Spot On

Small Town Saturday

This little theater doesn't really look like much, does it? (And I know this shot of it looks like something from 1969 but it was just taken.) Luckily, there are still quite a few of these little gems in the Portland area with this one here being our favorite.

Let me be your virtual tour guide:

The interior is pretty well preserved to its original state. The snack bar is small and reasonably priced (really...you won't pay $7.00 for a bottled water here). The curtains that separate the lobby from the main theatre are very velvet, very old, and very heavy. The sound system and projection is state-of-the-art but they still show previews, home movies, and trailers from the 1950s through the 1970s while you wait for the main feature. Off in the left corner, next to the screen, is a glowing clock that you can see for yourself that yes, the movie will be starting in ten minutes.  You have to go up a spiral staircase to get the restrooms and in doing so, you walk right past the projectionist. It's adds just a bit more to your "time warp" experience seeing the bright light inside that small room and hearing the "click, click, click" of the camera's spinning reels. But to really enjoy all this nostalgia you need to get there early... that way you can snag yourself a "loge" seat which has extra leg room and the capacity to rock.

I know... seats that rock? It's not big deal in the face of the multiplexes that take up scores of suburban acreage, but this little theater IS a big deal. It's been owned by the same family since it was built in 1937 and the locals take pride in the owners' dedication to all things related to film.

Long live these little guys in our community. They are priceless.

New Moon

Xin Nian Kuai Le!

May The Year of the Dragon bring prosperity to you.

 

Addendum: I made this print at the Portland Classical Chinese Garden, also known as The Garden of Awakening Orchids (Lan Su). It's a place that always has something to offer — no matter what time of year it is. Check out their Chinese New Year events.

Small Town Saturday

Hurry! Before it's all gone... No. Wait.

Nevermind.

Snow Falling On Cedar (and everything else)

And the next day we woke up to this. The mountain snow followed us home.

Can we keep it?

Frozen? Party of four? Your table is ready.

Snow Day!

Narnia!

With the long weekend it was high time to hit the slopes. Portland has had a dry spell and now it’s delivering all at once. In a word: SNOW. Time to pack up the truck.

Of course, it’s a long ride up to Mt. Hood so we needed to stop for the appropriate sustenance.

  “Mmmmm….donuts.” —Homer Simpson

We needed to get Powered by Joe's. If you stop in I highly recommend the custard chocolate (fully awesome), as well as the maple bars. And the new Carrot Cake donut is TO. DIE. FOR.

With that under our belts it was time to move on.

A rare sighting of  Snow Bunnehs

The slopes were gorgeous and after our first run the snow started coming down in buckets. Okay, 9” of the fluffy stuff to be exact, but it felt like buckets. Typically, Oregon isn’t known for an abundance of powdery snow. It’s usually wetter, and the closer the calendar creeps toward spring, it’s like skiing through a 7-Eleven Slurpee. But, not today. Today was our LUCKY DAY.

It was so quiet up there and everyone was West Coast Happy. No worries, man. Just jump on the lift and go.

It’s the first time The Daughters had experienced powder on the mountain. They liked that their skis disappeared under it. They liked that just sitting on the chair lift covered us in snow. We were like waking sled dogs that had burrowed in the banks, shaking most of it off by the time the lift deposited us.

It’s different skiing with kids. I’m used to skiing alone for the most part. The Mister used to be on a racing team 200 million years ago (I think that puts it around the Roosevelt administration…the second one) and while he did that I would go to different runs and lifts, checking out entire resorts. I loved going over the “bumps” skiers before me had carved out and gliding along in between the huge stands of firs. No bumps this time but it was nice experiencing that “shush, shush, shush” of my skis in all that quiet again. And I only had to pick up a “yard sale” kid once or twice this time.

To thaw the kiddos out we stopped at the “historic warming hut.” This hut is a place that looks like time has stood still with cocoa all around and a huge fire in the fireplace.

I don’t know what type of wood they were burning that day but it smelled great. I wish I could describe it adequately…sweet, dry, and woodsy, perhaps? Really fragrant.

 

By 3:30 pm the precipitation was coming down so heavily that the Resort had turned on the night skiing lights. Skiing in the dark in the middle of the day. Whiteout conditions.

But, Oh-So-Very Incredible. And it's all in our own backyard.

Bad Axe

The Twins, Harry and Jerry.

 

Some birthdays are always remembered.

Small Town Saturday

An unexpected visitor. (And he wants to come in.)

Royal Panda, Evening Meeting

Everybody Hates Bowling

The decorations are taken down and put away. The business of “routine” is back in place. And because the universe hates a void, winter doldrums want to step in. What a great time to go BOWLING.

Right? Are you with me here? Well, maybe not. Not with tweens/teens, or whatever you call them.

 

There are lot of fun bowling alleys to hit here in the Portland area. Heck, I don’t even know if you can call them “bowling alleys” any more. There are still the old standbys, with many becoming complete entertainment centers. And then there’s THE crème de la crème: The Grand Central Bowl.

So the lack of enthusiasm puzzled me. Regardless of where you go, good grief, who wouldn’t love the kitschy cool shoes?

The retro lane graphics? The chance to go do something different for a couple of hours?

Uh, honey, the ball hasn't hit the pins yet.

I tried to tell them how awful it was to bowl back in the day. I mean, we had to throw the ball down the lane UPHILL. Both ways. In the snow. The joint was filled with beer and cigarette smoke. The floors were sticky. The pizza? Limp. The bowling balls were charred and boring. And there wasn’t anything to keep your ball from going into the gutter. Better luck next set, kiddo. And get this: we had to actually KEEP SCORE with busted up stubby yellow pencils. And paper. Remember that? Nope, no nifty electronic screens telling us Dad just got a turkey. Hello? DAD JUST GOT A TURKEY!

Gobble, gobble.

As we all know, the best part of bowling is coordinating the ball to your outfit.

Well, guess what? They weren't having any of that. And I don’t care. I don't care what score I get. I don’t care how many gutter balls I throw. I’m having some fun here.

Now, pass me my Diet Pepsi.

Dalmatian Mythbusters #1

Dalmatians are hyper.

Myth: Busted.

Update (1/11): Yes, I changed the photo. I'm testing my HTML editing skills. Regardless, the dalmatian is still unhyper.