Repatriation Ripples: Ice Water

The most difficult water-related issue I had to adjust to when we moved to the Netherlands was having to pay for water at restaurants. That and drinking sparkling water. Paying for bottled water when I should have been able to get tap water for free was infuriating. Sometimes the water was more expensive than the beer. I guess I just have to order beer then, the logic went.

Fast forward to now and there is an unexpected repatriation ripple. I don’t enjoy ice water anymore. I used to love the feeling of the first sip of icy coldness chilling it’s way down my esophagus. I loved chewing on the ice cubes after I ran out of water. Now it all seems so extreme. The Europeans wonder why you would put such cold water in a body-temperature stomach and now I do too. We’ll see how long it takes me to get used to it again. At least it is free.

The Extraordinary EarNest

After staring longingly at this object every time we’ve gone to Saturday market for nearly a decade, I am now the proud owner of an EarNest. This clever invention creates an easy and attractive way to display and store earrings. It is wall-mountable or can be used with a stand (as pictured). I also purchased the attachment for necklaces with pegs that clips onto the back (or bottom for the wall mounted option). After decking it out with my jewelry, I can say that it can easily accommodate almost any size and shape of earring, is easy to use, and looks neat and orderly when filled up.

My very own EarNest.

A local Oregonian woodworker makes and sells them himself at Saturday Market. He and his co-inventor even patented the EarNest in 1990. Here is part of the description he gives in the operating manual (that cute yellow tag in the photo), “I make the holes to hang only your hook earrings. Studs (post earrings) are always inconvenient to put in holes, so I figured out a different way to hang your studs – put the back on the very end of the post … and set the earring in the slot on the top row. You never have to reach behind your EarNest for the backs. It is no more time or effort than dropping them in a bowl.”

This is not a product review blog, but I thought this brilliant, creative guy deserved a mention. I bet the EarNest makes an excellent Christmas present.

Bridgetown Bridges: The Burnside Bridge

The Burnside Bridge carries, in my opinion, the most important street in Portland. Burnside is the street that divides North and South Portland. Portland is divided into five “quadrants,” Southwest, Southeast, Northwest, Northeast, and North. You can always figure out in which part of town a place is because the streets are all named with the quadrants. For example, NE 17th Avenue is in Northeast. However, this helpful system is a double edged sword because it means there are actually four different 17th Avenue addresses that you could try to go to if you don’t pay attention to the letters designating the quadrant. I’m sure everyone who lives here has said at least once some variation of, “oh no, did you mean North East?” The River divides East and West and Burnside divides North and South so by one definition, the Burnside Bridge is the very center of the city!

The Burnside Bridge from Saturday Market.

The Burnside Bridge is a Strauss-type double-leaf bascule bridge with Italian Renaissance style towers. It was also the first bridge in the county to be seismically retrofitted.

Star Wars vs. Star Trek

That was the theme of our group costume at the Wizard World comic con that we went to Sunday. How did this come to be? Well that is quite a story.

We have been attending Monday night trivia (hosted by ShanRock’s Triviology) with Hendrik’s high school friends at our local pub, Hop House, where we compete as team Four Score and Seven Beers Ago. Usually the prizes are gift certificates to the bar but a few weeks ago, they were also giving out tickets to Wizard World. We just happened to get lucky and win second place, in contrast to Hendrik’s and my typical abysmal performance at pub trivia. The Stars aligned and the first place team rejected the tickets in favor of a gift certificate. The Force was with us so we got the tickets instead. Thus began the debate over the group costume. We narrowed it down very quickly to Star Wars or Star Trek but couldn’t decide from there. Several weeks later, without a resolution we compromised on the obvious choice, both!

It was our first time at a comic con so we didn’t really know what to expect. There were celebrities, merchandise, board games and other activities, discussion panels, and Q&As. The best part though, was seeing everyone else’s costumes. There were costumes from Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, and other books, comics, TV shows, movies, and video games. Many were much more elaborate than ours.

How does our costume fit with the theme of wizards you ask? Well I’ll tell you. First of all, Jedi are almost certainly wizards. What is the force if not Star Wars magic? As for Star Trek, that’s a little trickier but hear me out. Q, the omnipotent, immortal being in The Next Generation, Voyager, and Deep Space Nine, must be a wizard. Therefore, our costumes of Q dressed as a Star Fleet captain along with Captain Janeway and young Janeway fit perfectly.

Hiking and Wildflowers at Catherine Creek

On Saturday, we took advantage of a gap in the spring showers to take a hike through the wildflowers. We drove out to the Columbia River gorge and hiked the West Loop of Catherine Creek Trail.

Hendrik leading the way through a flowery meadow.

The hike and weather were beautiful and it was a good first hike of the year. I think I’m going to have to go every weekend so we can train for hiking with my sister later this summer. By the time we see her, she will be coming off an 812 mile backpacking trip!

We saw so many different types of wildflowers but I have no idea what any of them were. I’ll have to ask my Oregonian.

Wildflowers!

Repatriation Ripples: Bike Safety

I’ve been meaning to start commuting by folding bike + MAX but since cycling in the US is so much more dangerous, I’ve been waiting until I stock up on some safety supplies. Last weekend, I finally got around to buying a helmet with a light on it, a bright yellow vest, and spoke lights to improve my visibility so hopefully I won’t get hit by a car. Or at least they won’t have any excuse about not seeing me if they hit me.

Taking Hendrik’s Brompton, van Go, on a new adventure. Too bad you can’t see my stylish reflective vest!

The first day went well and the weather was even cooperative! The local cyclists seem to have accepted me; one even cheerily shouted something about the sunshine as we passed each other.

The key to it all is that I won’t have to try to time the connection with the bus on the way home. Somehow, waiting 15 min for a bus when the walk is only 23 minutes gets my gizzard. My bike doesn’t have a timetable!

Why don’t I just dispense with this nonsense and drive? Well I fully embraced the car-free lifestyle in Europe and even though we own a car again, I fully intend to use it as little as possible. Also the traffic on highway 26 coming into the city from Beaverton is an absolute nightmare. I’ve driven to work exactly four times in six months and every time after the drive back I tell myself, never again.

As for Hendrik, there is a bus line that runs every 8 minutes and takes him directly from our house to work and back in about 20 minutes. What more could he want?

More work than I thought

This whole house thing is way more work than I thought. In addition to general cleaning, there seems always to be something that needs to be weeded, mowed, replaced, tightened, greased, swept, trimmed, or otherwise modified.

I’d like to say despite that, I found time to plant marigolds but actually I just ignored half of that and planted marigolds because I wanted to.

The tradition continues.