Mary and Bo recommended we take the North Little Rock side of the trail, since it was almost all through parks and thus safer and more scenic. It’s really impressive what they’ve done on the seven mile trail out to the Big Dam Bridge in North Little Rock. The bike itself was a pretty goofy ride, which made up for the discomfort of it being all around a bit too small with awkward geometry.

We rode with Mary and Bo to the top of the bridge.

Since Mary had to be at work that afternoon they left us and went back they way they came. In fact, both Dave at River Trail Rentals and Mary encouraged us to just ride the North Little Rock side of the trail and out to Rebsamen Golf Course and back rather than trying to navigate the on-road portions of the trail on the Little Rock side.

In the end we chose to ride out to the end of the trail on the west end of the Little Rock side by the I-430 bridge, which will be extended to take people to Two Rivers Park and out to Pinnacle. Construction was under way. Once out there Craig and I decided to take the Little Rock side back, if for no other reason than to see the entire loop.

They were all correct that the portion after the golf course, until you get back to river front park is not that great. Little Rock could definitely stand to improve the trail, and after being in North Little Rock the difference is stark by comparison, though in truth if they just did a better job of marking the pavement the experience could be greatly improved.

Still the junction bridge, an old train bridge converted to a pedestrian bridge on the east end of the loop is pretty great. If and when they transform the train bridge nearer to the Clinton library things will be even more exciting.

After we returned the bikes we headed over to Hillcrest to check out the antique French chicken coop that Chris had at Clement that has been taunting me since he posted the link on Facebook.

They also had a collection of truly beautiful glass beads in some awesome colors.

I know better than to buy them and expect they’d do anything other than take up space in my house, which I don’t need right now. After Clement we stopped by Leo’s and got milkshakes. Craig had been committed to a vanilla shake, but unfortunately they were out of vanilla ice cream and he was stuck with a chocolate shake.

That evening we picked up Goke and went to dinner at the Buffalo Grill on Rebsamen. At last I had my cheese dip.

After dinner we went back to Goke’s so I could look through her old photos in hopes of finding the one of Granny with her three kids, wearing the dress she’d given me. After finding all sorts of great old photos, and almost all of them well labeled, at the very bottom of the second drawer of the bureau I found the photo I’d been looking for.

After class we went to Boulevard Bread so I could get a good cup of coffee. We ran into my friend Chris of Clement . It was great to sit outside in wonderful weather and catch up with them both.

Later, we went to lunch at Za Za with my mom and Rusty and all had amazing salads.

The backstory of the two restaurants is really the gossip of Little Rock right now for those that like good food.

That evening Craig and I met up with Russ at Vino’s. It was great to see Russ after so many years and hear about Kaky. It’s funny to be so old and feel so young!

Yesterday Craig and I spent the day taking three flights from Portland to Minneapolis then Memphis, finally arriving in Little Rock after 12 hours of travel. The picture above was taken in the Memphis Blues Bar, Terminal B in the Memphis airport. Our layover was 2 hours and 15 minutes, which was longer than it takes to drive from Memphis to Little Rock, at least if memory serves. Thus, we drank $40 worth of beer, or 2 beers each.

Craig also took video of us passing each other on the moving sidewalks while in Minneapolis. I played with the “Hipstamatic” app for my iphone. Taking the picture above and several pictures of Craig, including this one:

After getting into Little Rock we went to Flying Fish with mom and Rusty and then drove past the Clinton Library and Heifer International. Wow! The river area downtown is so incredibly different from when I lived here last!

Today, LJ and I took our lunch break at the Wednesday downtown farmer’s market for Tastebud’s amazing salads. Next week is the last week of the 2009 season. I’ll miss the market November-April, and especially the salad. They have a restaurant now, and I’ve been once. They do oven roasted vegetables, but I don’t recall seeing the salad on their menu.

On our walk back we encountered a shower of falling leaves. They had already covered the ground and the benches.

I started out January making lots of bean and vegetable soups. The last couple of weeks I’ve been on a potato kick, though not really in soup form. My trainer, Alayne, has a book at her gym, Potatoes Not Prozac. I haven’t read it, but I suspect that the cold weather and short days may be influencing my increased potato intake.

Craig and I have also been working on purging. I still have a ways to go, but on Saturday we filled the Subrau with donations for Goodwill and Free Geek. We got to follow it up by bringing Hammy’s pizza to the Muellers and meeting their newest member, Owen.

I have some new year’s goals that aren’t yet being met, included getting better at posting to the blog. Luckily, I continue to change the start of the new year. The first of January became inauguration day then Chinese New Year. Luckily for me yesterday was the start of Tet: Vietnamese New Year.

On Saturday we will be hosting the second annual Chili Rumble. It should be a fun time and a good kick-off for the year of the buffalo.

Bonzi and I just returned from our first walk of the new year and the rain was constant enough that he had to shake it off half way through just to allow for more to soak into his fur. This being Portland we did still manage to find another dog and owner at our local park playing fetch.

Now that I’m back at home I’m going to make a couple of quick breads to bring over to our friends that are making New Year’s Day meals. I continue to be delighted at how many of my non-Southern friends have picked up the tradition of black-eyed peas and greens. I’ll just say right now, I have the greatest friends. For that and so much more I am grateful.

May 2009 brings us all peace, joy, love and happiness!

Craig and I celebrated the next evening by having a  great dinner out at Le Pigeon, the creators of my most favorite dessert ever (cornbread with ice cream syrup and hot fresh bacon bits), with good friends we keep meaning to make plans with. The food, the company and the celebratory feeling made it one of the best nights in recent memory.

That week-end my father, cousins and aunts came to town for my aunt Martha’s memorial. It was great to spend time with them all, and a special thanks to my neighbor Don for playing guitar at her memorial service. That said, when he and Pastor Sue played “Why Me, Lord?” I lost it.

The next week I headed off to a work site visit in St. Clair County, IL. I arrived at the hotel and learned that my uncle Johnny had passed away. He’d been fighting cancer, but the news was still unexpected. It made my planned stop-over in Little Rock for the week-end even more appealing. I arrived while my grandmother’s maple tree was at the height of its color. Pictures do not do it justice, but here are a few regardless.

It was also the 4th Anniversary (read: free admission) at the Clinton Presidential Library. We took a family trip out there, though our first stop was the Flying Fish for some delicious catfish. I managed to get a candid shot of my grandmother mid-gasp:

All in all, a great trip.

The next week I headed to Corbin/Williamsburg, Kentucky for work on another site visit. I’ve spent more time in Kentucky than any other site we work with besides Portland, and I love it there. There is so much creativity and compassion. This time there were also real tourist destinations, so after the site visit we went to Cumberland Falls:

And on the way back to Lexington we stopped at the original Kentucky Fried Chicken, where the colonel crafted his secret recipe. I even got my picture taken with the life-sized statue already posing on a bench:

The following Saturday Craig and I had the first of two great date nights seeing live music. We first stopped at my colleague Mac’s 50th birthday party celebration, which was lots of fun. Then we headed on to Cassidy’s to meet up with the crew that would be heading to the Crystal for the Drive by Truckers/Hold Steady show. I have lots of pictures from the night, but I’ll just share one of the Hold Steady and one of my clock photos with Patterson Hood of DBT.

When we got to the Crystal Ballroom our friends all headed to the bar area, but Craig and I stayed in the all ages side and made our way to the front. It was a fantastic show. Both bands genuinely enjoyed performing and both were better live than recorded.

Not even a week later we saw a fantastic show at the Doug Fir thanks to Yonna’s encouragement. I wish I could recall the name of the opening act, but suffice to say when we got there no one was standing on the floor and by the time he was done half the crowd had waltzed. Then Tom Heinl of Eugene played a super fun set. Finally, Holly Golightly and the Brokeoffs, sent us out on a high note.

For Thanksgiving Craig made a video of us rocking out to Superconductor’s “Bush Pilot”. You can find it on his humanclock channel of youtube.

Saturday we spent the night at our friend Matt’s place in Husum, WA. It was a quick trip, but lots of fun. His house is in a postcard perfect setting. And that’s how I got to December.

]]> http://www.pantiesinapinch.com/?feed=rss2&p=154 0 http://www.pantiesinapinch.com/?p=135 http://www.pantiesinapinch.com/?p=135#comments Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:16:23 +0000 cora http://www.pantiesinapinch.com/?p=135 We don’t have T.V. at the house, which is great now that I have become accustomed to it. Plus, there are lots of wonderful things to watch on the interweb. Two things that came my way this week are particularly worthy of watching.

First the new Red Fang video for “Prehistoric Dog” which  may be the greatest Portland-made rock video ever:

And next my friend Molly’s brother’s Obama mash-up. It’s true that a ton of these have gone around the web in the past year. But I haven’t been sent one since the polls showed what we are all a little uncomfortable believing…there is a high probabiliy that this well-spoken, charismatic and intelligent man may be our next president.

We met Patrick and Holly’s beautiful and calm new daughter, Anastasia Beatrice, that night. They were also joined by Holly’s mother Mary, and Patrick’s mother Kathy. Craig Clark, public information officer (OK, I made the title up) for the Eastside Egg Co-op and his wife Amy joined us as well.

Holly made incredible sub sandwiches, I brought brown rice salad (recipe follows) and chocolate chip oatmeal and orange almond oatmeal cookies. Craig and Amy made incredible lemon verbena cake sandwiches. There were also ginger cookies, that appeared from someone, but as I saw it, out of nowhere.

It was a fun night. It is hard to explain what makes watching the swifts so incredible. If you live in Portland and haven’t done it before, go do it. People may have been telling you to go for years, and their words just won’t do justice to the experience.

In fact, it was my mom, Rusty and grandmother that first went to see them while they were visiting iin 2003. I had asked my friend Chris, an avid birdwatcher that knows Oregon through his years working with the state parks, where they should bird watch. He noted that if they were in Portland, in September, they should go see the swifts. It turned out that their hotel, the Inn at Northrup Station, was just blocks from Chapman Elementary. They went one night early in their trip and raved about it. In fact, they decided to go again before they left. Despite being invited I didn’t join them.

They came back to visit in September 2005, partly to time it with the swifts. This time they insisted I join them. We got sandwiches from the City Market, had a picnic and watched the swifts. And they were right, it was incredible. The birds fill the sky with both art and drama.

I took Yonna to see them that same year, only a couple of weeks later, yet the show was entirely different. There were more birds and they were smarter. This time they knew there would be a hawk or falcon waiting to try and dine on one of them. This time they swarmed the predator and attempted to run her out.

The thing is, as exciting as the swifts are, it isn’t just the birds that make it interesting. There is also the crowd that gathers. Every night a new and different collection of people show up to watch. An event that is birds roosting. No ticket needed. Free admission.

In 2006 Craig and I met Patrick and Holly and my colleague Cheryl for an impromptu picnic and birdwatching. We all had a great time and said we should do it again next year. Yet last year, while I had every intention of going, somehow September passed by and I never made it to see the birds.

I was so glad when Patrick suggested it this year. And then the next morning, he wrote and said, lets do that every year on the first day of fall. And I’m thrilled. I like to have moments to stop and celebrate the passing of time and the change of seasons. It is even better when you can know that you will be with the people that helped you through what has passed and will be with you for what is to come. And as we pause to celebrate this change nature keeps doing what it does, however it can, even if it means roosting in a decommissioned elementary school chimney.

And if you are interested, here is the recipe for the brown rice salad. I found it in San Juan Classics II from Todd Wood, chef at the “Deli Next Door” at the Skagit Valley Food Co-op in Mt Vernon. The recipe below serves 4, I almost always double it when making for parties.

RICE AND SPINACH SALAD

HERB VINAIGRETTE (recipe follows)
3 cups cooked brown rice, cooled
1/2 bunch fresh spinach, stemmed, washed and chopped
1 small red onion
1/2 pound feta cheese, crumbled
1/4 – 1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup sliced black olives
1/2 red bell pepper, diced

1. Prepare Herb Vinaigrette; cover and refigerate
2. Place cooked rice in a large bowl and add remaining ingredients.
3. Pour 1/4 to 1/2 cup Herb Vaingrette over salad and gently toss. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.

HERB VINAIGRETTE
Make ahead, if possible, to give the flavors time to meld.

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp chopped fresh garlic
1/2 tsp each dried oregano, basil, marjoram
1/8 tsp ground fennel seed
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 cup canola oil

In a bowl, combine all ingredients, except oil. Add oil gradually, beating with a whisk until blended. Cover and refrigerate. (1 1/3 cups)

Tiffany has a whole stack of orange jumpsuits with her name embroidered on them.

Tiffany and Jeremy bought a house in Marysville and moved in Labor Day week-end. We met her at her work and she took us from her work to her house via an old farm road.

Her house is great, a big fenced back yard, a newly remodeled kitchen, wood floors and lots of natural light. Her brother Shane came down with his girlfriend Crystal and six tuna steaks that he’d brought in off the boat that morning. We had an incredible dinner of steak, tuna, baked potatoes and salad. Yummy!

Can you guess what Mike and Jan were getting ready for?

As luck would have it, Craig’s cousin Mike and his partner Jan were also in Marysville to visit some of her friends. We met up with them for breakfast and shared food and stories.

Then Craig and I loaded up the car and headed up to Anacortes where we left our car at Betsy and Doug’s and loaded up our bikes and rode to the ferry terminal to cross over to Lopez Island for a night camping.

Outside Betsy, Doug and Mason's on the way to the ferries

It turned out that Betsy was going to be the captain on our ferry and thus, one of the dreams I’ve had ever since Yonna told she was a captain was realized—I got to hang out in the wheel house. It was incredible to carry on a conversation with Besty awhile at the same time she read satellite pictures and worked with the quarter master to take us across the sound.

I'm standing here to block your view of the sensitive equipment.

The ferry was full of other bike riders, both those loaded for camping and those there as credit card tourists. It was exciting to see. This was my first time loading my bike up so completely and yet it worked just fine. I was amazed to pass people on the hill that were riding unloaded while my bike was so packed, but if there is one thing I’ve learned about myself and hills, I have to ride at my pace.

We had a site reserved at the Lopez Farm Cottages, which was under 2.5 miles from the ferries and boasted showers and morning coffee. Unfortunately, my internet reservation led me to set up camp in a small loop that had already closed for the season, so just as we left camp to bike around the island we were told we’d have to move to the other spot. Luckily, he agreed to let us make the move after dark and use the light for exploring the island.

We rode through the one block village and then on down to Otis Perkins Park. It was a beautiful day and thrilling to see so many bike riders of all types out and about. On our way back we stopped at the Galley for a beer and a snack.

Lopez sunset from the Galley

We sat at the bar by the pool table and got to experience of bit of the culture that small island living cultivates. We also met Robert and Sara Lynn a newly married couple currently living on Orcas.

Robert and Sara Lynn by the Blue Bull at the Galley

The conversation kept us at the Galley a bit longer than we’d planned and so when we left we made our way home in the dark (except for our bike lights mind you) with hardly a car passing us by. We found our new campsite and then headed over to pick up our tent and re-make camp. Afterwards, we went to the pavilion/restrooms and met some friendly people from Seattle sitting by the fire. We sat with them for a while and chatted and then retired for the night.

The next morning I found that there was no coffee in the canister. We took it as a sign to load up and head into town for coffee and breakfast. It was a beautiful day and Craig spotted a hardly used version of almost the same model Trek 520 he rode around Australia. Within the half hour I saw someone ride past on my same year’s model Trek Pilot 1.2, a first for me.

We caught the 12:30pm ferry back to Anacortes. The ferry was filled with bikers, those of us coming from Lopez were loaded in the back, but there were bikes all through the ferries that had been loaded at the earlier island stops.

The bikers from Lopez waiting to exit the ferry

We made it back to our car, and with 3 quick stops got home before 8pm, which meant we could get Thai take-out, because I love coming home and carrying on my vacation for the rest of the night!