Keeping in touch with Jim

Yesterday I bought a new road vehicle - it is a 2000 Chevy Astrovan. It rides well and only has 93k miles on it. It is clean, quiet and comfortable. I am happy. Today at 4:00 I will pick up the keys to the house in Oregon City that I will be calling home for a while. Jaimee and Kris have moved into their new apartment and it will do for them until Kris finishes school this year. And that's just the beginning - more to follow.

Also, Happy Birthday Oregon 150 years and still going strong.

An ordinary day. I had promised my daughter that I would go to Costco to get some stuff that we needed. No big deal. I wasn't focused on the date - Friday the 13 th - which most people view as unlucky but to me it's just another day. So, I'm standing in line at checkout and every check stand has at least 4 people waiting with huge Costco orders. I'm in no hurry so I'm just patiently waiting. All of a sudden, to my right, a very lovely lady steped into the end of the line and she had just one item, a large bouquet of roses. She looked up and down the row of check stands and resigned herself to having to wait her turn. Then my line stared to move, quickly, so I gave a little " pssst " to get her attention and waved her into the line ahead of me. She moved over with a beautiful smile and looked into my cart. "No flowers for your someone special?" she asked. "No one special." I said with a shrug. She put her flowers on the conveyor and ...

Yesterday was a fun day. I hopped on the C-Tran bus at Fishers Landing (just a short walk from the apartment) and changed to the MAX in Parkrose. The ride into Old Town Portland was relaxing and I enjoyed the sights while listening to the tunes on my MP3 player. I walked along the waterfront and then strolled up and down Front Street then headed west to 5th and back down Oak Street to Front. The air was cool but the sun was out and it was quite refreshing. Just after noon I hopped the bus for Washington Square to celebrate a birthday for our friend Noak. I got there early and just wandered the mall for a while, enjoying the sights and sounds. We all met at the Newport Bay restaurant at 3:00 for an early dinner with lots of laughs and giggles. After dinner we went to see the movie He's Just Not That Into You which was not only funny but very insightful. There was a little something in it for everyone. Then Noak was kind enough to give me a ride home as the busses had stopped running...