A Day in the City

I live in Boring Oregon. The name pretty much says it all. Although it's one of the most beautiful, peaceful and serene places on the planet...sometimes it's ...well... Boring. When Lisa and I feel the need for the fast paced color of "City Life" One of our FAVORITE places to go is the Hawthorne District in Portland.



You always know your in Hawthorne when The Bagdad Theater jumps out to greet you with street players and flashy signs.



We took our new border collie pup "Lucy" and the old dog "Kobi" along with us. Lucy was TERRIFIED of Portland and prefers the "Boring life". She safely took it all in from underneath a Starbucks bench.



One of the things I love about Hawthorne is the People! They are so "Portland" Everyone different and unique. All with something to say, some with words,,,



Some don't need words...



I love the color and signage of Hawthorne...



This sign could be right out of the 50's



And the FOOD is amazing... always a good place to eat right around the corner.



There is truly something in Hawthorne for everyone... vintage stores, riding bikes, walking dogs, eating amazing food, drinking good coffee, and MY favorite...watching it all happen!



Is there ANY place in ALL of Portland like Hawthorne? I think not.

I'm a little prejudiced,,, BUT...

She IS the CUTEST little girl on the PLANET!!
Here is Salem entertaining her Mommy, Grammy and Poppa with her piano playing.
She just learned to clap and figured out that she can make OTHER people clap too!
You can so tell that she's SO loving the ability to make other people respond to her.

Appreciate the little things, really they're Big!

There are few things in life that are more precious than a sleeping baby. It's a picture of the innocence and total dependence they have on everyone around them. You love them so much because you know they need you for literally everything in their little lives.

They need a guardian, someone who will love them and is totally committed to their absolute protection and safety, ever watching for anything that could bring them potential harm. They need parents.

You gladly take on the job of protector, provider and teacher of these little ones. It comes from the deepest place in your heart, filled with complete unconditional love that knows no boundaries and has no end. Love that would literally give anything to preserve this cherished life, even the sacrifice of your own life to save theirs if needed. This without thought, without hesitation, you would just do it, because of this Love. There is nothing like it on this earth, the Love a parent has for their child.

This is the Love that God has for us, His own children. Isn't it great that He allows us as parents to experience that same love He has for us? I think it's pretty amazing.

The Parenting wire

I think some things are hard wired inside us,, things we just can't avoid. This must be the case because I can't think of any other explanation to describe our strange behavior. One of these hard wires is "The NEED to PARENT." In other words, loving and caring for youngsters to help them grow and reach maturity. This MUST be why little girls and boys need kittens and puppies and young married couples have to get a pet!

Then some become parents of actual human children. We are filled with Love, Excitement, Exhaustion, Fear, all in one amazingly fulfilling package.

Then our children grow up and don't need our parenting like they did. You would think the reasonable thing for sane adults to do at this point is just bask in the enjoyment of REST and RELAXATION!

But this is NOT what we do. Instead, we start the cycle ALL OVER AGAIN and get A PUPPY! Life once again becomes Potty Training, saying No, NO, NO!!! Get DOWN!! NO, NO! NO! Come HERE!!! NO NO NOOO!! Get that OUT OF YOUR MOUTH!!! DROP THAT!! NO! NO! NO! We stay home of course and cannot go on long trips because we have to arrange a SITTER? So WHAT HAPPENED to us? Are we CRAZY!???

YES crazy about our new little LUCY, our 7 month old Border Collie!