But most important of all, the reason I can have a genuine Multnomah County Library card is because… tada -- thanks to Craigslist (again) I found a place to live -- not just a place to live, but a fabulous place to live. This house is wonderfully spacious, with a wrap-around porch, a fire place, a wood-burning stove to warm up those winter days, an entertainment room with a huge screen and HD television (geez, it looks like enhanced reality, it’s almost surreal).
The location is beautiful, beautiful, beautiful – it’s a part of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area and at the end of the driveway and across the road is the trail to LaTourell Falls, which makes for a beautiful hike. I’ve taken my pudgy little body up the trail twice now and it is wonderful – soothes the soul and puts life into perspective. So, am I lucky or what? (huge grin here…) Amazingly, it’s only 30 minutes from Portland but only 10 minutes from Troutdale – one of the suburbs I had been considering because of its scenic beauty and closeness to the city!In case you’re worried that I’m spending my life savings on my living arrangements, not to worry. I actually rent two rooms/share the house with one other person, three dogs and out in the pasture, three llamas and a goat (they haven’t come into the house yet…). ”The person” is another Boomer, Dave. It’s pretty funny because he named one of his dogs Bruno, which was my maiden name. And let me tell you, there are not too many Brunos around, person or dog! I made a commitment to watch the pets while he goes on vacation. So, I have a couple months to get the dogs to mind me. Not sure that the llamas or goat will ever do that, but maybe they will also adjust. Right now they look at me with a bit of suspicion through those big, long-lashed eyes... Oh, and Dave has a sister who is, in her own words, “a bleeding heart liberal,” environmentalist and vegetarian who believes in doing good!! So many things in common! She is also an artist and well, I’m just me. But, isn’t this truly amazing? I feel very, very fortunate.
You can imagine what a welcome change it is from the Travelodge I had checked into in order to start my search for a temporary living space for the next three or so months. When I checked in I found out that they had a Bronx pizza and sandwich shop next to the Travelodge. Not “next” as in you walk down the block but you could go into the pizza joint from the motel’s lobby so you can imagine how the smell of tomato sauce, garlic and pizza wafted through the entire place. At first it was fine – I just got hungry walking out of my room and out to my car. But after a few days I began to be afraid that dogs would start following me, thinking I was a walking pizza…
So, another list of things that have surprised me (the Wow List, Part 2):
- the Costco (I think there are only two in all of Portland) is way out in a remote area, as if though they were ashamed of their Costco. Interestingly, the Costco not only carries a heck of a lot of selections of beer and wine, but also NPR’s Drive Way Moments and “Wait, wait…Don’t tell me” CDs and they sell green tea in a huge box! I wouldn’t have been surprised if instead of their pizza or polish sausage if they had featured a tofu burger or hotdog!
- people do NOT believe in speeding here. I was zipping along on the freeway, wondering why I was passing everyone when I noticed the speed limit near (not in) Portland is 60 mph and people actually go 60 mph. Out past all the suburbs the speed does go up to 65 but people go 65! I remember in SLC I would routinely go 70 mph and I had a lot of people constantly passing me so my lead-heavy foot will have to ease up a bit before I get a speeding ticket! I had to laugh – I actually saw a car creeping along the highway and on back window they had written in big letters “55 mph = 37 mpg.” Like I said, no one seems in a hurry here.
- Oregonians are not braggarts. I went to a Hood River farmer’s market and they had the biggest apple I had ever seen! Now, if this apple were in Texas or Alaska you would hear endless bragging about how bit they grow apples in Texas or Alaska but here it was quietly accepted as an everyday thing… I can’t wait to see their pumpkins!
