When I'm Not Sewing

About the only thing that can consistently pull me away from the sewing machine voluntarily is spending time with the people I love most:  my friends and family.  Although it has been raining sideways for several days, the universe smiled on us the past couple of mornings and cleared the skies for my two outdoor adventures.

Friday I walked with Sue.  We usually walk the Fanno Creek Trail.  During late spring, summer, and early fall, the trail remains a trail.  But when it's been raining sideways for days on end, we are reminded that the trail runs through a wetlands.

Resourceful women that we are, we thought we could get around Fanno Creek Lake if we just walked far enough out onto the grass to the left of the trail.  But we soon had our delusions dashed as the ground became boggier and boggier.  You can see the continuation of the trail near the center of this image.  It was a lot of water to wade through.

The geese knew what to do.  And I imagine they filled their gullets with delicious slugs in the process.  We have really fat slugs in Oregon.

Undeterred from our quest not to become fat slugs ourselves, Sue and I walked through the neighborhoods that surround the park.  And we happened upon this, which I knew would delight your crafty souls.

The weather stayed nice long enough for Sue and I to finish our walk, and then it rained the rest of the day.  This worried me because Mae and I were ready to hit the opening day of the 2012 Portland Farmers Market the next day.  That night I listened to the rain hitting the windows as I lay in bed.  Mae and I would not be deterred by the rain, but I still did not relish the idea of it.

I'm happy to say that the universe smiled on us yet again, and we managed to get through our outing without getting wet.

So I imagine you're wondering what kinds of things are fresh this early in the season.  Red radishes.

And these unique black radishes.

Gorgeous greens.

Baskets brimming with Brussels sprouts

and colorful crunchy carrots.

There were lovely leeks,

perfectly purple pansies,

appetizing apples,

dandy daffodils, 

and wonderful wheat.

(Alliteration, don't fail me now.)  How about some charming chives?

And some fancy flowers.

And what could make for a more delightful morning than spending it with the marvelous Mae?

Only one thing.  Mae came up with the idea of taking breakfast to Erik who had to work that day.  This thrilled me because I haven't yet seen Erik at his new job.  The job isn't new, but he was promoted to assistant service manager recently, and in any case, I hadn't ever been to his work place.

So we got breakfast for Erik at our favorite Farmers Market breakfast stand where everything is made fresh while you watch

including the tortillas for your huevos rancheros.

Who wouldn't want to dig into this?  Mmmmmmmmm.  Dee-lish!

Then we headed over to Erik's workplace

where we found him hard at it.

Now, honestly, what kind of a mother would I be if I didn't embarrass him in front of his co-workers by taking a picture of his name beside his office door?

So after fussing over him for a few minutes, we left him to enjoy his breakfast and the rest of his day.

When I dropped Mae off at home, the raindrops were starting to fall.