PREPARING TO MOVE ALONG

Our benefactors - yes, I previously called them our "hosts", but I think we got the best of this deal - returned home yesterday. We drove to the Portland airport to pick them up, in their Prius. Yes, that was another fun part of "sitting" for them: we got to drive their Prius hybrid a few times, a first for us.

We moved Scoopy back a few feet in the morning, so Richard would be able to get his plane out of the hanger if he was so inclined - and he was. Check out the toy lot.


This is what I will remember from our stay here, and of the Willamette Valley in August in general. There are blackberries EVERYWHERE. We take containers out when we walk and fill 'em along the way. The berries are sweet, juicy and - the biggest surprise - low on seeds. Nothing like free, yummy, food as you wander down the lane.

Across a gravel road from the Dopps, this red barn always caught my eye. It sits on the edge of a Christmas tree farm which is lined (this time of year) with tall, ivory, Queen Anne's Lace.

The solid red barn, the thick, sturdy, blue-green fir trees, the tall, graceful lace... it is a lovely contrast to contemplate as we stand picking and eating blackberries, and a very typical scene in this rural, farming area.

Tomorrow we are heading north to the other side of Portland, where we will squeeze into a typical RV site (boo-hoo) in a park on the banks of the Columbia River (YAY), in the shadow of the airport (yikes). Laurie's good friends Becky and Jewel are arriving on Monday for a two day visit in Portland, so we wanted to be conveniently located. Lucky we have that fun visit coming up; otherwise it would be very difficult to leave here.