We went out! Yeah, it doesn’t happen often, because of the canine logistics involved, but yesterday the stars aligned and one of DrSita’s long-lost friends from Downey was playing a gig in Portland and we managed to get our act together and go and see them. Of course, we arrived late and missed their set but it was the thought that counts… after loading their van we went for a few pints and I heard lots about what people I don’t know are doing now. But they were a well friendly bunch. Right now I’m listening to a few of their tracks and they’re a an interesting proposal. Well-produced, generally instrumental, varied time signatured digital-rock with overarching political themes… A bit Muse-ish but without the vocals. Fair play to ‘em so.

Have a picture from Atticus’ walk yesterday, it’s a fair sample of what 99% of Portland looks like right now.

Shameless in Seattle

Atticus is still at the kennel and we’re picking him up at 6. He was the smallest dog there, I’ve been worried about him all weekend, still, I’m sure it’s character building…

Sita’s presentation went well; I’ve seen it a couple of times before (and the dress rehearsals) so I nipped out to take a few photos in the rain instead, though me camera’s on the blink again… Had a bit of a nap at the hotel then went to the top floor restaurant, had some truly dire snacks and checked yelp.com for recommended nearby eateries on me iPod. It came up with the Purple Cafe and Wine Bar. Great food, good wines and if it’s good enough for Bill Gates and his posse, it’s good enough for me. If it had been more brightly lit and I’d brought another lense it’d've been perfect for stalking… He ordered some kind of citrussy cocktail affair, in case you were wondering. It completed the Seattle experience though. Coffee, rain and Mr. Gates, couldn’t have planned it better.

Martin just forwarded this picture of Sally making the most of a bad situation. Last time I was in Downey Sally mentioned she wanted the trees trimming. I started pruning them with the secateurs and then Martin suggested using his chainsaw…  Long story short: them trees will never grow again. Looks like Sally & Martin have now removed the roots. Not an enviable task, it’s back-breaking work, so now they can plant lemons or limes or avocado trees.

Shovelling Sally

Also I cut the lawn today. Spring is in the air.

*EDIT- 30-March-09*

This just in: It’s teamwork…

Hammer of the Gods

Mornin’ all. Mum and Dad flew back to blighty yesterday and just rang to say they’d arrived safe and sound albeit with no hot water in the house. Atticus is at sixes and sevens searching for missing members of the household. He’s a bit more resigned now but he’s definitely going to miss his hour long ‘come-let-us-adore-him’ sessions in the morning, bracing off-lead walks around the Oregon coast and thereabouts and regular family-sized left overs.

Note St. Paddy's day 'Bark if you're Irish' collar...

Yesterday I took them to the airport and then caught up on 3 weeks of missed episodes of this (The Office) that (Dollhouse) and the other (Simpsons) on hulu.com. It’s a well handy resource that hulu, though I’d swap it in a heartbeat for full access to the BBC’s iPlayer. I also went to the cinema and saw Gran Torino, which I thoroughly enjoyed and I’m not a Clint fan usually. Gangs are bad and grumpy old veterans are redeemable it appears. Watchmen last week rocked, no matter what anyone tells you.

Today I’m hard at work and catching up on my various social networks. Facebook has reinvented itself in my absence by removing all kinds of useful options like see more/see less of this person’s updates, and “What are you doing” is now “What’s on your mind”. If you’d like to see what’s on my mind and don’t do facebook, my statuses go to the lifestream page here. I still can’t get the hang of twitter. I’d like an option where you can see a day’s activity in one place including both sides of any conversations and in chronological order of the conversations, rather than the present ‘reverse’ view. There’s probably some kind of web app that’ll do that, but I’m not there yet.

Thanks to one of Maryl’s updates I’m discovering Emiliana Torrini, an italian/icelandic singer songwriter who lives in Brighton. Lovely stuff.

And finally, vfxy.com has featured my little blog as their photoblog of the week which is quite an honour, considering the level of quality over there. Can I interest you in an email subscription?

which means I can check out all the places I used to live in alarmingly high resolution…

Here’s 6, Trafalgar Place, here’s Mister D’s, and here’s the Uplands Tav (The Celtic Pride’s AWOL…)

When US cities got streetview there were all manner of interesting scenes, wonder what Swansea and Brizzle will turn up… I dread to think

Mum & Dad are still here till Sunday, so I’m still keeping off facebook. I might be on Flickr from time to time still. Beach tomorrow, weather permitting. Normalish service as of monday. Regards to all.

it’s been so long… Anyroad, we’re 1 week into having Mum and Dad around. We’ve been to waterfalls, forests, wine country, downtown & trader joe’s and seen sun, sleet, fog and snow. Things are going grand, it’s lovely having them around. It’s been nice to get away from Facebook for a while too. I bundled them off to see Slumdog an hour ago at the cinema down the road, so I’m taking advantage of the time to nose around the interwebs and update me status here and there.

Photos will eventually find their way onto Flickr, where one of the photos from the waterfalls trip got on Explore.

'You didn't mention the volcanic formations, Gwyn'

I’ve a couple more full days at L&C then on Thursday, if it stops snowing long enough, we’re going to either hit the coast or the gorge. We’ve been saving the Science museum (OMSI) for when the weather gets truly dire, so tomorrow as it reaches its nadir, I think they’ll be checking out all that. Either way, if all’s quiet at this here blog, just assume things are going grand. Thanks for not giving up on reading… hasta pronto y’all

I’ve given up not making pancakes for Lent.

Made with colours not found in nature...

I had to tidy the kitchen anyways… Pictures over at Flickr, as per usual. Also on Flickr a variety of citrus that only occurs in certain lighting in the Pacific Northwest. The Orange Lemon. Lemange?