they feed me well

Hello everyone!

I had a really nice weekend. It started with a fabulous dinner at Elaine & Gina's house on Friday night. Those girls spoil me! It was a feast of chicken, mashed potatoes, beets, zucchini, bread & wine. It was another excellent meal. Afterwards we played some ping pong in the basement & watched The Triplets of Belleville.

Saturday Gina & I drove out to Sauvie Island to pick up pumpkins & veggies. Sauvie Island is just a few minutes from Portland but it's like another world. It's an island in the Columbia River with lots of farms & wide open spaces. As we walked into the pumpkin patch we could see the dark blue storm clouds coming straight for us. Soon enough the wind picked up & then the coldcoldcold rain started pelting us. We were prepared with galoshes & rain coats but we ended up with some soaking sopping drenched jeans. We found some good pumpkins & then lugged them back to pay for them & stash them in the car. We figured we were already wet, we might as well walk up to the barn to check out the veggies for sale. We walked down the muddy road & splashed in the puddles. The barn was a mob scene of families escaping the downpour so we walked back down the muddy road to our car.

Gina opted to remove her wet jeans & replace them with a minnie mouse beach towel wrapped around her waist. We stopped at two more markets on the island to pick up brussel sprouts & corn, caramel apples & hot cider along with a few more pumpkins. Most people didn't seem to notice or care about Gina's hilarious outfit. We took some great pictures on Gina's camera which I will post later this week.

That night Camille picked me up & we drove to Jess' house for dinner. Her brother & his girlfriend had recently moved to Oregon from Wisconsin so she wanted to introduce him to her friends. We ate Jess' yummy beef stew & drank red wine & played Trivial Pursuit. (antartica!!)
Afterwards Camille & I stopped by a friend's birthday party only to find that we didn't really know anyone there except the birthday boy so we snuck out & left.

Sunday was a beautiful sunny day here. I got the last items for my halloween costume at Goodwill. In the afternoon I walked up to Mt Tabor park. There's a certain sequoia tree that I love to sit underneath. It is a gigantic tree overlooking the first resevoir with downtown beyond. I listened to the new Elliott Smith CD on my headphones then I read my book (Even Cowgirls get the Blues) & basked in the warm sunshine. I climbed the long staircase to the upper resevoir & walked around it taking some photos. I then went back down to my sequoia tree & talked on the phone with my sister. That is a nice thing about cell phones plus the park is huge so no one is near me to be annoyed by my phone call. It was a really lovely afternoon in the park.

That evening Elaine & Gina invited me over to their house again for a fabulous dinner. Chicken, homemade mac n' cheese, brussel sprouts (from Sauvie Island) beets & bread & wine. mmmm! Afterwards we watched some Simpons Halloween specials. I realize I was treated to dinner at friends' houses every night this weekend. I am such a lucky girl!

good food+good friends=a perfect evening!

Let me know what you've been doing! I hope all is well!

xoxo,
carolyn