Positive miscellany....

mark3 has a post up today that is just incredible in its joy and, yes, inspirational - he's walking again, he's walked half a mile. Technology is a wonderful thing.

A pretty photo of Portland from one of its bridges (courtesy of the Ten Years of My Life site, syndicated as tenyearsproject - the site's copy of the photo is at http://tenyearsofmylife.com/2004/08/13/ (no ads - not a Buzznet site).

Kitty! And one, and two, and.... Even our cats seldom managed to look that silly (but they did occasionally!).

Bits and whatnot on the day.

Not much to say about the Gardens, Saturday Market, or the Bite. I wasn't in the right frame of mind and skipped through quickly (or, in the case of the Bite, simply skipped). On the plus side, that meant I didn't spend any money except the dollar for parking....

Three pairs new pants. It was the drive out to McMinnville that was really fun, though. Summer storm hit. I was coming down into Newberg and saw a flash - I thought it was lightning, but I heard no thunder (of course, my CD was playing), and didn't see any further. (Then, in Newberg, where McDonald's used to be and burnt down - their sign was still up. It said "We'll be back.")

On the way into Dundee, I thought I saw another - so I turned the CD off and rolled the window down a bit. Saw another one definitely, then heard the roll of thunder. Then the first raindrops hit my window, splattering to nickel-size when they hit. Slowly. One. Two. Laura rolls the window up, three, four - I think it was about then that I crossed the Line into the storm and the heavens just opened up. The rain-splatters went to quarter-size and came so fast and furious that I had to turn the windshield wipers on high (and I got into the right lane and slowed down a bit, but not more'n 5 mph under the speed limit). I think it was maybe 100-200 yards, and then we came out of the storm; it was still raining, but just light pinprick sprinkle-things. All the while it was pouring, I was driving toward a sky filled with fluffy white clouds. The road went from dry to soaked in under 2 seconds.

By the time I got to McMinnville, the end of town nearer Dundee had gotten slightly damp, the rest hadn't even been touched. Just this band of rain with a baby storm in the middle. Very neat, really.