The magic cottage

Mr E. is finally closing shop. After ten years on Alberta, with a motley crew of housemates, economic pressure is forcing a move. As a result, he threw a big bash on sunday, and we got a tour of the magic cottage where the toys collected by all the housemates are stashed, together with Mr. E's costumes, hats and paraphenelia. One era comes to an end, but I am sure the next place he gets will be good too. The most gigantic toy: A 2*1.5 m aircraft carrier, complete with planes.

Another cycling death.

This summer seems to be full of horrible events occuring to people in our vicinity. Charles, one of the guys that I track raced against regularly at the velodrome, was killed during a criterium race on tuesday night. His bike spun out of control in the finishing sprint and he ran head first into a metal pole going full blast and died instantaneously. This is horrible beyond words, it scares me and saddens me. Bike racing in Oregon is traditionally apparently very safe comparatively (no deaths since someone was hit by a car in the early eighties), and this seems like a fluke but it still shows that there is a real possibility of getting seriously injured. We had a silent lap at the velodrome last night to commemorate his memory. I wish that there was something else we could do.

The wedding anniversary party

We had our one year wedding anniversary! Parents showed up from as far as Sweden and San Diego, and friends travelled all the way from Montana in a mad dash. We had rented Liberty hall, and had a really nice mellow afternoon eating good food and hanging out.

Ben and Zea catered with great vegan food. I believe that Ben actually had a better time than this photo indicates. If not, then Zea's happy face more than makes up for it overall anyway. Balloon hat by Bobby.

After all the parents had gone to bed, a crew of us ended up drinking Ice House on the freeporch stairs and watching the stars. A nice ending to a good anniversary.

Camping!

A few weeks ago we went camping on the coast with Tara and Evan. We weren't roughing it too much, as Evan had a volkswagen bus that we went in, and we could take the seat out to sit on. Here is our motley crew by a ranger campsite around Nahelem river (free camping in the middle of the woods without other people!).

First cooking fire of the year!

Once darkness fell, we were dependent on flashlights for finding our veganaise.

Kristine

Our friend Kristine was run over by a truck on Monday while messengering, and died at OHSU on tuesday night. Jacob was working with her at the time. She will be missed. Here is a memorial page.