A Place Like This......

Powell's

I think it's probably very well known that I'm a bibliophile or book addict affection ado. ...in several languages, no less. So how many trips to Powell's does one take on their Portland vacation ? Daily....as in twice daily. Can't get to Powell's?......what a shame.

 

 

   

Nadaka

Right behind our house, the house that I grew up in, was a wonderful campfire girls day camp called Camp Nadaka.

      

 I have so many wonderful memories of this place. What a great suprise it was to see it still there, undeveloped, and now open to the public. It was as if I was transported instantly back into time. The chime of the gathering bell, pitched tents in the field, arts&crafts, endless camp songs day and night, wandering paths, the fairy ring, learning how to cook on an open fire and cooking a pit meal for 10 of my campiest friends, and my most importance rememberance and find was to discover that turtle rock is still there.

 

 

 

Mother's

    

Anyone hungry for breakfast? With a slogan like "You should eat so good." is a great sign that things will be well with the day. For the best and freshest food around just head down to Mother's.  We got there right at 9 AM, 10 minutes later there was quite a wait, but it's worth the wait.......truly.

  

      

 

Sand In the City

~ Greetings Everyone!~ I'll be blogging for the next couple of weeks from my beautiful hometown of Portland Oregon. This time my best friend Susie is with me. It's her first trip to Portland and now I can show her all of the places she hears me endlessly ramble on about. :) Lucky Her!

There's a little boy I know, named "O", who would build a house out of sand and live in it if I would let him. What a great surprise for us to see great sand sculptures right  here in the middle of the city.

 

Sand In the City was brilliantly put together by the Yoshida family of "Yoshida Sauce" fame.

  

 Before the sauce, Sensei Yoshida was my karate instructor at Portland State Universtiy.  He worked us so hard and then we would all go to Bush Garden for lunch.  Where-ever there's a Yoshida, there is always a great moment to be had and a memory to be made.

 

 

   

        

Loveables:Blogging for Bliss and A Give Away

    

It came as an unexpected surprise. Late in the afternoon a delivery of an inspiring book,"Blogging for Bliss." Tara Frey has welcomed all to the creative and inspiring world of blogging. This is a book chalked full of wonderful tips and advice, how to instructions, and introductions to 50 of Tara's blogging friends. In all, it inspires us to embrace the little moments of our lives and to share them with the world.

I met blogging friends I read often:Soulemama, Ravenhill, and Sadie Olive.

   

  

 

More importantly, after reading so many bloggers views on "why" they started blogging it took me back as to why I started blogging, and that is to say that I wanted to capture the little moments in our lives, so that we could look back and see all of the little steps making up the road of our journey together. In the last two years of blogging I've discovered that I have a true love of photography and I think I live more simply and in the moment. I am so thankful for all of you who read this blog and give me such great encouragement and feedback. I'm so glad we've met through the inspired and creative world of blogging.

I like Tara Frey's book so much that I am going to give a copy away. Please leave a comment about why you started blogging. The contest will close at 7pm Sunday night. Here's to your blogging success....and thank-you Tara Frey.

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We are going to let the contest run for a few more days. I've been called out of town for a death in the family. Enjoy,Valarie

     

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comments are closed.

The winner is Laurie from "Laurie's Dance with Sound"

Hi Valarie! I enjoy reading your blog and seeing your beautiful pictures! I started blogging as a way to let my family and friends know my updates when I started my cochlear implant journey because I could not keep up with the emails and inquiries. And enjoyed it so much that I kept going, even after both of my surgeries. I hope to compile some of my entries into a book one of these days. I have a secret....I have three other blogs! (for different reasons!) (knitting, cooking, & my book chapters)

After the Catch and Something Fishy

So the guys are still on the Bering Sea finishing up their Opie season,one more week to go. The actual opie season I think ended in April. After each episode of Deadliest Catch comes a round table with the captains and selected crew members called After the Catch. Every week, one of the ships captains shares a recipe. To celebrate  my Petterson  family fishing roots from Gotland Sweden, I now share a really great recipe from my Great Grandmother Anna.

       

Flounder in Rye Crust

4 flounder fillets
2-3 tablespoons of rye flour depending on the size of the fillets
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon paprika
Freshly ground pepper
½ cup of milk in a bowl
1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon oil for pan frying the fish.
4 teaspoons cider vinegar, optional
For serving: Lemon slices and parsley or dill or other herbs

Mix the rye flour, salt, paprika and pepper.
Pour flour mixture into a flat platter.

Rinse the fillets and then put them into the milk. Lift out one at a time and lay flat on the flour mixture. Turn over and set aside. Do the same with the other fillets.

Heat butter and oil in a pan, preferably large enough to accommodate all 4 fillets at the same time. When butter-oil mixture starts to turn light brown, add fillets to the pan. Cook for 2 minutes on one side, then turn over and cook another 2 minutes on the other side.
Arrange on plates or on serving platter. Drizzle a teaspoon of cider vinegar on each fillet. Decorate with lemon slices and parsley or other herbs.

 

Simple Birthday Pleasures

      

:: A morning walk by the stream::

:: A lasting bouquet of Roses from Dad.::

       

:: A dinner shared among friends::

:: Many facebook greetings. Thank-You ! ::

:: A favorite song ::

:: New fabric from Alewives & Lotta ::

             

:: Playing Piano ::

:: Tove ::

Thank you all for a very wonderful and memorable day !

Where the Wild Things Are is over at Jump Into A Book.

         

Happy Birthday !!!!!

                  

Today is my birthday. My dad always told me that you're only as old as you feel, so I'm 20 years old, ahem, with 20 something years experience. :)

So what's in store for this day? Well it will be celebrated among family and friends. Of course there will be my traditional white birthday cake with pineapple filling and strawberries on top.

                    

Each time my birthday rolls around I can't help think of all the things I want to accomplish in this coming year. All of the moments I want to share and embrace. The most important question is what will I be making on the creative end?

Most creative projects are spontaneous and passionately followed. Like when I'm in the fabric store and decide to make each child a new comforter,what about matching hat and fingerless gloves? What about the kids creative moments ? The ones where we learn how to build a treehouse or Chitty-Chitty bang bang..... You know,.....those creative moments. Like those pregnant ideas that capture the imagination moments.

This is exactly how I felt when I saw Debbie New's coracle. I've never knitted lace. I've never made a coracle but I really must learn how. I just think this would look so neat up on the lake at the Stuga. I do believe that a knitted coracle is on my "to do list" of passionate projects. Maybe I should try it in canvas first.:)

                     

                      

                     

To see more of Debbie New and her most incredible creations,look here. While you're looking I'll be eating a little smackerl of birthday cake. :) Cheers to a new year!!

       

A Stuga Day

Today, one can find me walking around a lake, baking the best blueberry pie in the world from freshly picked blueberries, drinking coffee, knitting,swimming,taking a sauna, and sitting at my stuga reading favorites. What are you doing today ?

P.S. For those of you looking for a little book jumping adventure there's a new post over at Jump Into A Book.

     

                    

         

       

          

Opie Season Banter

                     

 “I have seen the sea when it is stormy and wild; when it is quiet and serene;

    when it is dark and moody. And in all its moods, I see myself.”

    Martin Buxbaum

 

 

    

 

 

It is always very apparent, in your face apparent ,when a Deadliest Catch marathon is on. According to my family and friends, crab fishing banter enters our lives, as if we live on the Bering Sea in the middle of Opie season. One such friend has been kind enough to write them down, and so withouth further adieu, here is this seasons  my Opie banter:

 

• A nightime cell phone call from one of her children will bring this response,"Where in the Bering Sea are you?"
• "Be home before the ice-pack forms".
• "If you're going to act like a greenhorn,we'll treat you like a greenhorn".
• "You need a little patience,honey. Just let your pots soak overnight."
• "You will finish all the crab on your plate. Some lucky fisherman is setting his pots in the Bering Sea,enduring beyond frigid conditions,hammering ice off his boat, risking life and limb with 25 foot seas and living months at a time away from his family, just so you can move that meat around on your plate."
• "Let's off-load these groceries before we eat lunch."
• "Who's the captain?"
• "You're complaining like you're in the middle of Opie season."

I just wanted to say that we are in our last two weeks of Opie season and then life can go back to "normal". Until then "All aboard"!