Day Three: Wednesday

My daily notes say, “Glorious visit with Cee.”

I’m just very grateful that we were able to reach her by phone from the train to tell her that we were going to get there four and a half hours late. I hate being late, and we were late. Freight trains come first; Amtrak second on any line.

She had a delightful guest bedroom ready, and after we had eaten and once we realized we were all asleep on our keesters, we headed there to sleep marvelously on her very comfortable bed until six. Six seems to be our wake up time no matter where we are. She was up, this marvelous friend cooked breakfast saying if we stayed longer next time we could help, and her delightful husband, Miles, was still there so we could chat with him. By all these superlatives, you would think we liked these folks…well, we do. We were comfortable in this comfortable home she has created. I can tell when G is ok by the fact that he tallllllkkkkkkkkkkkkkssssssssssssssssss when he is happy.

After Miles headed off to work, we had time to sit and chat in the sun, seeing her works until noon. We walked around her yard, and talked and talked. For the first time, I was able to see how she has grown and blossomed as an artist working hard to create a style of her own. What beautiful books and collages she makes. Delightful color. Good composition…she’s a natural. What a joy to have friends who are such kindred spirits.

“Good bye, good bye.” And we rushed to Powell’s bookstore…..they do have indoor free parking. No photos….here we were a couple with a mission. We flew through the kiddy lit, flew through the bi-lingual kiddy lit, flitted around the mysteries, sci-fi, and nautical books, then had a light lunch in their coffee shop. Perfection. Oh, the sorrow that we didn’t have days to spend there in room after room filled with all this marvelous stuff. I spent a little more than I usually spend at Costco, and we got Anna two illustrated books of fables and two bilingual books of fables. The boys can learn right along with Anna. We ill mail them when we get home………..and we were off to find our car rental return, the Portland train station, then find the hotel.

And wait. We called and they were on their way…..and then there was my HS friend DA and her husband, Kendall. I’d introduced them over forty years ago, and worried about it ever since. Nope, they are still together and still happy. We picked up our conversation right where we dropped it last time she was down our way. Another kindred spirit.

My trip notes say we talked till late, and were dead tired.