Back from Portland

I'm back from a lovely, week-long visit to Portland, wherein we - the whole fam damily - visited two sets of very dear friends and saw all of the sights.

Our hosts and hostesses provided an impeccable good time. The weather was gorgeous - warm and sunny during the day, window-open cool at night (with no screens, because they don't have any bugs! Not even mosquitos!) We drove to the coast one day, up to the top of Mount Hood another day, visited many many many brew pubs for The Man (all in the name of research, you know,) and even got to attend the big annual beer festival.

And - oh, god - the berry picking day - now THAT was incredible. I have never, EVER, in my life, had fruit that good. Blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries...we went absolutely insane. (OG was on a mission to denude the entire orchard. YG was very like the little girl in Blueberries for Sal. Pick one, eat three, pick another, then eat the two in her bucket. So damn cute.)

The only drawback to the whole weekend was me, sadly. I've still got whatever it is that I have, and even medicated to the hilt, I was still really dizzy and sick to my stomach. (I felt like some Victorian woman, having to take to the couch because I had the vapors.)

I'm also still experiencing this odd blurry vision. Though I have been blessed with perfect vision - and yes, I know that I'm very lucky, but you may check out my ass and thighs if you want to know where my comeuppance lies - I now know what it must feel like to need glasses, because I have to squint to make out print, both near and far.

Sadly, I'm too wiped to post the pictures tonight - 6:00 A.M. flight this morning, whee! - and I'm, predictably, nauseated and can't focus on the typing...so I'm off to bed tonight. I'll try to get some up tomorrow.

(Oh, and by the way, thanks for all the notes and phone calls. I'm very touched! I'll keep you posted as the puzzle comes together more...)