch up with eachother.

Mi madre nos tomo a Bethany y a mi a Reno Nevada y Lake Tahoe para una fin de semana solo para las chicas. Tuvimos un buen tiempo, el album de fotos esta aqui. El aqua en el lago Tahoe es tan azul - increible! Fue muy bueno pasar algun tiempo solo con mi familia, usualmente nos vemos solo en feriado cuando estamos ocupadisimas. Este tiempo podimos relajar y conversar acerca nuestras vidas. Muy simpatico tiempo :)

Otherwise in August we had our house painted and got a new deck!! Pics coming soon, hopefully this weekend. We have a ton of space under the new deck, Id like to get a rain cistern under there since we get so much rain in the winter but are so dry in the summer. It seems though that our deck isnt quite high enough for even the low profile rain barrels, and these "pillow" type rain barrels (basically giant bags) are really expensive. I might just get a few food grade barrels (~$30 a piece) and hook them together. We will see!

En agosto el casa fue pintada y conseguimos un nuestro patio de atras! Fotos van a venir pronto, espero que este fin de semana. Tenemos mucho espacio debajo del patio, quiero conseguir algunos recipientes para recoger lluvia porque hay mucha lluvia aqui en el invierno pero no hay lluvia aqui en el verano. El patio no tiene sufficiente altura para los recipientes pequennos. Hay bolsos especialmente para recoger lluvia pero son carisimos. Creo que vamos a conseguir algunos recipientes baratos y podimos conectarlos para hacer un recipiente mas grande.

Thats it for now, have a great weekend! / Esto es todo por ahora, Que tengan un buena fin de semana!

We had a lovely weekend at Lost Lake on Mt Hood. There was a lot of wildlife, including this chipmunk!

Tuvimos una bonita fin de semana en el Lago Perdido en Monte Hood. Fue muchos animales incluido esta ardillita



( Find us at Lost Lake... )

 Hi All!

Last weekend we went to the Gorge Games; extreme sports competitions in Hood River (the wind/kite surfing capital of the world! yeah!). We are planning to go camping & canoeing at Lost Lake this weekend, and our deck is about to be demolished!!

La fin de semana pasada fuimos a los Gorge Games, deportes de viento en Hood River (el capital de windsurfing en todo el mundo!)  Esta fin de semana vamos a camping & canotaje en Lost Lake, un lago en Mt Hood, y nuestro patio va a ser demolido!

( Check it out.. now that i figured out this LJ cut thing )

Hello world!

This past weekend we traveled to PA for my cousin Chris's wedding. It was a really brief visit (in at 10am saturday, back on the plane at 4 on Sunday) but we had a really good time. Chris and I spent a lot of time playing together when we were kids since he and his brother Clint lived across the street from us. I sometimes think about how my kids wont get to be that close with their cousins, but thats another story.

El fin de semana pasada fuimos al Pennsylvania para el matrimonio de me primo Chris. El viaje fue muy corto (llegamos a las 10 de la manana el sabado, salimos a las 4 de la tarde el domingo). Cuando eramos jovenes, Chris y yo jugamos juntos mucho porque Chris vivio al lado de yo. A veces pienso en que mis hijos no va a conocer sus primos tan bueno que yo, per esto es una otra cuenta

It was especially cool since Chris and I have a lot of the same high school friends, so I got to spend some time with friends I havent seen in quite a while, as well as get to introduce my husband :-D

El dia fue especialmente bueno por que Chris y y tenemos muchos amigos mismos del colegio, entonces pude pasar un poco tiempo con mis amigos, y pude introducirlos a mi esposo :-D

Heres the sign outside the hotel where the reception was / Aqui esta el cartel del hotel del recepcion



Here we are at the house - Mom, Bethany, her friend Jamie, Carlos and I

Aqui estuvimos en la casa - Madre, Bethany y su amiga Jamie, Carlos y yo







Now some pics from the reception / Ahora algunas fotos del recepcion

The Clints! Clint III and Clint Jr, brother and father of the groom / Mi primo Clint III y mi tio Clint Jr, hermano del novio y padre del novio



The stylish Bethany / Mi hermana Bethany



The happy couple / Los novios





Bethany and Carlos dancing! / Bethany y Carlos bailando!



Miss Xena sleeping / El gato de mi Madre, Xena, dormiendo





And of course, Anubis! / y por supuesto Anubis!



One more pic from PA. The blue spruce tree in this photo is Tree Margret. My girl scout troop planted this tree when I was maybe 14

Una foto mas de Pennsylvania. El arbol azul en esta foto se llama "tree margret" Mi tropa de girl scouts plantamos este arbol cuando tuve 14 anos mas or menos




Now for some pics from Portland / Algunas fotos de Portland

Our cherry tree had 3 cherries. We think the neighborhood kids ate 2 of them. Here is the remaining one

Nuestro arbol de cerezas tuvo 3 cerezas. Creemos que algunos jovenes se las comieran. Aqui esta la ultima





Our red columbine / una flor se llama "columbine"



Our gardenias, thanks to Ceci (Carlos' aunt) for giving them to use :) / Nuestras gardenias, gracias a Ceci para regalar nos las



Thats all the photos I have, now to the bikes / Esto es todo de las fotos, ahora las bicicletas

Lately there have been a lot of bike related incidents here in Portland. It started out with this crazy guy smashing the car of a bike advocate with his bicycle in a drunken rage, followed by this crazy guy driving drunk and ending up with a cyclist on his windshield, followed by a cyclist that ran a red light and t-boned a truck now in serious condition in a hospital

And while looking up the links for the above incidents I found another from today - cyclist smashes bus window.

All of this activity happened downtown. I dont really see any behavior like this at all where I bike but all of these stories have everyone talking. As a person who spents more time in a car than on a bike (but lately a lot of time on a bike) I can say that at least in my experiences, both cyclists and motorists disobey the laws pretty equally. Yet as I read these stories day after day I cant help but think what the heck is wrong with these bikers? I passed a woman biking with a kiddie trailer on my way home. At first I was excited, but then as I got closer i noticed that she wasnt wearing a helmet, and when rang my bell to signal that i was about to pass she didnt respond.. because she was wearing headphones.. wearing headphones is illegal for drivers and bikers in Oregon for obvious reasons.

I think one reason we hear about all of this in Portland is because of the high percentage of cyclists - on average 6% of people in downtown ride bikes for transportation, and i think it can be as high as 15% in some neighborhoods. Statistically speaking more incidents are bound to happen there.

One thing that is unique about this situation is that cars and bikes can interact. To use the bike-clubbing incident as an example, lets assume you were in a car and the car in front of you ran a light. You might think 'what a jerk!' Now what would you do about it? Probably nothing. At the next light you would just be positioned behind the car, its highly unlikely that you would get out of your car and confront the other driver.

Now consider what happens with a bike and a car. Since a bike travels next to a car there is plenty of opportunity for interaction. When I drive and get frustrated at another driver I might say some nasty things, but usually my opinions are contained within my car. On a bike you are subject to (and subject others to) these opinions and feelings; there is no longer a cabin of metal to shield yourself and others from such comments, so people start communicating with eachother and can get into heated arguments

I have a hard time with this. Im trying to be more concientous of the comments I make while Im biking, but I have to admit im definitely a hot head when it comes to such things, ESPECIALLY if someone has knowingly tried to harm or scare me. I instantly want to take revenge and employ all methods of vocal and body language to convey that desire. And in the rare instance that I get to read someone the riot act for wronging me I always feel worse afterwards. Always. Im pretty sure I feel bad because I too am acting like a jerk.

It is frustrating when people dont follow the rules and put others at risk. Unfortunately no one (myself included) wants to hear that we are wrong, so confronting others about breaking rules almost always seems to end with vulgarities. I am personally trying to accept that I can be wrong, and trying to focus more on being at peace with others instead of having to be right all the time. I think if we all try to do this then these types of incidents will abate.

I still dont know what to do about confronting law breakers. When someone is doing something dangerous (like riding the wrong way in the bike lane) that could harm others I think its important to point it out, but what if the person flips out and tries to harm me for bringing it up? Its too bad that our society is in such a state. I dont know what to do really.

Today is show and tell from the last few weeks. Hope everyone had a nice 4th!

Hoy voy a poner nuestras fotos aqui

San Francisco

We visited our friend Laura in San Francisco. Weather was quite nice there, not so nice in Portland :-D

Visitamos nuestra amiga Laura en san Francisco. Hizo buen tiempo alla per no hizo buen tiempo en Portland

Even the cats were relaxing / Un gato relajando



We took a walk through Crissy Field / Andamos en Crissy field



Saw some wildlife / Mirando aves



And made silly faces while waiting to go to jail.. to tour Alcatraz. We were there the day of the escape from Alcatraz triathalon but passed by as things were wrapping up

Estuvimos esperando el bote a Alcatraz, una prision famosa. Estuvimos alla en el mismo dia de una triatlon pero no la vimos







The boat trip to Alcatraz was quite windy / Hizo viento en el camino a Alcatraz





Some photos from Alcatraz. They have a really good audio tour narrated by former wardens and prisoners

Algunas fotos de Alcatraz. Tienen un audiotour muy bueno narrado por los antiguos carceleros y prisoneros.







View of the City from The Rock / La vista de San Francisco desde Alcatraz







Fortunately there is good public transit to alleviate our tired feet
Afortunadamente hay buena transportacion publica para descansar nuestros pies



Carlos looking cool



We took a nice walk through Presidio Park / Andamos en Presidio Park



View from Inspiration point / la vista del punto de inspiracion



We found a really nice place for dinner in Sausalito at The Spinnaker restaurant. It was out on the water, here is a view of the city

Encontramos un resturante muy bueno en Sausalito que se llama The Spinnaker. Esta en la bahia. Aqui esta la vista de la ciudad



We got a great table at the back corner / Conseguimos una mesa buena





We stayed at the Adante Hotel which has a cool nautical theme. Here are some pics from our room

Nos hospedamos en el hotel Adante que tiene un tema nautico. Aqui estan algunas fotos de nuestro dormitorio





The hotel had an adjoining cafe, Adante's inferno. I had a nice morning there reading and having coffee. They had some really cool art. The face of the octopus in this one is a circuit board

El hotel tiene un cafe al lado que se llama Andante's Inferno. Pase una buena mannana alla leendo y tomando cafe. El cafe tiene arte interesante. La cara del pulpo es un circuito electronico



Good times!

Berrying with Bethany

The following weekend my sister Bethany came out for a visit. We picked strawberries and took out our new canoe for the first time.

La fin de semana despues mi hermana Bethany nos visito. Recolectamos fresas y usamos nuestra nueva canoa por primera vez

We went strawberry picking at Bagginstos Farms/ Recolectamos fresas en la granja Bagginstos







We ended up picking 20 lbs of berries!! / Recolectamos 9 kilos de fresas!!



A closer look at the berries / Las fresas



Bethany baked 2 awesome strawberry pies for us / Bethany nos hizo 2 pies de fresas



We went out to Hagg lake for a picnic and canoeing / Fuimos al lago Hagg para un picnic y para canotaje



mmmm foood





Our canoe! / Nuestra canoa



Carlos looking very canoish / Carlos esta listo para canotaje



The maiden voyage! / La inauguracion!

Seattle

A few pics from our trip to Seattle. We went to see a symphony concert and also visited the Tacoma glass museum

Algunas fotos de nuestro viaje a Seatle. Fuimos alla para un concierto simfonico y visitamos el museo de vidrio en Tacoma

Mt Rainier close up / Monte Rainier



Carlos outside of the Tacoma glass museum / Carlos afuera del museo de vidrio



We couldnt take any pics inside the museum :( It was really neat, very nice galleries and a Hot Shop where a visiting glass artist was making glass art live!! We enjoyed watching a piece being created out of molten glass in front of us

No pudimos tomar fotos en el museo :( Las galerias fue bueno y hay un estudio de creacion de arte de vidrio. Vimos el creacion de un arte de vidrio fundido!

Dale Chihuly is from Tacoma, many of the permanent installations for the gallery were by him and his team including these:

Dale Chihuly es de Tacoma, muchas de las instalaciones permanentes en la galeria fueron hechas por el

The Fourth

We have had a pretty low key weekend, mostly just hanging around the house. We made some good barbeque yesterday and went to see the fireworks on the waterfront. Today we took our boat out to Sauvie Island. We are really lucky to have so many places to take our canoe out close by - it takes us about 20min to drive to Sauvie Island and we stopped at one of the Farm Markets there on the way back to get our produce for the week

Para la feriada no hicimos mucho. Cocine barbeque ayer y fuimos a mirar los fuegos artificales en el malecon. Hoy traimos nuestra canoa a Sauvie Island. Tenemos mucha suerte que hay muchas lugares en que podemos usar nuestra canoa. Suavie Island es 20 minutos desda la casa y fuimos a un mercado en la isla cuando regresamos

Jenn with the H.M.S Gato (our new canoe) / Jenn con el H.M.S Gato



We were wondering about the history of Sauvie Island. There are a lot of old dock foundations along the channel, and an interesting old barge

Pensamos en la histora de Sauvie Island. Hay muchas cosas antiguas en el canel





We were nearly overtaken by pirates!! / Piratas!





There were also planes / Aviones



And water skiiers / esquiadores de agua



Back at the dock with the boat / Carlos con la canoa



Wow, thats a lot of typing. And now back to the Harry Potter marathon on ABC!

Mucho escribiendo. Voy a volver a la maraton de Harry Potter en ABC

As Ive mentioned before biking is awesome. Ive been biking to work 3 days a week now for the last few weeks, i think this week i may actually get 4 days in. I got a rack and some panniers and im enjoying them a lot more than my backpack

Bicicletear es increible. Bicicleteo a trabajo 3 dias cada semana, esta semana quiero bicicletear 4 dias. Consegui nuevas bolsas para mi bicicleta se llama panniers. Me gustan mas que mi mochila

Ive started counting how many other cyclists I see during my 7.5 mile trip. I typically get somewhere between 15-18 other cyclists, which is 2-3X the number of other cyclists Ive seen in years past. Here are some reasons why biking is awesome

1. Fresh air and sunshine
2. You get to say "hi!" to your fellow commuters
3. Wildlife - I regularly see birds, squirrels, dogs, and cats, today I saw 2 raccoons!!
4. Health and fitness

Empeze a contar cuantas ciclistas veo cuando ir a trabajo. Usualmente cuento 15-18 otras ciclistas. Aqui estan algunas razones que bicicletear es increible

1. Aire fresco y sol
2. Pueden saludar otros ciclistas
3. Animales - usualmente veo aves, ardillas, gatos, y perros. Hoy veo 2 mapaches!!
4. Salud

I started my 3rd spanish class tonite, but there are only 2 of us so its likely to get cancelled. Fortunately there is a spanish 4 class meeting in the same room later in the evening that has more people, so I think i will transfer into that one.

Empezo el tercer clase de espanol anoche pero solo hay dos estudiantes entonces la clase va a estar cancelado. Afortunadamente el cuarto clase de espanol esta en el mismo lugar despues el tercer clase. Voy a mover al cuarto clase.

Also, i have lots of pics from our awesome weekend in San Francisco with Laura and our awesome weekend here in Portland with my sister Bethany. We picked 20lbs of strawberrries and took our new canoe on its maiden voyage!! This weekend we are going to Seattle to see the Symphony (my gift to Carlos for his birthday) and the Chihuly museum in Tacoma, so we will have even more pics. I just need to find time to upload them....

Tengo muchas fotos de nuestros fin de semanas en San Francisco con Laura y aqui en Portland con mi hermana Bethany. Conseguimos 8 kilos de fresas y sacamos nuestra canoa a un lago para la primera vez! Esta fin de semana vamos a ir a Seattle para un concierto simfonico (me regalo a Carlitos para su cumpleannos) y queremos ir al museo Chihuly en Tacoma en el regreso, entonces voy a tener mas fotos. Necesito encontrar tiempo para ponerlas aqui

Nite!! Buenas noches!!

Woohoo, long weekend!

Yesterday we went hiking on Dog Mountain, supposedly one of the prettiest (and most painful) hikes around. We have proof of the pretty (pics) and proof of the pain (standing up hurts). Turns out that we went on the best day of the weekend, it was sunny and in the 70s -80s yesterday but today it is rainy and humid.

Ayer fuimos a Dog Mountain (Monte de perros). Este camino es uno de los mas bonitos aqui, pero tambien es uno de los mas dificules. Tenemos fotos (para bonito) y dolor en las piernas (para dificil). Ayer hizo buen tiempo con mucho sol y no lluvia. Hoy es lloviendo y humido

First - to impress upon you just how hard this hike is check out the trail marker "most difficult" / Miran la sinnal del camino - se dice "mas dificil":



The theme of the day was "up". Fortunately there were many beautiful flowers and views to keep us motivated on the calf burning climb

El tema del dia fue "arriba" Afortunadamente fue muchas flores y vistas bonitas para motivar nos :)

Carlos coming up the trail / Carlos caminando arriba



View of the gorge on the way / Vista del gorge



The strawberries were in bloom / las fresas floreciendo



Another gorge view / otra vista del gorge



Mission bells / flores se llama "mission bells"



The aptly named "inside out flower" / unas flores se llama "fores al reves"



Star flower



Going up!



The trail divides about 0.7 miles from the trail head. We took the "less difficult" (more scenic) route from there which passes by this awesome open meadow about half way up. It was covered with these beautiful yellow flowers called "arrowleaf balsamroot"

El camino se divide casi 0.7 millas del empieza. Tomimos el camino "menos dificil" (pero mas bonito) y pasamos en este lugar muy bonito. Cubre con muchos flores amarillas bonitas se llama "arrowleaf balsamroot"

Arrowleaf balsamroot and red paintbrush:



There were these cool white bell-shaped flowers with blue stripes called "douglas triteleia" This isnt a very good shot but trust me, they were cool

Una foto de las flores blancas con rayas azules. Esta foto no es muy buena pero las flores son muy bonitos



This one looks like bear grass but I dont know for sure, i think its too small.



Carlos in the meadow / Carlos en el meadow



View from the meadow / vista de meadow



Jenn with some more arrowleaf basamroot



Some pretty lavender flowers / algunas flores moradas bonitas



A squirrel in a tree enjoying some lunch / Una ardilla en el arbol disfrutando almuerzo



Carlos coming up the trail in the last mile / Carlos caminando arriba en la ultima milla



But still more up! / Pero todavia mas arriba!



Jenn has had just about enough going up / Jenn no quiere ir mas arriba



A cool looking spiny pink flower with some little maiden blue-eyed mary in the background



I think these are phlox of some kind / Creo que estas flores se llama "phlox"



Only 0.4 mile from the top! Here we are in front of Wind Mountain, the only granite formation in the gorge apparently (the rest is basalt) / Solo 0.4 millas de la cima. Estamos aqui defrente de Monte Viento.



The last big push up / la ultima vez arriba



Enjoying a hard earned lunch at the top! Disfrutando un almuerzo bueno en la cima



The view from the top. You can see why they call it "dog" mountain / La vista de la cima. Pueden ver porque este monte se llama monte de perros



Time for a nap after that long climb / Tiempo para siesta despues de andando duro



Jenn not quite ready to go back down / Jenn no esta lista para mas andando



Some meadow chickweed



vanilla leaf



Not sure what this is, possibly narrow leaved desert parsley



Thats it for dog mountain. Now back to relaxing and resting my legs :)

Esto es todo por monte perro. Ahora voy a relajar y descansar para mis piernas :)

OK. I have finally uploaded pics from our recent goingson here in Portland

Papis

Consuelo & Jorge came to visit us in April for about 10 days. We took a drive down highway 101 to see how far we could go & get back in a day. Here are some photos from along the way

Consuelo y Jorge nos visitaron en Abril por casi 10 dias. Manejamos por las playas en la autopista 101 durante medio dia y regresamos en el mismo dia. Aqui estan alguas fotos del viaje

Consuelo enjoying the cold Oregon water / Consuelo disfrutando el agua fria de Oregon



Jorge, Carlos, and Jenn at the same beach / Jorge, Carlos, y Jenn en la misma playa



In front of one of the many lighthouses along the Oregon coast / Al frente de uno de los muchos faros en la costa de Oregon



On the return trip from the beach we stopped in Mt Angel for some German food at The Glockenspiel / Cuando regresamos de la playa cenamos en el pueblo Mt Angel en el restaurante aleman "The Glockenspiel"



The weather was nice (not snowing) but there was a ton of snow on the mountain so we visited Timberline Lodge for lunch the next day. Here we are in front of the snow pack!

Hizo buen tiempo (no estuvo nevando) pero habia mucha nieve en Mt Hood, asi que fuimos a Timberline Lodge para almuerzo la proxima dia. Aqui estamos con la nieve atras!



We got a table by the window, as you can see the view was rather snowy :-D / Conseguimos una mesa al lado de la ventana, pueden ver que la vista esta nevada :-D



The lodge entrance / la entrada



The Castro - Leonard duo serenading Jorge for his birthday / El duo Castro-Leonard toco una serenata para Jorge por su cumpleannos



On Jorge's birthday we went on a ride on the Portland tram. The views were spectacular.

Por el cumpleannos de Jorge tomamos el funicular. Las vistas fueron espectaculares

Passing the other tram / Pasamos el otro fundicular



Views of Portland / Vistas de Portland

Hiking at the Coast: Neahkahnie Mt & Cape Falcon

A few weeks back we went hiking with some of Carlos' coworkers. The original plan was to go to Saddle Mt but the road was closed. Instead we drove ~20miles more and went to Neahkahnie Mt followed by the Cape Falcon trail

Algunas semanas pasada fuimos a hiking con los companneros de trabajo de Carlos. Queriamos ir a Monte Saddle pero el camino estuvo cerrado. Continuamos 20 millas mas al Monte Neahkahnie y despues al sendero Cape Falcon

Neahkahnie is one of my favorite hikes. Its pretty short from the trail head we start from (1.5 miles to the top) but the views are great and we get to see a lot of nice flowers. When we went last summer with the hiking club we saw tiger lillies, the album is here.

Monte Neahkahnie es uno de mis caminos favoritos. Es un camino corto pero en la cima hay una vista muy bonita y en el camino hay muchas flores hermosas. Vimos tiger lillies el anno pasado en este camino, las fotos estan aqui

I think this is some kind of lilly / Creo que esta es un tipo de lilly



These three petaled flowers are trilliums, the are very common in the woods in the spring time
Estas flores con tres petalos se llama trilliums y son muy comunes en los bosques en la primavera



Everybody at the top! / Todos en la cima





Even some flowers and a lady bug / Y algunas flores y una mariquita





The view from the top - Nehalem bay. If you look really close you can see the 4 cores (nerd joke)

La vista en la cima - la bahia de Nehalem.

The House / La Casa

Due to a minor math mistake I ordered waay too much compost for mulch last fall. It seems to have done our yard wonders though - we have plants flowering that never flowered before. Here are some pics from our yard this spring

Cometi un error pequenno de matematicas y ordene demasiado compost el otonno pasado, pero nuestras plantas estan muy felizes! Tenemos flores en plantas que nunca tuvieron flores en los annos pasados. Aqui estan algunas fotos de nuestra jardin

A lilac bush!! We didnt even know what this was previously, this is the first year it flowered, we thought it may have ben a weed!!

Un arbusto de lilac. No sabimos que es esto, pensamos que es una maleza!! Este anno es el primero en que este arbusto tiene flores



Our new cherry tree. We planted this in the fall and it seems to be doing well so far / Nuestro nuevo cerezo. Plantamos este arbol en el otonno pasado



The rhodedendron in front of our house - this one never had flowers before but Ive heard rhodys sometimes only bloom every other year or so

El rhodedendron de frente de la casa - este arbusto nunca tuvo flores pero es posible tiene flores solo cada dos annos



Azaleas



Another azalea net to the house / Otra azalea al lado de la casa



More rhodys that never bloomed before! / Mas rhodys que nunca tuvieron flores





Last but not least a flower on our new apple tree /Finalmente una flor en nuestro arbol nuevo de manzanas



Phew, thats it for now, and Im spent!

Hello

We have tons of pics to post, unfortunately they arent on this machine so you will just have to wait

The last few weeks we have been commuting on bike. Usually we start biking to work during this time of year and continue until it gets dark and wet (sept - octish) Id like to start doing more by bike - we live ~2 miles from most of the services we need (grocery ,bakery, several restaurants). This is not so much inspired by gas prices as fitness. Getting in enough workout time with a desk job is really difficult, commuting by bike is a perfect solution from us since we get in at least 10miles/day.

Of course biking is great for exercise and saving on gas, but its just a generally happier experience. Instead of lamenting being inside all day I can look forward to a nice bike ride home. I get to watch the sun rise and set, and hear the birds and smell fresh cut grass. I miss these things in my car.

It also doesnt take much longer for me to bike than to drive, maybe 10min. We are really lucky to have a good network of bike lanes on our way to work. Everytime I think about complaining about the bike lanes (like in the spring time when they havent swept up the cinders from the winter de-icing) I try to remind myself that a lot of places dont even have bike lanes. And for the few bad / uneducated drivers that cut me off I know it would be a lot worse elsewhere.

Ive also been inspired by several people who do a lot of bike commuting. Here is an article from BikePortland on Mark Allyn who commutes 40miles round trip, 2xs a week solely by bike, the rest of the week by biking part of the way and taking the MAX (light rail) the rest. Also our friends the Potoczny-Jones who use their bikes to get everywhere from work to restaurants from their home in SE Portland. Isaac recently blogged about his bike commute. We were just riding in their 'hood a few weekends ago and there really are more cyclists than cars on the road.

Im also inspired by my coworkers that have started biking. One of my coworkers just went out and bought a bike to commute the 2 miles from his home. He goes home to be with his family for lunch, today he told me he took home subs for his family in the pannier he got (for taking home beer and/or milk :-D).

I have 3 coworkers that ive talked to that have either recently started to do more by bicycle or are planning to start. The thing that is really awesome is they all say the same thing - "i feel really good about riding my bike." Its true, though at the end of my ~7.5mile commute home in the 97degree weather today i was feeling a bit differently, I feel much better now.

I feel really relaxed when I commute by bike. As the week goes on this relaxation is more physical exhaustion, but I dont think this is a bad thing. I sleep much better when im exhausted from exercise and fresh air. I get tired earlier which helps me get to sleep on time. When Im relaxed from biking I find that I dont get preoccupied about dumb problems, and that I dont get as upset about things (likely due to the aforementioned exhaustion). I think I need to be too tired to worry to truly be able to relax

The best part about biking? Eating! Filling my "tank" is tasty and a lot cheaper than filling my car.

So, if you can, ride your bike!

Well, that is all for now. Hopefully I will get those pics posted Real Soon Now...

First, sorry for not posting. We have been super crazy busy lately. We have a lot of blog updating to do, hopefully i can update some more tomorrow.

Primero, disculpenme porque no escribi en el blog el mes pasado. Estuvimos muy ocupados. Necesito escribir mucho, espero que pueda escribir mas mannana

Today we went to Silver Falls State Park and hiked the trail of 10 falls. We wanted to do this hike almost a year ago - we planned to go the day after our wedding (our 1st anniversary is next monday!!! Has it really been a year already?) but due to weather and general exhaustion we decided to go another time. We went with 8 other people from work and had a great time. All together we saw about 14 waterfalls, I guess now is really the best time to go as later in the spring/summer the water dries up.

Hoy fuimos a Silver Falls State Park para hiking en el camino de lad 10 cascadas. Queriamos hacer esto casi un anno pasado, el dia despues nuestro matrimonio, pero hizo mal tiempo y estabamos exaustos. Fuimos con 8 amigos de trabajo y estuvo divertido. Vimos 14 cascadas porque hay mas agua en la primavera.

Here is the album on Picasa, Ill post some highlights here

Aqui esta el album de fotos

Here we are in front of South Falls (Falls #1) / Aqui estamos de frente de South Falls (Cascada #1)



Some nice white wild flowers / Algunas flores blancas



Jenn behind Lower South Falls (Falls #2) / Jenn esta detras de Lower South Falls (Cascada #2)



Carlos under some thimbleberry bushes / Carlos debajo de arbustos de berries



Some pretty blue flowers / Algunas flores azules bonitas



Double falls (Falls #4) / Doble Falls (Cascada #4)



Ferns growing horizontally out of the moss covering some trees!



Some succulents growing out of moss



View from behind North Falls (Falls #9) - you can walk behind 3 of the falls on the trail / Vista de detras de North Falls (Cascada #9) puede caminar detras de 3 cascadas en el camino



North Falls



North Falls from the rim trail / North falls de un otro camino



The very rare fairy slipper orchid. We were fortunate to come upon some of these on the rim trail on our return to the parking lot at South Falls. Apparently these are nearly endangered

Una flor muy rara se llama 'fairy slipper orchid.' Tuvimos mucha suerte de ver esta en el camino en que regresamos. Estas flores estan en peligro de extincion



Every Mothers Day there is a wildflower event at the park. They had 4 long tables of wildflowers with identification inside the South Falls lodge. It was really cool, I wish they would generate a publication with all this info, I would gladly pay for it as many of the species they identify are hard to come by in the available literature

Cada dia de la madre hay un evento de flores silvestres en el parque. Tuvieron 4 mesas largas con flores silvestres y su identificacion en South Falls lodge. Espero que puedan hacer un librito con esta informacion, es muy dificil encontrarla en la literatura.

Thats it for now, i am tired from a long day of hiking :)

Esto es todo por ahora, estoy cansada de un dia largo de hiking :)

Hello

The weather warmed up for us last week so Carlos & I biked to work last Thursday. I really enjoy biking to work, while im thankful to live in a place where this is possible i feel frustrated that i cant do it more. I should say that I cant do it more without risk to my well being - even though we have bike lanes here in Beaverton that doesnt mean suburban drivers pay much attention to them. My ride last week was lovely and uneventful. It was nice to hear the birds and watch the sun come up while getting some great exercise

La semana pasada hizo buen tiempo y manejamos las bicycletas a trabajo. Me gusta bicycletar a trabajo pero a veces es un poco peligroso porque los carros corre rapido en la calle, pero esta vez fui muy agradable

Also last week we got our long awaited china hutch! We now have some more space in our kitchen cupboards :)

La semana pasada recibimos nuestro armario del platos. Ahora hay mas espacio en la cocina :)

Of course Anubis had to check it out. I shooed him off quickly after taking this pic



Some standard shots



oooo pretty lights



We got our hutch from The Joinery. They are a local custom furniture company - local, sustainably harvested wood, local craftsmen, even a local company takes care of the delivery. Our china hutch was completed on my birthday, how cool!

Comprimos el armario en una tienda local de meubles se llama The Joinery

Jorge and Consuelo arrive Friday night for a visit so stay tuned for lots of pics :)

Jorge y Consuelo van a llegar en viernes para vacaciones en Portland. Voy a poner muchas fotos aqui :)

Hello

Sorry, no pics today. This weekend we volunteered for beach cleanup at Cannon Beach. The weather was insane! There was SNOW on the way over to the beach. The weather cleared up nicely when we got to the beach but about an hour into the cleanup it started hailing. Very odd. We had a really nice lunch at the Gower St. Bistro. I had a pulled pork sandwich & Carlos had the croque monsieur. We shared an order of the pomme frittes (awesome!!) and finished with pie and brownie.

No hay fotos hoy. Este fin de semana fuimos a la playa para un evento de limpiar la playa. Hizo un tiempo loco!! Hizo nieve en el camino a la playa. Cuando empezamos a limpiar la playa hizo buen tiempo e hizo sol, pero una hora despues granizo!! Muy extranno. Comimos un almuerzo rico en el Gower St. Bistro. Comi un sandwich de cerdo y Carlos comio croque monsieur. Compartimos los pomme frittes tambien (riquisimas!) y para postre comimos pie de cereza y brownie.

Thats pretty much the only interesting thing we did this weekend :-D Just relaxing and catching up on house work and yardwork. The weather is warming up again, we may even start biking to work this week

Esto es todo lo interesante que hicimos este fin de semana. Nos estubimos relajando y trabajamos en la casa y afuera. Esta semana va a hacer buen tiempo, es posible que podamos empezar a bicicletear al trabajo

Tonite we ate giant artichokes for dinner. They were larger than softballs! Everytime I eat a whole artichoke i wonder how the heck someone figured out that you could eat artichokes. First of all, when they are ripe they have spiny things on the leaves so they definitely arent easy to pick. Then you have all the outer leaves to go through, which have very little edible content... After you finally get through all the leaves and get to the heart you have to scoop out all the spiny stuff. What the heck?

Eating artichokes is so ridiculous I should start doing it as performance art. Im already feeling insprired to write a bill the amoeba comic. Ill upload it tomorrow. That is all!

Esta noche comimos alcachofas para la cena. Fueron mas grande que toronjas! Cada vez que como una alcachofa pienso en como algien pudo discubrir que se pueden comer. Primero, cuando las alcachofas estan listas tienen espinas. Segundo, necesitan remover las hojas y no tienen mucha comida. Tercero, despues de remover toda las hojas necesitan remover mas espinas. Que trabajo!!

Comer alcachofas es tan loco que deberia ser una funcion. Ahora me siento inspirada a hacer un chiste de esto con bill the amoeba. Voy a poner lo aqui mannana. Esto es todo!

Tuvimos una semana muy divertida. Empezamos a celebrar el domingo con Isaac y Anna para la cena y despues fuimos a ver la pelicula Persepolis

El lunes fuimos al Jimmy Mak's para el concierto de una de mis musicas favoritas - Ingrid Jensen. El concierto fue buenasso y consegui el nuevo CD de Ingrid con autografo!

El martes quedamos en casa y empacamos para el viaje a Florida. El miercoles fuimos al Gustav's para el dia de cumpleannos de un amigo.

El jueves tuve 28 annos! Fuimos a Paley's Place en el noreste. Paley's Place es un resturante muy famoso en la ciudad. Esta en una casa y es muy simpatico. Nos gustan mucho la comida. Yo comi bistec kobe y papas en tocino. Carlos comio el gnocchi con salsa de cordero. Para el postre Carlos comio el souffle de chocolate y yo comi una torta de nueces y berries. Despues de una cena fantastica Carlos me dio un CD de jazz de Cannonball Adderley se llama "Somethin' Else"

El viernes fuimos al aeropuerto para el vuelo a Florida. Esta vez llegamos en Florida (la vez pasada llegamos a Las Vegas..). El sabado hico lluvia pero comimos bueno en el Marriott en el aeropuerto para desayuno y en el Lucky Dill para almuerzo. Fuimos al centro cultural de Tarpon Springs para mirar pinturas japoneses. Despues conseguimos unas peliculas porque hico mucho lluvia. Yo escoje una pelicula muy mala :( pero Carlos escojio una buena pelicula se llama "catch me if you can" Despues miramos el conjeo de pasqua!! Esta en la izquierda de esta foto



Comimos el pie de limon especial de Sue y fresas para la cena :)

El domingo fuimos a la iglesia y despues fuimos al almuerzo en el Belleair Country Club con mi tia abuela Blanche y mis primas Jo Ellen y Mary. El almuerzo fue muy delicioso, miran los postres bonitos!



Jo y Mary viven en Sand Key, una comunidad circa de la playa Clearwater. Hay algunas tiendas bonitas se llama los Shoppes que estan en problemas. El duenno quiere convertir los Shoppes a hoteles. Esto es muy malo porque Sand Key no es una playa o un lugar turistica - es una comunidad de personas que viven y trabajan en Sand Key. Jo es una abogada y esta ayudando la comunidad en esta situacion. La comunidad la ha llamado una juana de arco moderno! Pueden leer mas aqui

Despues de almuerzo fuimos al navigando con Mary en el Intercoastal Waterway. Fue muy divertido! Hico mucho sol y un poco de viento.



Carlos esta disfrutando el agua salada



Ten cuidado - Carlos esta manejando el bote! Mary esta aqui para supervisar :)



Mary, Carlos, y yo



una isla se llama "uno arbol isla"



Sue esta disfrutando la vista del frente del bote



Una catamaran con muchos colores



algunos aves en un muelle



huvo piratas! Afortunadamente el bote de Mary esta mas rapido del bote de las piratas



Esto es todo, buenas noches!

Hello world

Lo siento - esta noche tengo mucho suenno, entonces voy a escribir esto en el espanol mannana

We had a really crazy fun week last week. The birthday celebrating started Sunday nite. We went to dinner with Isaac and Anna and then went to see Persepolis.

Monday night one of my favorite musicians, Ingrid Jensen, came to play at Jimmy Maks. It was an awesome show, I got an autographed copy of her latest CD "Flurry" As expected it is totally sweet

Tuesday nite was our only night at home so we spent most of it preparing for our weekend trip to Florida. On Wednesday we went out to Gustav's for dinner to celebrate a friends birthday

Thursday nite was my big day.. The big 2-8. Still younger than Carlos ;) He took me out to Paley's Place in the NW. Its one of the most well regarded restaurants in the city and for good reason. Its in an old house and has a really homey but elegant atmosphere. The food was excellent. Carlos had gnocchi with lamb ragu and I had the kobe beef top sirloin w/ beef cheeks and awesome potatoes wrapped in bacon :-P For dessert Carlos had chocolate souffle and I had a berry financier - which is a small cake made from nut flower with berries in it. Yummmy! To top it off Carlos gave me a Cannonball CD for my birthday present - Somethin' Else. I heard this song on our local jazz station a few months ago and I kept going on about how i didnt have that album.. guess he picked up on it :-D

Friday nite we went to the airport for our flight to Florida. Unlike last time this time we actually did make it to Florida. Saturday was rainy but we had some delicious meals at the Marriot in the airport for breakfast and at the Lucky Dill for lunch. We also saw some nice Japanese paintings at the Tarpon Springs cultural center. Since it was so rainy we stayed in and watched some movies. I picked out Time Bandits which turned out to completely suck. I thought it sounded good and had some good actors - Sean Connery, John Cleese, and Shelley Duvall, but man it was horrible. It could have been really good but it was truely mediocre. The best thing about this movie was the sleep I got while it was playing :-D

When we called it quits on Time Bandits Mom looked up and saw the Easter bunny!! He is in the lower left corner of this pic, really fuzzy but its him for sure!



Carlos picked out Catch me if you can which was much better :) After the movie we enjoyed Mom's key lime pie and some delicious Florida strawberries.

Sunday we went to church and then joined Aunt Blanche, JoEllen, and Mary for brunch at the Belleair Country Club They had a really nice buffet and tons of dessert, check out this creme puff shaped like a swan!! (and the chocolate mouse, and the cupcake... ;) )



Recently Jo Ellen has been able to use her talents as a lawyer to help the Sand Key community preserve their local stores from an attempt to re-zone the area to put up more hotels. You can read more about it at Save our Shoppes. Unlike nearby Clearwater beach, Sand Key is not a tourist area - it is a residential area and the community is doing what they can to preserve it. The residents are very appreciative of Jo's efforts, even naming her a "modern day Joan of Arc" for her efforts in a local magazine article!

After lunch we went out boating with Mary on the intercoastal waterway. Totally awesome! The weather was great and the sun was shining. As you can see it was a bit windy:



Carlos enjoying splashes of tasty salt water!



Look out world, Carlos is at the wheel! Mary is standing by to make sure things dont get out of hand ;)



Mary, Carlos, and I sporting our napolean "blown apart" hairdo's



The aptly named one-tree island



Heres Mom enjoying the view from the front of the boat



A brightly colored catamaran



Some pelicans and seagulls hanging out on the dock



We were almost overtaken by pirates, luckily Mary's boat was much faster



After an awesome time boating we headed to the airport to return home. We got home at 3am so I am crazy tired and will bid you good night!

Media: Crayon on Paper