News from the midwest

I got an email from Valerie in Fairfield, IA this week. Sophie and all the feline friends say hi! In case you're not familiar with Midwest geography Iowa is in the heartland and Fairfield is in the southeast corner of the state. Val is a major organizer of local animal rescue efforts so she keeps pretty busy with that but when not in rescue mode she stays active in the local entrepreneurial business community. I am encouraging Val to create a blog here and as soon as she gets it online I'll post a link - welcome Val!

The picture was taken last fall near Lincoln City. Anyone planning to make it to Lincoln City for the Kite Festival this year? I'll be there - wouldn't miss it!

http://www.oregoncoast.org/kite-festival/kites-summer05.html

Two days in a row of sunshine!

Two days in a row of sunshine ... good golly miss Molly! I'm loving it and since I had both days off it was perfect timing. Did I mention that I'm changing jobs in a week? I'll still be with Goodwill but I'm moving from my supervisor position at the Hillsboro store to the headquarters downtown. Don't know how long I'll be there though, I will end up back at one of the outlying locations soon because the new job is basically a field position. I'll be working with job seekers helping them conduct a successful job search. That is the Goodwill mission - changing people's lives by helping them find a job or move to a better job. I'll be working at the core of what Goodwill is all about.

In other news ... Buddy Guy is coming to Portland this weekend. He's the blues master! I won't be able to make it to the show because I'm working my last weekend as a supervisor but discovering that tidbit of information was a wake-up call. One of my favorite activities is enjoying live music. Portland has tons of live music but of course in the winter it's all indoors. The bars are way too smoky here for me so I've not been able to enjoy much live music lately but once the rainy season ends (and yes, it will end soon) the outdoors concerts will begin! I'm really looking forward to that and of course the beer-fest is coming in July. The last time I went I tried potato beer and rhubarb beer - both were terrible but it makes for a fun festival when I can try out some new beers. There are many local and regional brewers so the variety of beer around Portland is a beer drinker's delight. (that would be me)

Speaking of Willamette Falls

Oregon City offers a great view of Willamette Falls from a lookout point on 99E just south of downtown. Here is a photo I took last fall (when the sky still had a good deal of blue in it!) The small photo doesn't do the scene justice - click on the pic for a bigger version. Also, there has been so much rain in the past month the falls look very different now. I'll try to post a current photo later this week. This location is definitely on my list of visitor stopping points. To the right of this view is the huge complex of industrial businesses built here to take advantage of the power generated by the falls - a lumber mill, woolen mill, flour mill and paper mill and of course the power generating plant itself. This was the site of the first commercial, long-distance power transmission service in the country, from Oregon City to Portland, started in 1889.

Oregon has an amazing coastline

It's time for the first photo to be added! Had to search around a bit but finally found that little icon you use to add a pic. Easy! Having visited Oregon a few times before moving here, I'd already been to Lincoln City and Canon beach so I was somewhat familiar with the Oregon coast and am looking forward to returning again soon. In fact I so enjoy being near the ocean that I plan to move to one of the coastal towns one day. This is a nice shot showing how rugged Oregon's coast-line can be. I can't remember where it was taken but I promise future pics will be logged - what good is an archive if it isn't documented properly?