Quintessential Portland

It doesn't get any more P-town than this.  I started the day by volunteering a couple of hours putting together boxes of goodies for the up-coming bike and walk to school day.

 

Then it was off to Trader Joes to do a little shopping.  I brought my own bags of course, and loaded them up on Fezzik.  On the way home, I made a quick stop at Starbucks to pick up grounds for our new compost bin. 

While I was in the store, a woman sitting by the door said hello and asked how I was doing.  She said she'd heard about my mom a while after the fact.  I had no idea who she was.  Running into someone who knows me, but I don't remember? Check.

I couldn't chat long though, 'cause I had frozen goods to get home.  Next I loaded the Tikit into Jess's car and dropped the car off at the body shop for repairs.  I'd forgotten a key ingredient for the soup I'm making this week so I rode up to New Seasons and just threw the Tikit into a shopping basket. That got lots of stares and comments.

I stopped on the way home at Revolver Bike shop to pick up a few parts for this week's mechanic class.  They were busy working on building up a couple of new Yuba Mondo cargo bikes to sell.  The Yuba is a tank of a bike.  It can handle loads up to 400 lbs--more than I'd care to, or probably could pedal--and it's pretty affordable at sub $1000. 

I also stopped to love up a couple of adorable little kittens hanging out on the sidewalk. The smaller one seemed quite prepared to let me hold her until the cows came home, or the mysteries of the universe were revealed, whichever came first. 

 

 

 

When I got home, I picked all the ripe tomatoes, and some basil from the garden and made spaghetti sauce from scratch.  It was delicious.  While the sauce was cooking, I went and added the grounds to the compost and gave it a good stir.

We have the Jones's in our sights--all we need is a few chickens and we'll be set.  I guess nature--growing up in Portland--has truly made it's mark on me.