Day 350

i feel there needs to be mention of this morning's church and second consecutive afternoon feast cookout. this time a new group of friends gathered at the gohricks and ken somehow managed to produce another batch of gourmet speciality, oven stone pizzas. the sun was out and the low lawn held cut lines and a green smell and there were hammocks and talking and chilling. dozens of fishing boats bobbed in the backyard lake in celebration of opening season.

over lunch i met a musician who'd impressed me this morning at church and he told me about his professional career in various symphonies and bands around the states. his shiny, round forehead and long white beard and laugh were as jolly as santa. i guess mostly just his personality would have been jolly, but he told me stories about music and traveling and then said that when he reached the age of thirty or so he started to get tired of the moving around and constant uprooting of the adventurous life. he told me to enjoy it while i can. and i am.

i'm especially excited right now because i'm sitting in portland, oregon, at a coffee shop often cited by writer don miller as one of his favorite places to write his books. and i can see why. the place is big but not wide and single sections of tables and chairs border the windows. there are dozens of college students hunched with computers in the dim, yellow light and i'm really just happy to be here. i don't even think i'll be able to read my book here tonight. can't concentrate.

parker's house is only a five minute walk from this place but i think i got here in four. a full moon is cloaked in mist above downtown and patches of sky and moonlight hang a heavy blue between the branches of trees on these neighborhood sidewalks and streets. the air is warm and smells like flowers; i think tulips are popular here. several flashing cyclers whizz past on the asphalt and through shadows and past parked cars.

parker is experiencing his own community and renting experience, maybe somewhat like my fernie, and he's invited me to stay for a bit. the guys he lives with all seem cool so far and most of us had hung out over the weekend while riding bikes and going to the concert in seattle.


it's ten p.m. and palio doesn't close for another hour. i'm so stoked to be here right now. just over a year ago i'd bought a discounted road atlas from a borders bookstore in illinois and had reviewed and explored what highways would bring me from rockford to portland. i'd spent weeks looking for rooms for rent in the shared houses section on craigslist. i'd even talked to the manager at my sporting goods store and he said that a transfer to the new portland store could definitely happen. that was back in march 2008 and still it somehow didn't make sense then.

and i'm not saying that just because i'm here right now that an omnipotent understanding has suddenly arrived. to be honest, i've stopped looking back on the past 350 days as a lump sum and have grown to value each step and day and relationship and risk and success and failure and opportunity.

so tonight from edge of 16th and next to the massive roundabout circle outside the window i want to tell you that i'm stoked to be here for the next month. my new musician friend up north had asked me what i would do if i could do anything for the rest of my life. i told him i'd play music and write non-fiction books and do photography in whatever ministry or cause would be appropriate.

so here i am in portland for the next few weeks. then there's a reunion with some fernie and montana friends at the sasquatch music festival in eastern washington. and then to illinois.

and by then who knows what will have happened.

Day 133

rain today. the grey skies popped for a little this morning and i still went out to mow the lawn. i wore the north face rain jacket- the coffee sleeve still in the pocket. the rain stopped soon and there were some people who came over. parker's dad has a stone pizza oven from italy in the backyard and we made pizza. i even made one. bbq sauce instead of tomato sauce, then chicken, cheese, hard pepperoni and some bacon. it was amazing. since it was wet outside and overcast and there were people over, we didn't do much work today and it was nice to have a chill day after i'd worked so hard to get the mulching done before the first rain.

Day 122

the days continue to be warm and sunny. we woke up early to do some steel tying work and then i spent the afternoon beginning a huge landscaping project. bare feet mingled with mulch and there are still a thousand tiny slivers still tingling in my fingers.

there are a few people from camp who are staying the night on their way back up to canada after their short roadtrip to america. its good fun and we had homemade stone oven baked pizza tonight.

Day 84

saturday, august 2, 2008

after a last homecooked breakfast and the ferry ride to the mainland, we got back to camp a little after noon. the band starfield was on our ferry and they sat in a corner near the cafeteria towards the front of the boat. i had wanted to go talk to them and ask them about their tour stop back home, but got lost reading and chilling with the people we were returning with.

the vibe of coming back to camp was a strange one and, although people had only been gone three days, reunions were noticeably animated. with most everyone back 'home', as it has become so natural for everyone to say, the entire staff boarded the buses to have pizza and go swimming at an indoor waterpark/pool thing. between water polo and 'surfing' in the wave pool and going down slides, a good time was had by all. after this, we went to a beach and had ice cream while many of the hundred plus staff shared around the fire about current struggles or joys or changes happening in their lives throughout the first half of the summer of camps.