Saturday, August 25, 2012

Morning in Portland

by Pa Rock
Busy Grandfather

Molly's family and I had a nice day in Portland, Oregon, yesterday.  I was especially pleased to meet my newest grandchild, Little Willow, who is a charmer.  She has brown hair and brown eyes - and a big happy smile.  She moves around in a low crawl that is exactly like the one we used to have to do in the Army, under live fire, so many years ago.  And like her brothers, Sebastian and Judah, Willow goes at full speed!

This morning Sebastian and I headed out to do breakfast by ourselves like we did last fall when I was here.  Unfortunately, the hotel cafeteria by the lake had been taken over by an evangelical church group, and those pious porkers had eaten all of the food.  We couldn't even get anyone to wait on us.  Then were walked next door to a restaurant that specializes in sandwiches and breakfast - but it turned out to be closed on weekends!  Now we are waiting on everyone to get ready so that we can take the hotel shuttle to IHOP.

One of the places that we went to yesterday was a store called "The Learning Palace."   It specializes in educational toys and games for kids, as well as classroom posters and exhibits for teachers.  Judah worked at the train table, very patiently sharing train cars with other kids, and making long trains and pulling them along the twisting and winding track.  He and Sebastian have a train setup at home, and they really enjoy it.  I didn't realize that "Thomas the Train" is an entire book and toy industry - and movies, too!

We also rode the "Max." an urban rail, down to Pioneer Square and walked around for awhile.  An Italian festival was occurring at the Square with music (a live band singing Italian songs), food, and other items of an Italian nature such as Versa scooters.  Dinner was a few blocks away at a pizza place.

There are numerous street people in Portland, and all of the downtown businesses have strategies in place to keep them out of their restrooms.  Nordstrom's has coded locks on the men's room, and most businesses have signs that say only customers can use the restrooms.  At the pizza place where we had dinner, you had to order and pay before asking for the restroom key!  Not sure where the street people go to relieve themselves, but my guess would be in the alley's somewhere.

They want the poor are invisible and have no needs.

It's a Romney world, after all!


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