Comma Dot Comma

Kate tagged me and I will oblige. Five things most people are unlikely to know about me. Hm! This is hard.

1. I had a crush on Kirk Cameron from 5th grade to 7th grade. I wrote him letters telling him I admired his work. I had a poster of him that sometimes scared me with its loominess in the middle of the night.
2. I still have, and wear, some of the makeup from my wedding 9.5 years ago. It’s a Clinique concealer stick.
3. My most frequently recurring dream involves my being in charge of a large vulnerable group in a dangerous situation. Past groups have included immigrants, the physically disabled, the elderly, the morbidly obese, toddlers on goats, the mentally ill, and lost ghosts. Past dangerous situations have included crossing a mountain pass in winter, fording a wild river in puffy down coats, and traversing the rotting floors of an old building.
4. My middle name comes from the name of the street the hospital was on.
5. I can’t stand to have a blanket covering my face. I’m sure that I will run out of air, though I know a blanket is permeable. I am also bothered when other people put blankets over their faces and I may try to rescue them.

I’ll tag Karen Joy. And Stephanie.

Back from Oregon! We set foot in the Willamette Valley a few days after one of the rainiest weeks on record. Even the pavement seemed squishy. Within two seconds of being outside I felt my perpetually chapped lips begin to absorb the moisture of the Oregon air. Ahhhh….. the relief! There was fog and a few showers, but most of the week was clear. Dr. G and I set off into the woods in search of a Christmas tree. We wandered for hours down tinier and tinier trails and roads, to no avail. The roads and trails were covered with huge fallen trees that had lost their purchase in the saturated soil. Undisturbed frost had grown inch-long crystals on trees and grasses. It was all very lovely, but there were no good Christmas trees. We gave up and headed for a tree farm, where we acquired a lovely stout fir that put all those woodlands trees to shame.

The week also included playing with a kitten that purred constantly, building a chocolate-mint graham cracker house, going to a craft fair, doing our favorite hike (a three mile climb through old growth forest, with the trail beginning across the street from the house), and attending a family party. We went to the craft fair to do a little detective work.

Yes, detective work. For the past few years, Dr. G’s parents have received handwritten Christmas cards from “Glenn and Marie.” No last names, no return address. His parents don’t know them. They talk about their grandchildren, their illnesses, and their hobbies. This year they even invited them to a party at their place because it has been “TOO LONG”. They also included a clue: Glenn would be selling wooden bowls at the fair. However, there was no one there named Glenn exhibiting wooden bowls or anything else. I think it must be a joke, and a pretty good one.

Glad to be home. Today it’s raining in Phoenix. It’s more like mud falling from the sky than rain. If you want to see some pictures from Oregon, go to our flickr page and check out the first two pages.