Change of Time

Today's post title comes from another great Josh Ritter song (you can listen to it here, and actually download it for free, if you would like) and my recent mood... The weather has turned here in Portland and the trees are starting to follow suit. It feels like fall for me for the first time in a couple of years and I love it. The cool weather means I need to bundle up more for my beautiful commute (pictured below-- the first turn into the cemetery with a great view of Mt. Hood in the distance, looking back at the trees and graves as I wind my way down to the river bank, and looking north towards downtown while crossing the Sellwood Bridge over the mighty Willamette to get to the east side....) Almira, my mighty steed, is serving me very well for my daily trek up the hill and for getting around town in general. I pretty much only use my car for far, late night trips or going out of town. Next year's goal, long overdue, is to try and produce only one bag full of garbage. Don't worry future SHoF members! It won't be kept inside. I think if I am just a little bit less lazy, I can recycle and compost my way to this goal. Speaking of the SHoF and next year-- I will be in Indiana for about one month at the end of 2010 and then have another Texas trip in the very beginning of the new year. I will be back in Oregon between Christmas and New Year's and then in Portland for real in mid-January-- hope to host some new inductees then!

Wind Mountain

Portland has been sunny and awesome since I got back a few days ago and it is hard to be inside. Yesterday, I worked from a local restaurant fast-food chain that serves items made with locally grown ingredients (yes, you read that right) and has wi-fi and today I spent the day working from a coffee-house with awesome views in a pretty neighborhood called Ladd's Addition (I really like that name, perhaps a band name? there must already be one I would guess....) Everything was going great until I ate an artichoke and white bean "savory tartlet" for lunch at about 2:30. By about 5 o'clock, I was at home throwing up in the bathroom--and of course that means someone else's bathroom because I don't have one. Sometimes the joys of minimalism mean one has to do disgusting things one would normally only do in the privacy of one's own home in other people's homes. Not really a drawback, now that I think about it....
Anyway, before suffering at the hand of a savory tartlet, which I am sure has happened to everyone at some point or another (either literally, metaphorically, or in my case, culinarily), I was busy basking in the glow of life in Portland. Happiness does not make for interesting blogging, I realize that, but it is just so fantastic to be living in a place where hiking up a mountain can be done with almost no real effort. At 4 pm yesterday afternoon I drove 20 miles up the Columbia River Gorge (which is a National Scenic Area and deserves to be), crossed over the river on the Bridge of the Gods (which is an apt name for a gorgeous crossing), puttered up through some backroads of rural Washington state, parked my car, and started hoofing it up a beautiful unmarked, unpopulated trail, and wallah-- my first NW summit was in the bag. It was a beautiful little walk and the first of many. Here I am at the top with a self-satisfied grin that can only be gotten from climbing uphill, and here is the vista facing east looking up into the gorge. The gorge was formed, in part, by the Missoula floods, a periodic series of gigantic floods caused by the breakage of a massive 2000 ft tall ice dam towards the end of the last ice age. The floods are of significant interest to historians and geologists because of the rapidity with which the gushing water flowed through the valleys and the major geological formations that resulted rather quickly, at least compared to the rate that most geological change occurs. I will post more as I learn about the area, but for now it is just a geological wink--a small summit, on a beautiful afternoon, with a great view.

Back in the Saddle

Where to begin? I spent most of the last two weeks back in Arlington, Texas. It was no walk in the park, but the view out of the window from the plane as I left Portland was a wonderful reminder of what I would be coming home to and the end of the trip. It was actually a two part deal-- the first chapter in Texas and the second in Arizona. Texas was, well... texan. As I have blogged before-- a place of contrasts: the sacred and the profane. I got to see some dear friends, hear some good music, and get some work done, so one can't complain all that much. Let's just say, at the end of Chapter 1, I was eager to make my way west. I was invited to give a talk at Northern Arizona University by two old friends from very different chapters of life that both live in Flagstaff, AZ and who happen to work at the same place (kind of). Tal Pearson was my study buddy at Earlham College (friends since ~1993) and John Gillichi was my kindred spirit during my first few years of grad school at IU (circa 2002, although he really came around to being my friend in 2003). I think they met at a party, figured out they both knew me, and...wallah... a seminar invitation was born. This is how dorks take vacations.
Flag, as it is often referred to, was awesome. I stayed two nights with Gillichi and one night with Tal and his beautiful family. The air was dry, the sun was bright, the aspen turning color, and overall I received the warmest reception a girl could hope for-- both from my friends, their kids, partners, colleagues, and bosses. The science going on at NAU/Tgen/MGen (long story) is both interesting and important (far more relevant than my own research, and a relevance that I definitely crave). It was an extremely fun and stimulating visit and made me remember (again) how lucky I am to have this job, be in this field, and be surrounded by these people. Overall, an excellent trip but, like I said, it's good to be home.