day 4 when jess learns that pole-vaulting is one of the most exciting sports in the world

on day 4 my intention was to stay in portland. but after a day of being in the city, i wasn't too interested in being in a city anymore. but i went out for breakfast anyway, trying to figure out what i would go see and where i would go. turns out that i would go to eugene since i was reading the paper and found an ad for a public festival at the us track and field olympic trials in eugene that was happening that very day.

two hours later, i was parked at antzen stadium at the university of oregon waiting for the free shuttle and 20 minutes after that, i was at historic hayward field in the land of steve prefontaine (and yes, he certainly does live), track town USA and the land of nike.

i saw the pole-vaulting, javelin and 1500 meter run for the decathlon, the women's 800 meter, men's 800 meter, women's high jump, javelin, and women's steeplechase. i have to say that of all of my sports-watching, that this was one of the most exciting, riveting and engaging events i have ever been to. and when 3 oregon boys won the men's 800 meters, it was one of the loudest. i have NEVER heard a crowd cheer for any sport as loudly as they cheered when they won.

eugene is a place where people watch track. they know all of the stats, they know all of the techniques that enhance all of the disciplines of track and field (i.e. watching the pole-vaulting, "well, his elbow was just too low on that one.... lift it up and he should be fine"), and they are serious about ritual. having never been to a "real" track meet where the sport lies on the cusp of professional / amateur, i had never experienced the etiquette of track-watching.

there is A LOT of clapping. in fact, much of the "cheering" is expressed through clapping. athletes will ask the crowd to clap before performing sometimes (pole-vaulting) or most of the time, the clapping is this crowd-together, rhythmic clapping that follows the runners around the track. and on the last lap of any race, as the runners approach, you rhythmically clap, stand up and then stay standing until the race is done. it is exhilirating.

so here are the pics. as you can tell by my long rant here, i liked this day, and it will make watching the olympics that much more special. watch out for my main man, tom pappas. he is the shit.

day 3, or the day in which jess got tired

on day 3 i woke up, hopped in my car and was off to portland. i got a wee bit lost driving around once in the city, but found a free parking spot next to powell's book store on a sunday morning which felt like i was going to church. an hour later, refreshed with the literary spirit and 2 books in hand, i started to wander around. made my way to pioneer square, pioneer place mall, the riverfront (of the willamette since i am so intent on listing rivers), whole foods for lunch and then found a hostel where i could lay my head for the night.

went back downtown later where i went to the public market (and bought a cool mug) and then went and saw a movie since i was so tired and needed to stop moving. came out of the movie theatre and walked back to the hostel in one of those delicious summer thunderstorms that broke the heat. then hung out with folks at the hostel and had an early night.

just to prove how tired i was that day, i only took 3 pics. one is of the riverfront and the other is of my bro and niece's alter-egos at the portland market. my bro would be the one playing the accordion, while my niece would be the one playing the kazoo. a match made in heaven that is guaranteed to start bringin' in the cash.


oh and since when does a city plan for skate routes? or have a gazillion cyclists around with bike routes to ensure they don't get completely schmucked? or have free transit downtown?

one mo mountain

alllllll riiiiiiighhhht. blogger has been giving me some more attitude about photos and i've been giving some good 'tude back.

all i wanted to do was post one more photo of mt. st. helens. and it only took me 24 hours to do so. yeesh.

(but ain't it gorge?)

day 2

day 2 where i went to mt. st. helens, which was akin to travelling to the moon. it was hot hot hot (almost 100 degrees farenheit) and this alabaster princess was trying not to burn.

it was incredible. a HUGE lesson in the unbelievable smackdown power of Mother Earth and how life can crumble and be devastated in the space of 180 seconds. and yet there is the lesson too of the possibilities and wisdom that arise from 1400 ft. being blown off the top of a mountain and the resilience of nature and humankind. the river which was encrusted with 300 - 400 ft. of lava found a way to continue to flow, the lava dome grows and flowers grow.

when i got to the top, i parked the car and was face to face with a whole posse of corvette drivers that had climbed to the top together. nothing like cars and america, which is why i took this photo:

ya - here's the mountain with some arty flowers:

and here is proof that it's pretty barren there and looks like the moon. and yes i stole some rocks. (just 3 little ones...)

flowers.... which seem all the more beautiful there, for good reason:

and a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do to prevent her skin from shattering in the harsh warm light from that giant thing called the sun:

that night

i went and stayed at dash point state park just near federal way, in between seattle and tacoma. it was pretty and sunny and i had big hair in the big wind.

mo for my bro

i thought this sign was sooooooo fitting..... i love how at the end of the "book spiral" is a copy of Muscle & Fitness. that seems just about right...

this is a photo of the intersection of the study carel light with a support beam with the glass. yum.

this is the intersection of multiple edges of the exoskeleton of the building:

and this finally is the floor through the stacks of the spl letting you know where you are in the dewey decimal system:

day one, for my bro

here's a treat for col since he "suggested" that i go to the seattle public library and take pics. when he ruined his own surprise by asking a week later if i was going to go to the library for him (which i've heard is something that i also do) i chastised him for ruining the surprise of me taking pics as a treat for him.

all that to say that here are the pics because he doesn't like the library. no, he does not.

p.s. i'm now completely obsessed with rem koolhaas's work and want to travel to beijing to see his new building which is affectionately called by some locals as "big shorts" since the building is composed of 2 leaning towers. love it already.

spl from the outside:

the main floor of the spl:

map of the spl, which shows how you can go up to the top of the library and then weave your way back down. on most levels you can see at least 3 or 4 levels at a time. it is amazing:

trippety trip trip

here are some pics from my recent journey to seattle, mt. st. helens, portland, eugene and the oregon coast. i don't really have the time to post my kootenay pics, although i will, but not chronologically, so i'll just go day by day and hope that this works tonight.

growing

and here are a few from my garden.
i did a photo shoot with my friend derek with my garden, but still don't have the photos. *cough, cough*
so here are some gold nuggets to tide you over in the meantime.

wee baby collards:

nasturtiums which are growing like mad:

and my 5 buck glow-in-the-dark buddha who oversees everything from the corner pocket behind the shelling peas. he makes my day everytime.

fsj photo-taking

still gerunds.... i have been trying to post these photos for a week now, to no avail. maybe because it's friday, the blogging gods will let me do what i want and let me post the damn things...

SUCCESS!!!

so here's the peace river from a lookout point. it's purdy and contends with the kootenay for open valley beauty in the purdiest river contest.


people routinely drive their cars off the lookout for fun. some cars make it further than others, and some cars have been rotting long than others.


we crossed the peace and this is it from the other side.


then i had to take a picture of the flowers since they were pretty too. i actually bought a wildflower book since i am seeing such amazing flowers (oh, don't worry - you'll see them too) but am still stumped as to what this one is other than beautiful. i was kind of hoping it was an albertan wild rose since i did a project on alberta in gr. 4 and the allure of the blue skies, fields and provincial flower hasn't exactly worn off yet, but we'll see.


see - it's not a dustbowl!

travelling

i recently went to fort st. john which was great. my work went well, i met some great people, and it totally defied any expectations i had of the place and people there.

a) i thought it would be a dust bowl. it's very green.

b) i thought i would be a redneck's paradise. it's not a redneck paradise. it's a boomtown. there's a difference. it might have all of the accoutrements of a redneck paradise, but the median age is 28, the culture is completely transitioning from the influx of younger folks and money, the infrastructure is new and alluring, and the town (sorry -city) is buzzing with energy. it also has a diversified economy based on forestry, oil and gas and farming.

c) i thought that it would be cold. it was hot. much hotter than vancouver and the sun set at 11 PM and rose at 4:30 AM.

most of these expectations might not have been countered if the local rec programmer hadn't taken me on a tour after the roundtable. we got into his truck and drove to a lookout on one side of the peace, crossed the peace and looked back and then hit the hot spots. it was lovely.

i also realized looking at the peace, that i've seen some pretty rivers this year. here's the list:
* skeena
* bulkley
* nechako
* thompson
* fraser
* kootenay
* peace
and i'm off to the columbia river tomorrow.

wrestling

today is the day of the gerund. see other blog posts for an -ing kind of day.

so i haven't posted in so long since i'm wrestling, scrabbling with, tossing around a number of larger issues in my head that needed to simmer in my brain before being blurted out in the blogosphere. and most of me was pretty sure that they didn't even belong here, but now, after much fermenting in the old cranium, here they are.

the past couple of months have been consumed with a whole lot of homesickness in its various forms, all which raised the following questions:
* If everyone is getting older, and i want to be around them when they are around, how can i live on the west coast and make it work?
* If Air Canada and every other airline on the planet is charging fuel surcharges on the only mode of transportation that allows me to see my family, can i really afford to live here?
* And if my friends and family are spread out over the globe, where is home?
* And who is trusted and safe and feels most like home, if my energy is not infinite and i have to be discerning with my time?

and smaller issues like:
* I love my job, but what's the next step?
* How can i live my dream of having a hobby farm, doing and teaching yoga and meditation, writing the great Canadian novel and snowboarding?

i gotta tell you, i'm stumped. but maybe simply by asking the questions, i'll get some answers.
i have a funny feeling that i'm either becoming a grown-up or am one already. probably the latter.

viva espana

i know, i know, i haven't done a proper post in ages, but i've been busy and floaty at the same time and am not in a super-reflective mood. (case in point, i haven't been reading novels, only magazines. it's been that kind of month.)

but here, my friends, is progress, and a glimpse of things that make me swoon with hope for the future.

you should play in public!

this is for my mom and col. i think they will appreciate it the most.

note how no one takes his battery out. they could learn a thing or two from my fam. and hey, at least he doesn't just hit the memory key.

immortal diamonds of the world unite!!!

here's the highlight reel of my easter weekend (so far):

* movies on thursday night. "into the wild" is amazing and beautiful.
* yoga on friday. hung out with my friend after and then walked home from kits.
* 11 hour sleep on friday night. (11 HOURS!!!)
* tea party on saturday where i found out 2 things: one, i have metal kneecaps (for protection) and two, i am a wild woman goddess girl who is blessed. oh, it was a healing tea party and there was an energy worker there and it was amazing.
* yummy lamb dinner with family, chased by my first ever pavlova which was goooooooood.
* went to church this morning which was great.... a little "jesus christ is risen today" and a sermon whose moral was "you are an immortal diamond, so shine!"
* hanging out today with a walk in the rain, tea, fruity hot cross buns and then historical "drama", the other boleyn girl, which was good if a wee bit historically inaccurate.

and do you know what the best part is? my weekend ain't done yet! one more day of bliss and rapture and then back to the olde grind. i might spice it up, though, by bringing back the olde pentagonal headpiece a la anne boleyn or catherine of aragon. i may be single now, but not for long after i don one of these babies. trust.

why is a short week always so loooong?

and why haven't i posted in so looong? well, my uncle had complications after his surgery which is pretty much a gross understatement, i got homesick and depressed and then i got busy. really busy. and i went away and saw awesome people and places and now i'm finally home (at least for a couple more weeks).

my uncle is getting better slowly thanks to the amazing dedication of my mom and thanks to the wonders of medical science, but my homesickness is still there. i just want a mom hug.

and my work travels have been fun (ok, okanagan was waaaay more fun than the cariboo, but still, travelling and tv are almost always good). i have a couple of boring solo pics from the okanagan which are much less fun than the pics that jan took that are on facebook but the cariboo pics are stuck on my work laptop which means i have something to do while at work tomorrow! along with my work, that is. :)

and it's wednesday and all i want is thursday to come since i get friday and monday off! praise jebus! and chocolate! oh and jebus again! (i still haven't figured out exactly what he was doing on easter monday, but i'll take all of the holidays i can get. this girl needs a break from the travelling and compressing of everything into short timeframes due to travelling and this girl definitely needs a little sleep-in.)

here are some of the okanagan pics:
they walk on water there! and talk on water! (speaking of jebus)


sun at silver star!

sun and cloud! (can you tell vancouver is a little grey?)

and originally i thought this was a very nice pic of me but then i realized that this is my fakey fake smile, and now i howl whenever i look at it. oh and i howl when i look at my goggles / faceshield too (but it only cost me $20! and my glasses fit under them! and probably a small cat could fit under them too!)


i'm out. must do sexy things like wash dishes and pick up clothes that i have been throwing all over my apartment this week in the hopes of being dressed for work. that's right... who's bringing sexyback? jc (jesus and jess....!)

xoxoxoxoxo

i *heart* my uncle

today my uncle has open heart surgery. so here is what i'm giving him... a healthy heart. fingers, toes and eyes crossed all day that all goes well.
xo

finish up

apres-surfing shot:

shell haul:

it was cold, see? we're talking -2 and chilly.

but thank god for this and the woodstove.

there, all done.

more wick

i really liked this beach, so bear with me.... believe me, i am streamlining my photos as much as i can! :)
and a note about the shells... see how they just kind of sit there in the sand? they just seem so TIRED. it's like they have come all of this way, and have finally plunked down in the sand for a rest. i felt kind of bad disturbing them (nevermind anthropomorphizing them) but then i thought i was takin them home for a good rest. yes, that's it.

next beach... wickaninnish

this was my fave beach by far. it was very sunny and filled, make that FILLED, with shells and other good stuff to pick through. i felt like a 4 year old at the beach stuffing my hat with all of this good stuff. nevermind when i got home and realized that it is part of a protected biosphere and i'm probably stealing important things that shouldn't be stolen.

(mom - this is where i called you from)