Many, many photos. More than posted in fact, because it turns out posting pictures is a pain.

Here (below, hopefully) [no, it's not.] is the last yarn store I went to in Portland, Lint. It looks way too hip and happening for the likes of me but they were really sweet. And the wool! Portland stocks a lot more wool than I'm used to seeing. And to the right, [or wherever] the interior. See those comfy couches? It's actually a couple of steps up, so it's a little staging area.

















Abundant Yarns is so spacious. I saw the coolest felted tote there. And they have coffee! I had a latte and a bowl of the best asparagus soup. The centerpiece at the table I sat at was a basket of magazines (knitting and otherwise) That would be Sue standing in front. At Lint? She's waiting in the car. Truck. Mini-mini van. Vehicle.










The coffee shop at Powell's. I want to live there.















I did only buy 3 books. Eminent Victorians, something non fiction about time travel and a book on dead languages (don't think I won't be going home and posting the names and authors either but for now, I just can't remember). I put together an Excel list of books I read in 2005 earlier in the year and I was a little shocked to see that it only numbered 50ish books. Shocked because, what, I'm on a quota? Shocked because, wow, only 50? I must not have my nose buried in a book as much anymore. It does take me longer to read non fiction for some reason and almost all of the Book Club books take me forever to get through even if I in fact, picked them out, or am enjoying them! It must be shades of Assigned Reading from High School English. Or a testament to my lack of follow through.

And this strapping young man is Willie. He was so cute. Couldn't stand to be picked up much less, God forbid, held, but while I would be knitting on the couch, he would sit behind me on the table, just out of reach.
There's the infamous ugly sock combo he's checking out. Notice how he has turned his head so as not to laugh directly into my face. Manners are such a good thing. That huge tote would be my everyday purse, the post it note on the spiral notebook is a list of knitting & used bookstores in my area. I think it's been on there for years.

The drive up (yes, these pictures are reverse order. Is there a way to post several pictures at once? And if not, some day I'll remember LIFO)













All these are somewhere on Hwy 101 before Cresecent City, CA, which, for the first time I can remember, had blue skies. Beautiful. Normally I don't bother to take coastal pictures since I once tried to scrapbook my photos over the years and discovered - the coast looks fairly similar in most places and all years. It does.