the falling leaves drift by the window/the autumn leaves of red and gold

can i just say that i ABSOLUTELY ADORE AUTUMN!

(it's true.)


autumn in portland is turning out to be just spectacular and i had a plan to walk around today and take pictures because right now because the trees are stunning and in full transition - the color palate is vibrant and varied, the deep deep red, the golden yellow, fiery oranges and just a few tinges of green ... and i did bring the camera when i left the house and the battery, but neglected to bring a memory card... so, perhaps tomorrow (if you're lucky).

right now i'm at this awesome little tea shop in NW, a beautiful part of town - lots of brick buildings and old victorians which somehow make me almost feel like i'm back in maine with the changing colors and leaves starting to fall... and the temperature is mild, and the sky is blue... we've been having such a lovely season. and maybe i am overly gushy as i haven't had an autumn in 4 years, and while i know i miss spring desperately when i don't get it, i don't think i realized how much i adore the transition from summer to winter. for another look at autumn from a chinese medicine perspective, please read this.

right, so i'm in this tea shop, and i am here because i went into work for 2 hours today (work? you say, alexis, i didn't know you got a job!) and this is true. it's not something i've shared, because mostly i try not to think about it - i'm living in denial that in fact i am working there part-time. i don't want to dwell on it - but it's a part-time job at a spa, and that's all i am willing to say. more on the job-front, i interviewed last week for a massage position with very possible expansion into acupuncture at a very interesting personal training facility that also does massage and movement therapy. they want to build their therapy department and treat a lot of motor vehicle accident patients. much more my style than the current gig, so i hope to hear back from them this week. additionally, i have an interview for an acupuncture position scheduled for tomorrow, so wish me luck and send good thoughts that we all like each other and that it works out!


so, that's the latest on this end. back to mama's visit - we had a lovely weekend, decent weather and got out to the gorge, the japanese gardens, and around town. it was a quick 3 days but so great to see mama and have her visit portland for the first time. below are some pictures of the gorge (again, but in sunshine this time!) and i am awaiting photos from mama's camera. thank you for everything mama, MWAH!





and, can you believe it's 4 weeks til i will be back east for thanksgiving? it's going so quickly! but i am excited for the new kitchen and for the days of baking that thanksgiving entails! though, the next 4 weeks might go a little more slowly as i have no more visitors scheduled :(. on the thanksgiving note, i also managed to coerce tim into coming back east with me - i feel like he should experience a true thanksgiving... miori can attest to it :) and also, perhaps, he wanted to see DC...

and now - i should go be productive!

represent

i've been a bit slack on posting, will catch up over the weekend re: mom's visit, etc.

but in the meantime, check out the bowdoin love on grey's anatomy



(hat-tip to court)

not all who wander are lost

but i sure as hell was. it was another gorgeous day here in northern oregon. and so i figured since it's supposed to be one of the last beautiful weekends before winter sets in i might as well get out and do something. found an awesome hike to do (vista ridge to owl point) even though it was kind of a ways out. actually, not too far from where tim and i had been camping. so i read the directions and had mapped out a route, was making good time when i came to split in the road, and this was expected, however the way i was supposed to go was VERY unfinished road, HUGE potholes and i tried it for .3 miles, and wasn't sure i could even turn around and get back, it was AWFUL. so i figured that was it, turn around, go home. but a road nearby said to "lost lake" and i'd read about a short hike there so i figured why not?

thus far the day was spectacular and the views had been nothing short of that as well. so i followed yet another unnamed national forest development road. never made to lost lake. ended up on a road that should have gone to the trail i wanted in the first place. eventually made it to the trailhead, albeit much later than i originally intended.

i don't even have words for the trail, unbelievable. not too long, moderately strenuous. the views were UNREAL. as you will see below, there are more pictures of mt hood than anyone actually ever wants to see (and this isn't all of them!)




unfortunately given the late start of my hike, i didn't have time to hang around at owl point - would be a great spot for a picnic, wanted to journal a bit, but had to get back to the car and hopefully off the mountain roads before dark!

was happily following my gps home (avoiding the scary evil road) when according to the gps there was a road and according to the road there was a river. that was interesting. eventually sorted another way home, but ADVENTURE!

look at some maps when i got home, and found the crazy route that i took through the mts...

(blue is the way there, red the way back, and the turquoise markers are the start and end pts of the hike, the blue markers are where the road ended due to a river and i had to re-route)

i am definitely going to feel this all tomorrow - am already icing my knee... it's not used to the rigors of the outdoors. but the hike was most definitely worth it despite being lost in the mountains, and giving my knees a hard time!

and the colors are much brighter now/it's like they really want to tell the truth...

don't have much to report. went to eagle creek today and did a bit of hiking.




oh, and i think i'm in love with oregon :)

in the misty morning hours she calls to me

ok, here's the recap of the past week... tim came up to visit by train all the way from san diego, a formidable task of 35+ hours. not to mention the huge delay at everybody's favorite, klamath falls. so, he arrived late last wednesday night, and we did all sorts of exploring around portland for the next week!

highlights include: powell's, washington park, japanese garden, rogue brewpub, belmont and hawthorne areas, the pearl district, crossing the washington state line, winning trivia for the 2nd week in a row, voodoo donut, park blocks, but probably the best part of the trip was our jaunt along the columbia river gorge and camping out at hood river.

we took off on a misty morning and drove along the historic columbia river highway, the views of the river and gorge looked like something out of a movie set. the low clouds, the intense greens... it was almost jurassic park. (minus the velociraptors of course). all along the gorge there are various waterfalls that we stopped at, did a little bit of hiking and took way too many photos.



as you can see, words don't really do this justice. it was just SO GORGEOUS. the green, the water, the moss... *sigh* it makes me SO happy that i get to live here. it is surreal in a way. anyway, i don't remember the names of all the falls we went to, but i tried to label them if i did. multnomah falls is the big one, it has a drop of 620 feet or so... very cool.

we headed along the gorge about 60 miles outside portland and then followed the hood river a bit til we got to tucker park. and we camped there, right on the river. it was awesome. the campsite was nice and wooded and waking up to river in the morning was such a treat. we explored the river banks a bit... a little bit of rock scrambling, and then took the scenic route home and got to see some pretty autumn leaves and a few nice views of mt hood.




and here are a couple videos from camp:

i had such a great time exploring and finding new fun places with tim (thanks so much for visiting!) and mostly just hanging out and getting to know oregon with him. hopefully the similarities to english weather didn't put him off too much, and he'll be back to visit again soon :P

and now that tim is back in san diego, i am once again left to my own devices... still working on the job thing, but have a couple of leads. as you saw in my last post, my license came through, so i am trying to work on my future regarding that. cross your fingers that something good will come up soon :)

on another exciting note, mama is coming to visit in a week! yay! (i know, it's like i run a hotel here or something...)

legalize it

this has been a fabulous and fun week, lots of photos and stories to share from tim's visit, but before i get that together and organized, i wanted to share the following:

FINALLY! i am legal! i got my license in the mail the other day, so I am officially an Acupuncturist with the state of Oregon! YAY!


more later,
Alexis Goldstein, L.Ac.