Tam’s Think Tank

The Napkin, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

The theme this week’s photo hunt is party. I took this one of my brother in law, who’s a bit camera shy, at a party at my mom’s place at the end of last summer. My brother in law, Tim, showed me his napkin when I went to take a picture of him. It cracked me up, made him smile, and I got what I think is kind of a cool photo.

 If you’d like to join in all the photo hunt fun, click here and be whisked away to a place where you can get all the info you need to start posting.

Mini Iris, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

Here it is… the first blooms of 2008 at our house. Wow. I love this time of year.

Fridge, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

Here’s the front of our new fridge. It looks like I need to wipe it down a bit after taking the plastic off. Ah well, even so, it’s so exciting. Who’d of thought I’d be so happy to have a new kitchen appliance. LOL After all, it’s me we’re talking about. Bah ha ha ha! It cracks me up!!

Contents, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

Here it is… at last!! We finally got our new refrigerator. Whoo Hoo!! I can say that I’ve not been a fan of the fridge we had in the house ever since we moved here. The thing is, we never had a really good excuse to buy a new one. The old one worked, so why spend the money. We’re both a bit too practical to buy one just because we didn’t like it much. But now, with the advent of our purchase of the rental house and our need to get a refrigerator in there, we had our excuse. Move ours to the rental, buy a new one for us. YES! I’m excited, can you tell? The best part of it for Karen is that the milk and the chai tea mix both fit on the same door shelf. Easy to find, easy access. She’s a happy camper. For me it’s being able to see everything. Hopefully there will be no more horrifying incidents of finding strange and unusual science experiments at the back of a shelf after we’ve said to ourselves, hmmm… I think we have that in here somewhere… not finding what we were looking for, but instead finding some nasty thing in a storage container that’d been placed in there a couple of years before. Ew. Karen denies this has happened, I know it’s true. Yes, it’s true. It is. Absolutely true. And, absolutely never going to happen again, thanks to having a new, see everything, fridge.

Hanging Out At Home, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

I love this photo. I took it on Sunday. I was hanging out in the big chair, a spot I love,  with Weston perched next to me. He loves to sit on the arm or the back of the chair when I’m in it and then put his head on my shoulder and go to sleep. It’s the cutest thing ever.

Notice the sheet on the back of the chair and on the sofa. Those are protections against the little guy chewing on the various pieces of furniture in our living room. We have a leather sectional in our family room, where the TV is, that he hasn’t chewed on, much anyway. For some mysterious reason he loves the stuff in our quiet sanctuary of a living room. They are like huge stuffed toys to him. It’s funny as well as infuriating when you catch him gnawing. He sneaks over and nonchalantly starts in on a cushion.  When we don’t hear him, it’s a bad thing.  Good thing he’s nearly one, maybe this chewing thing will taper off over the next… uh… year. Lucky us. What’s a new set of furniture to buy… really. Maybe we can take it out of his allowance…. yeah, maybe that will get his attention.

Twisted, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

Lastly, from our walk in Cathedral Park yesterday with Weston, a picture of a really nice piece of driftwood. The driftwood on the beaches at the park is amazing. Just huge and tons of it. Really interesting looking.

Carts, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

These were pushed over the bank and lying next to the river. There were actually a few of them. Not sure why, or even how they got there, but they make for interesting discarded urban art, if you choose to look at it that way. I’m sure there are loads of stories behind these. It’d be nice to hear one or two.

Unintended Art, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

Not sure what this thing once was, but it makes for great sculpture on the beach at Cathedral Park.

Links, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

This was taken at Cathedral Park as well and is used to hold a couple of logs together that are used as a break near a dock to keep stuff from building up against the dock and breaking it free. I just liked the look of it.

Cathedral Park, St. Johns, Portland, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

We love this park and always seem to find ourselves here when we go to take Weston for a walk. The light yesterday was spectacular. I love this time of year.

NYK, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

We’ve had a pretty good weekend. The weather’s been absolutely beautiful, Kert started working on our rental house (thanks Kert), we cleaned up a bit around our house, we took the boy for a nice walk yesterday, bought ice cream cones, and we’ve had some time to just relax and be at home. Everything a person could want from a weekend with the exception of having a longer weekend.

Right now we’re watching the Academy Awards (loved the song Falling Slowly from the movie Once), the boy is chewing contentedly on his bully stick, and it’s still not even eight o’clock. Right on. And again I’ll say… life is good.

Today’s theme for the hunt is wooden. I was looking through some of my photos and came across this one taken in October 2007 of the bay front in Newport, Oregon. Great wooden benches, railings, and boardwalk there, not to mention the big wooden boat in the background and the huge mural painted on the side of the wooden fish processing plant (or whatever you call it).

If you want to join in the hunt, go to tnchick to get all the info, and start snapping those shots!

IMG_0348, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

Yep, here we are, back home. And what does that mean for me? It means I’m spending time back at work… working. It’s been a bit of a busy couple of days. We got home from the trip on Sunday, did a bunch of stuff in and around and for the house, and then grocery shopped. Tuesday we both worked and were busy at it. And today… I had to take Karen to the airport, a total bummer, and I worked, ran home at lunch to let the little man out and have a few moments of cuddly bonding with him, went back to work, and came home for some dinner and more bonding with the little guy. Right now he’s cuddled up in a little ball next to me on the couch. What a cutie. It’s painfully obvious… I love the little mister. He’s an absolute joy in a day that’s been sad, because Karen had to leave, and busy at the office.

Lastly, from Philadelphia, we ventured over to the Philadelphia Museum of Art with the intention of actually going inside and checking out the museum. We were also going to re-create the whole Rocky running up the stairs thing with Karen as Rocky, arms raised, wearing a hoodie, etc. Sadly it was Sunday, our last morning in town, when we went over and apparently the museum is free on Sundays, a good thing, and so everyone and their third uncles cousin goes on Sunday, a bad thing. We couldn’t find parking… anywhere. So instead of going up the steps and inside, we drove around it a couple of times, Karen shooting this photo from the car window while we were stopped at a red light. Next time we’re in Philly, we’re going. This time we settled for the drive by.

We did end up getting to see some areas of the city and just outside of the city we wouldn’t have seen. There’s a cool park running along two sides of a river (who’s name I can barely remember let alone try to spell) filled with sculpture and rowing clubs. Apparently it’s a training ground for Olympic rowers? Not really sure, but we think so. There were tons of people out rowing as we drove by so if nothing else, it’s a very popular thing to do.

And so ends the tales of our trip to Atlanta and Philadelphia. Nice time in both cities. We ran into some great people in both towns, very friendly, very hospitable. We saw some sights and enjoyed some down time (or at least I enjoyed some down time… Karen, unfortunately, had to work most of the time). It was a bit tiring traveling and then traveling and then traveling to get home. I don’t know how the traveling business person does it all the time. And sadly, Karen has to leave again tomorrow for LA. Business meeting. She flies back on Thursday, but still… what a bummer. If I’m tired, she’s exhausted. But then, that’s us… life on the go, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Philadelphia City Hall, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

The Philadelphia City Hall is a gorgeous building.

Pass and Stow, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

The famous crack that ceased the bell from ringing. Not the larger one that’s very visible, the smaller one running up through the Pass and Stow.

Independence Hall, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

The building where the decision for resistance and then war was made, the system of government was decided, and the constitution was drafted and signed.