Fantastic

Well, I met up with my sister and her boyfriend and I DID end up going to see the Oregon Symphony perform at Waterfront Park last night and I’m glad I did. It was wonderful. I can’t believe I’ve never heard of this before (a big thank you to Cherie, who told me about this!). I’ve heard them play at the Schnitz because my parents have season tickets. But I actually think I like them better outside. It doesn’t matter how close or far you are because they have speakers set up. And you get to enjoy an absolutely gorgeous summer evening in Portland as dusk falls over the city. They ended with the 1812 Overture, at the end of which the National Guard set off some kind of artillery to simulate cannon fire. A sailboat in the river flew a huge American flag, and after the music ended there was a 15-minute fireworks show. All this for free. Very cool. I’m definitely going back next year!

Today I’m paying for my evening of fun. I got up at 6:30 a.m. and stuffed the car full of camping gear and got ready for work, to which I’m headed in just a few minutes. I’m very tired, and I hope the day goes fast. I’m headed straight from work tonight to meet up with Greg at the State Fair and then we leave for camping tomorrow morning. I don’t know where we’re camping yet. The campground choices we had picked out for the Three Sisters area are reportedly still overrun with mosquitoes, which is pretty unusual for this late in the summer. But everything is late this year thanks to that dreadful snowpack we had in the mountains this winter, the snowpack that has taken ALL SUMMER to melt. Sigh. I swear if we ever have another winter like that again I’m going to lose my mind.

Music sounds great outside

Last night I met up with friends – colleagues from one of my old on-call jobs – for an outdoor concert in Lake Oswego. It’s the first outdoor concert I’ve been to this summer. I’ve been surrounded by a plethora of them these past few months. There have been quite a few around Portland and in the suburbs as well. But for a variety of reasons it hasn’t worked out for me to go to any of them, to my dismay. So it was nice to hang out with friends in the park and enjoy the music. We snacked, caught up on news, danced, and had a great time. I sure miss those girls.

There’s another outdoor concert tonight at Waterfront Park. The symphony is performing there and they’re going to perform the 1812 overture with real cannons and everything. Oh man it sounds awesome! I really don’t have time to go. I have to get ready for the camping trip this weekend. But I’m very tempted to go anyway….

Finding a balance

It’s been more than nine months since I started my permanent library job, and about six months since I was bumped from 32 to 40 hours a week. But I still find myself having a hard time adjusting. I have yet to find a good balance between work and play. I spend the entirety of every weekend playing: hiking, camping, traveling, whatever. I enjoy doing these things and I have a good time. But I don’t exactly feel rested come Monday morning. People say to me that I should take it easier on the weekend and not do so much. But I refuse to be one of those people who lets work get in the way of having a life. As a result, I’m kind of stuck. I’m feeling stretched a little thin these days. Summer is very short around here, so I’ve been playing hard while summer lasts. But I haven’t had very much down time to “recharge my batteries,” so to speak. I guess I need to find a way to strike a better balance between work and play, but I’m not sure how to do that since I’m reluctant to cut back on play time and I can’t back on work time.

Too early for holidays

I went to Michael’s last week for some mats and frames for my photographs. I was dismayed to see that all of their Halloween stuff is out already. Halloween? Seriously? It’s not even Labor Day yet! I also saw a whole aisle stacked high with boxes of Christmas stuff. That was even more depressing. I love Christmas, but I’m not ready to even think about Christmas for another three months yet.

One of my friends pointed out that a craft store like Michael’s is of course going to put out holiday stuff many months before the holiday in question. Craft projects can take awhile and there are probably many people who spend the entire fall working on Christmas crafts. But you know what? It’s not just Michael’s. Mark my words, we’ll start seeing Christmas stuff in the regular stores in September. Who needs to buy lights, ornaments, and decorations four months in advance? I’m saddened by our consumerist culture, especially around the holidays.

The picky cat

I was running very low on cat food, so I stopped at PetSmart this morning on the way to work and bought more. I then proceeded to leave that bag of cat food in my hot car all day. So I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised or dismayed when I got in my car this evening and discovered that it smelled like cat food. It will probably smell like that for a good week. Maybe longer.

While I was at PetSmart, I also bought a cat bed. I really don’t care if Charmin sleeps on my bed or on the furniture. None of it is expensive classy furniture, so it doesn’t matter. And since no one is home during the day to enforce a no-sleeping-on-the-furniture rule anyway, it would be totally futile to try and keep her off. But I do like the idea of her having her very own cozy place to sleep, so I broke down and bought her a little bed. Even as the clerk rang it up, though, I had a feeling I’d be bringing it back in a few weeks. My cat is not like other cats. She doesn’t like cat toys and the only thing that will get her to “play” is the red laser pointer that we run up and down the hallway for her to chase. She doesn’t like treats or tuna. She doesn’t respond to catnip. She barely sniffed the scratching post I bought for her. So I don’t have high hopes for this bed. After all, why sleep on a bed on the floor, no matter how soft, when you can sleep on the futon or the loveseat or, at night, the big human bed? You may ask why I bothered to buy the bed if I’m so sure she won’t use it. It’s because I love my cat and I want to spoil her and I’m out of options. A cat who turns up her nose at treats and toys can’t be spoiled, so this is about the only luxury I haven’t tried yet. If she turns up her nose like she did with the scratching post, I’ll take it back and give up.

Trekking with the llamas

Finally! Here is how our trek with the Wallowa Llamas went a few weeks ago. You can read about the llama trip and the day hike we did on our own over on portlandhikers.org. All my pictures are here. I’m pleased to report that my foot gave me no problems on the trip. It has been healing nicely. The only problem was my lack of fitness, thanks to two months of inactivity while my foot healed during all of May and June. Fortunately, I managed to do alright, despite my low fitness level.

Summer rocks

It was pretty gray and overcast today, with some rain off and on. That itself didn’t bother me too much. July was beautiful and sunny and warm and wonderful, and today’s rain isn’t supposed to last. Plus I was at work, so it’s not like it was affecting hiking plans or anything. But every time somebody walked into the library wearing a jacket, it sent a little jolt of horror through me. It was totally involuntary and I wasn’t even consciously aware of it for awhile, until I suddenly realized why I shuddered when some patrons walked in the door, but not others.

I’m in no hurry to start seeing long sleeves and outerwear again. I dread the end of summer. DREAD. (Which isn’t even a strong enough word for how I feel.) But despite my bringing it up here, I haven’t been dwelling on it. On the contrary, I’m so busy enjoying summer that a lot of stuff has been put on the back burner for the time being, which is fine with me. My August schedule looks pretty insane, and that’s the way it should be. Lots of camping, hiking, and playing outside. After I post this, I will think no more of winter until after Labor Day.