O and I

A Lovely Walk...

After we arrived home from our drive out east, Jeri and I went for a little walk down the main drag in Bingen. The weather had turned rather cold and the afternoon was beautiful.

We checked out the market, local antique shop and post office.

This is a very small town, but it has it's charm...the location is incredible and I could easily find myself living here for a few or many years. We will see what the future brings.

Vacation...

We are having a lovely time here in Bingen/Hood River...The drive down on Friday was not too bad...traffic and pouring down rain gave us moments of grief, but we arrived into Portland, where we proceeded to call Joe on the cell and he met us on I-84. Aren't cell phones great?

Dad and Jeri's house in Bingen is adorable. It is somewhat furnished by the owners, (dad and Jeri are renting it), and is filled with ecclectic and peculiar items....I may photograph some and post them for your viewing pleasure!!!

Our weekend was spent mostly at home, although we did venture out to downtown Hood River, where we looked at homes and propeties. Jeri invited us to lunch at a wonderful little bistro, where I've probably eaten the best hamburger ever...(Oregon beef, as noted on the menu...) and a small glass of Guiness...

Yesterday we ventured out east, to The Dalles and our little Stonehenge.

While Joe and Jeri sat in the front seat, I hung out in the back seat with O and the Oly, which I clicked and clicked as the car sped down the highway. I managed some pretty nice shots...

New Year's Eve....

Thank you Cheryl and David for another memorable night chez you guys...It was an encore performance of New Year's Eve, 2004...even O was there last time, although he was just our little Speck back then...


Chris brought some heart wrenching new photos from his recent trip to New Orleans...Leslie and Greg sang some "new old" songs by Emmylou Harris and James Taylor, along with their beautiful Bossa Nova song, Tender Night (was it?)...(you'd think I had 7 glasses of Champagne...but my memory loss is really age related...)



Miss Victoria brought another new poem to share with us...grafitti on our souls...Subhankar brought Nora and Robert Frost, although he and the butterlfy where only on a page...





And Madame Cheryl collapsed from exhaustion after table dancing for 3 hours straight, (I promised her I would NOT post the pictures!)...and I annoyed everyone with my picture taking, but aren't we GLAD we have the fete documented???

On Friendship...

And a youth said, "Speak to us of Friendship."
Your friend is your needs answered.


He is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving.
And he is your board and your fireside.
For you come to him with your hunger, and you seek him for peace.


When your friend speaks his mind you fear not the "nay" in your own mind, nor do you withhold the "ay."
And when he is silent your heart ceases not to listen to his heart;
For without words, in friendship, all thoughts, all desires, all expectations are born and shared, with joy that is unacclaimed.


When you part from your friend, you grieve not;
For that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence, as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain.


And let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit.
For love that seeks aught but the disclosure of its own mystery is not love but a net cast forth: and only the unprofitable is caught.
And let your best be for your friend.


If he must know the ebb of your tide, let him know its flood also.
For what is your friend that you should seek him with hours to kill?
Seek him always with hours to live.


For it is his to fill your need, but not your emptiness.
And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures.
For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.

Kahlil Gibran, THE PROPHET