i renewed my affair with the esplanade last evening.  like getting back with an on-again/off-again boyfriend, we had a big talk as I jogged the loop.  i promised to be more faithful, more reliable, more generous.  like most new beginnings, the early days are easy and the three miles flew by effortlessly.  the hard part will be later...when i have to show up for a date when i'd rather be somewhere else...anywhere else.  but...i must run through this winter, even when it rains, even when it is cold, even when it hurts.  i have to.  because i love it.

a brought a friend home from the market.  he looks mean, but inside he's sweet and striped like a candy cane.   

a morning at the portland farmer's market. this top pix was taken about 45 minutes before the opening bell. within an hour that patch of asphalt was filled with shoulder to shoulder grinning portlanders arm wrestling their beets and tarts and eggs and honey through the crowd. the second pix is where kev got his breakfast - organic whole wheat banana pancakes, wrapped around two hand-made link sausages and a little omelet made from free-range chicken eggs. with some kind of oregon-fancy syrup on it. i think kev missed his buds - pillsbury dough boy and little oscar meyer. they couldn't make it, they were getting their little processed butts kicked.

waking up to this kind of light in mid-november is like getting a call from ed mcmahon. maybe better.

several years ago, kev got suckered into one of those timeshare sales pitches. his rationale was this: he goes, he listens, he says no, but we still get a free weekend in lake tahoe! he reasoned with me: if you go too, we get two free weekends in tahoe! i didn't go. of course, the free weekend in tahoe thing was really our choice of a three-day span in mid-week march, flying red eye with an extended layover in tallahassee, florida.

however, one good thing came out of this. we were added to the mailing lists of top shelf resort companies around the world. almost every day, i open the mail box to find a beautiful brochure filled with photos of spectacular lodging in some far off and amazing land. most evenings, i sit with a glass of wine and peruse these spectacular places for decorating ideas. oh, the projects i have in mind!!! kevin, for his part, is understandably thrilled.