"How can we speak of Democracy or Freedom when from the very beginning of life we mould the child to undergo tyranny, to obey a dictator? How can we expect democracy when we have reared slaves? Real freedom begins at the beginning of life, not at the adult stage. These people who have been diminished in their powers, made short-sighted, deviated by mental fatigue, whose bodies have become distorted, whose wills have been broken by elders who say: “Your will must disappear and mine prevail!” – how can we expect them, when school-life is finished, to accept and use the rights of freedom?”

-Maria Montessori

August 14th-20th ( Tour de Fat & Other Stuff)

On Saturday the 14th we headed downtown to see the bicycles and performances at the Tour de Fat Festival. Here's a little bit of what we saw...

We also had the pleasure of seeing this man. He made
a bologna sandwich using
only his feet. It was very
impressive. He picked
a woman from the
audience to eat the sandwich
after he had finish making it.
I really wanted to
be the one to eat the
sandwich, but Dallas thought

it was a bad idea :)
And just in case you were

wondering, that is a pickle
between his toes.

We left the Tour de Fat and headed down to a
warehouse where Dallas played some
music for a biker rally.

Next we went down to the Rogue Ale Public House to have drinks. One of my favorite things about Portland is all the local breweries and especially the samplers of beer they have at the restaurants. Yum Yum Yum....

A few days later we headed up to Pittock Mansion to take some photos since it was a clear day. You can see Mt. Hood from the top. I got a few good ones of Mt. Hood which I'll post later. But for now here is a photo of Pittock Mansion and a view of the downtown.....

We had lunch at this cool place that we've been seeing for the past few weeks, but hadn't really had a chance to try. They made delicious tacos and the place had a really nice atmosphere.....

On Friday night Evelyn and I played with some glow sticks. First we lined them up in a rainbow and then Evelyn made a smiley face and some other shapes while I took some photos. It was pretty fun. I really love the second from last photo. Night photos are so fun!

Pretty Awesome: August 10th-13th

Dallas and I have been absolutely loving it here in Portland. I saw my first Portland rain the other day. It was just a sprinkle, but more will be here soon.

I'll start this post off by sharing a few photos from the Arboretum...

The Arboretum is pretty neat. All the trees were labeled and there were plenty of trails to walk around on. We'll definitely be headed back to check it out again.

On August 11th, Dallas had his first paying gig in Portland! It went really well. Dallas is enjoying the music scene and is finding plenty of opportunities to play.

Friday, August 13th was a glorious evening. Not only did we get to go see Mary Ellen Mark give a lecture and slide show, but we also got to see Chris Cain play at Duff's Garage! It was an evening full of inspiring music and beautiful photography. What more could one ask for :)

Night shot from Friday the 13th... love the moon in this one.

Cannon Beach, Ice Cream & Photo Booth.

So far Portland has been pretty good to us. We've been enjoying lots of running, juggling, music playing and sightseeing! On Saturday we headed to the coast and spent the day at Cannon Beach. It was pretty chilly down near the water, but the scenery was well worth the drive.

You can't go wrong with Ice Cream!!!

Dallas and I made a visit to Voodoo Doughnut on Sunday and lo and behold there was a photo booth...

Needless to say, the photo booth made my day :)

The Neglected Blog

Well...I have been pretty bad about keeping this thing up to date. I'm not surprised. It's hard to keep up with facebook, e-mail, my website and the blog. I am going to try to do a little better from now on, but I make no promises :)

Alright, I suppose I left off the back in December. After we got through Christmas we made a trip out to Hawaii to visit Schuyler and then to Japan to visit Mason & Emily. We had a great time. I posted a number of pictures on my facebook which if you haven't seen I suggest you take a look at them.

Also in the last post I announced that Dallas and I had decided to move to Portland. I can happily say that we have made it here. We left Fayetteville on Monday, July 12th and got to Portland on Thursday, July 15th. We made a stop in Boulder to visit Dallas' aunt Karen. We also squeezed in a wonderful dinner with Michelle and David while in Boulder. Boulder is a beautiful place, I always enjoy myself when I'm there.

Both Dallas and I were so relieved to finally get to Portland. We traveled through Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho and Oregon!! Thankfully both our cars made it and so did we.

Our first few days in Portland have been pretty nice. The weather has actually been a little chilly and everyone here seems to be pretty friendly. We have already been on a city long bike ride and ran through Forest Park on the west side of town. We also checked out the Saturday Market in Downtown. It was very exciting and we had some yummy African food.

This week Dallas and I begin the search for employment. Wish us luck!

Here are a few photos...

Dallas and tree in Downtown.

Break dancers at the Saturday Market

Funky band at Saturday Market complete with random dancer to the far right.

Saturday Market: Lefty the One-Armed Guitarist. He was pretty good :)

Multnomah Falls: We stopped on our way to Portland to check out the famous waterfall.