apple 73 and what I think of Portland

I woke up very groggy this morning, stumbled out of bed and started work. I made a joke from bed about how I only had ten minutes to get to work, work being just 15 feet away from our bedroom. I was nearly late. I slumped up to my desk at 8:59am, few! I’ve had the munchies today and apple 73 was one of my munchie treats. Good thing I made a half sized loaf because I was able to eat a very small sandwich as another munchie treat. The apple tasted a bit like dirt, which made me very afraid of biting into a worm so I elected to core and slice it. No worms and no rotten spots, it was just a very earthy apple.
apple 73

I haven’t really spent any time telling you about my experiences here. I figured I’d make a list and that way I’ll feel like I’m covering more bases.

  • Portland Nursey is a super great place. They have free classes every weekend. I attended one on starting a vegetable garden from seeds. And although the woman who taught it, has a seed company, there was no pressure to buy our stuff, though she was a very good salesperson, showing us all the delicious food she made straight from her garden.
  • Our neighborhood completely rocks. Everything we need is right here, either a walk or a quick bike ride away. It is lovely, quiet, and fun. We have a pub right by our house that has trivia night every Tuesday.
  • There is a garden center just a quick bike ride from our house. I ride by the park with all the geese, ducks, and kids, past people flying kites, playing baseball, walking dogs, over a babbling brook, to a sweet, no frills gardening center with a little bit of just about everything you’d need to maintain your garden.
  • There are tennis courts about 3 blocks from us. I can’t wait to try them out.
  • In my backyard I have birds, cats, and bees. The neighbors have two funny dogs that I intend to make friends with. Two doors over they were playing badminton on a sunny day. Every evening a dad takes his kid on a little tricycle trip down the block.
  • My side of the bed is by the front window and in the morning I pull back the drapes and watch the world go by. Very little happens. A blond girl walks by every morning in a greenish corduroy jacket, rain or shine.
  • The bakery down the street from us has excellent bagels. I might even put them on my top ten list.
  • I love the sound of the train, the geese flying over head, the rain and the hail.
  • I love our fridge like I never knew I could love an appliciance. It gives me ice whenever I want it, and it tastes good. We have not one but three drawers. Plus a butter tray too. That’s so many drawers! What do you use them all for? Just to celebrate, I went out and got a big bag of carrots and apples to make juice with.
  • It takes Tom 25 minutes to get to work on the bus. The buses are clean and nice, and the drivers usually tell you to have a nice day, and I believe they mean it.
  • We add things to our composter every day. It feels so good to be doing something useful with our scraps. I always hated filling our trash in SF with vegetable scraps

Anyway, Portland so far is awesome. To be honest, and I’m sure I’ll get used to it, but right now, it kid of seems like a fairytale. Sometimes I just can’t believe how nice it is to be here. In general, strangers are nicer to you here than in SF, and that is a really great thing. I feel like I’m more capable of finding community and feeling like less of a loner here, even though I’m working from home. So yay for new beginnings. I’d like to check out some art classes at OCAC and maybe volunteer at the community garden. I don’t know, so much to get my hands into here. Anything is possible.


Posted

in

by

Tags: