Summer Begins............

Ahh, the first week of summer............ Ours started with 80 degrees and sunshine so we thoroughly enjoyed a couple of warm days.  We're back to clouds and showers but there are promises that sunshine will return early next week.

The week passed quickly; Roger has a ten day break before school starts next Monday but he has spent most of his time working on a painting for our friend, Ann.  Now that he has changed his major to Art, the "studio" will be busy - yes, the office, with two sets of computers and desks, now has two easels with all the accompanying art supplies.  It's crowded but we love being in the same room, especially with the kitchen nearby.

This week we've enjoyed two lunches at the same restaurant, Shiraz, in the Pearl District.  It's owned by an Iranian friend of Rogers (shown in the photo with Roger) and they specialize in kabob and rice (that Roger loves) and they make a dynamite Persian burger in fresh made pita with sauteed mushrooms, onions, cheese and pickles for me - plus I can get it with French fries and salad so we're both happy.................

After lunch we went to an art gallery where they are featuring calligraphy art for the next month.  Roger's teacher has two items in the show and we saw some very intricate and beautiful calligraphy art pieces, including hand made booklets with decorative covers and calligraphy poems with drawings inside.  Roger and I are both inspired but we agree that we need more training.

Next Monday, I'm also starting a new class at PSU.  I'm taking Ancient Art History.  The class is four days a week from 2 p.m. until 4:20 p.m. but it's only for five weeks.  I have my textbooks so while Roger paints I've started to read the books.  We'll be studying art from about 5000 B.C. to about 320 A.D.

Construction for the new MAX train line continues outside our windows so we think of it as "entertainment".  Regretfully, we had a few sad moments this morning while watching even more trees being cut down.  Before, the trees were so lush that they camouflaged the nearby buildings.  Now we truly feel like we live in the inner city.  You may remember the Counting Crows lyrics  "Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you got till it's gone, They paved paradise and put up a parkin' lot".............  Oh, well, life goes on ............