bbq season in full force

Hello everyone!I had a wonderful weekend. Friday evening I went over to Kelly’s new house in NE Portland. Her roommate, Caitlin, just bought an old house with her dad and they’ve just moved in and are fixing it up. I arrived in the backyard where the bathtub and sink where soaking up the evening sun filtering through the evergreens. Kelly gave me a tour of the house. The upstairs bathroom has been totally gutted (thus the porcelain in the backyard) because you had to basically put your legs in the bathtub to use the toilet. There was lots of painting going on and boxes piled up. It’s a great old house with a magnificent cedar tree in the front yard, the previous tenant’s first Christmas tree from 1947. The tree looks much older than that as it’s HUGE!

Friends and family began arriving and we all hung out on the sunny back deck while Caitlin’s dad fired up the bbq and started cooking ribs. Dinner was fantastic and I had a great time hanging out with Kelly and meeting a bunch of new people. I’m sure I’ll be hanging out in that sunny backyard more this summer.

Saturday I spent the day running errands, watching Netflix and reading my book. That evening was Camille’s bbq/party/keg in the backyard to celebrate her graduation from Portland State University. We tapped the keg (MacTarnahan’s) and fired up the grill. A bunch of friends came over and everyone brought some food. We had WAY too much food (always). It was all delicious though from the fresh Oregon strawberries to the blueberry Stilton to the chicken/pineapple skewers. As it got dark I realized we had no fire! My hope for a borrowed fire bowl fell through so we ended up with votives in a bird bath. Soon enough twigs were being piled up and we had a paltry little fire going. It was my upstairs neighbor’s birdbath so I had to stop the fire building. The party numbers had dwindled so we threw the keg in the back of Paul’s truck and moved the party 10 blocks to Elaine and Gina’s. We started a fire in the backyard chiminea and talked and drank beers. Fooqua walked me home which was very nice and did some quick clean up in the kitchen before going to sleep.

Sunday I went over to Elaine and Gina’s where they were preparing breakfast: bacon and pancakes with fresh strawberries on top. YUM! After hanging out for a bit I went back home where I cleaned up the backyard and talked on the phone with my dad. I spent the afternoon watching Netflix and reading my book. In the early evening I met up with Jess at the Artistry, an all ages club on Division St. We went to see Julie Doiron, who writes beautiful songs and has a lovely voice. The show was wonderful and I was so happy to see her after listening to her music for so many years.

So that was my weekend! Please let me know how you are and what you’ve been up to. I’m off to Trout Lake tomorrow after work to celebrate the solstice. Happy Summer!

xox,
carolyn