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It was the best of times, it was the worst of times …

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Apologies to Charles Dickens for using his words as the title but they seemed to be very appropriate. It has been so long since my last post, not through a lack of willingness, but simply because I came home from Portland with what I believe is a virus. Suffice it to say that the migraine-type headaches, which I was getting almost all day, every day, meant that doing most things became difficult and, trying to sit at the computer an impossibility. I’m still getting the headaches, although nowhere near as severe, and not on a daily basis so it looks like the worst is over.

All this followed on from the most wonderful visit to Portland, Oregon, for the SAQA Fiberlandia conference. The conference ran from the Thursday morning to the following Sunday lunchtime and was certainly packed with information, meeting people and visiting some of the most lovely sights that the state has to offer, not to mention the particularly warm weather. If you are a SAQA member, or are thinking of becoming one, then I can recommend trying to get to at least one conference. Financially it’s not a viable option for me to attend every year so I’m glad that I went this time.

The real highlight for me though, was that I got the opportunity to visit my dear blogging friend Jan. Jan lives approximately 80 miles north of Portland so, having arrived at the hotel at about 11pm  on Tuesday night, I set off early the next morning to pick up my rental car. I did succumb to having a GPS system fitted, simply so that I could find my way out of the city and it certainly was invaluable for that. It eventually got me to Jan’s home and we had a lovely day, walking dogs, chatting, eating home grown food and watching all the amazing birds on the feeders. I hadn’t realised that hummingbirds were so tiny! Enough chat, here are some photos of my visit to Jan’s gorgeous home. I’m not often envious of where people live but I could quite happily have stayed there.

After walking the dogs

After walking the dogs

Sitting on the deck, looking at Jan's back yard.

Sitting on the deck, looking at Jan’s back yard.

Walking the dogs on Jan's land

Walking the dogs on Jan’s land

Jan under one of her huge trees with Gunnar, Windy and Roscoe

Jan under one of her huge trees with Gunnar, Windy and Roscoe

Roscoe enjoying a cuddle.

Roscoe enjoying a cuddle.

I found it hard to drag myself away and would have liked to have spent more time with Jan. It certainly didn’t seem like it was the first time we have actually met, although we have been friends for several years now. The journey back to the city was certainly interesting, and very exhausting, on very winding road, no lights (the daylight disappeared almost as soon as I left) and almost no other traffic until I hit the Interstate. They also drive on the wrong side of the road over in America! Remind me not to do that again in a hurry!!

I’m not going to go into the actual conference details on here as I have to do a post for the SAQA regional blog (although not tonight!) so you could always pop over there if you’re really interested. We had the afternoon off on Saturday and several  trips were arranged that we could opt into. I chose to see a bit more of Oregon by going on a trip to the Multnomah Falls. We were transported in the private cars of two local SAQA members and Kent, the husband of Jill Hoddick, who was one of the other drivers. Kent was a mine of information about the area and made the trip really worthwhile.

Multnomah Falls

Multnomah Falls

Some of us went up as far as the bridge that you can see in the above photo whereas some, who were more fit, went right up to the top. Beautiful place but very busy. I hadn’t expected there to be so many people around although it was a weekend and a glorious one at that. We managed to commandeer someone to take a photo of us, before we set off for the bridge. Jill, one of our hosts, is in the middle.

group-at-multnomah-falls

After eating a pre-booked lunch we set off on the scenic route back into the city and stopped at a place called Vista House which is a viewing area from where you have incredible views up and down the Columbia River. You can read more about the history of Vista House here and this is just a small part of the view from up there. You can click on the image to enlarge it.

columbia-river-from-vista-house

 

On Sunday afternoon I decided to go to Washington Park to visit the Japanese Gardens. Having taken the Max train to the street market first I thought it would be a good idea to walk. It was hot, it was further than I had anticipated and I got distracted by a very inviting yarn shop called Knit Purl. Shops like that don’t open on Sundays over here so I had to have a look inside. What a treasure trove, I came away with some yarn and a pattern. Well I had to have something to knit on Sunday evening and while I was waiting for the plane on Monday didn’t I?

This is the yarn … knitting-yarn

… and this is how far I have got so far, quite good for me, bearing in mind that I wasn’t able to pick up the needles for almost month.

twinleaf-scarf

 

I never did get to the Japanese Gardens as I took a wrong turning in the park and came across the Holocaust Memorial. It stopped me in my tracks, being both incredibly beautiful and so very moving. In the photos below, the darker strips in the wall are actually personal quotes from people who had survived. I have enlarged one of them so that you can see what I mean. Leading up to the memorial were bronze artefacts, seemingly abandoned; an old battered suitcase, a child’s shoe, a violin, a child’s doll.  The back of the wall is engraved with the names of people who died in the camps, followed by the names of their surviving relatives in Oregon and SW Washington. It was not somewhere that I wanted to leave quickly, hence not making it to the Japanese Gardens, but I’m so glad that I got to see it.

washington-park-holocaust-memorial_2

 

I was going to show some of the other things that I’ve been up to since but I think that this post is long enough so I’ll leave that for another day. I have no desire to go travelling again any time soon but I do know that if I had the chance I would definitely love to go back and spend more time in Oregon.

Have a lovely week and thank you for waiting patiently for me to post.

Maggi

The post It was the best of times, it was the worst of times … appeared first on Maggi Birchenough.


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