A country apart

Thank goodness for free cell-to-cell minutes from Sprint.  We have been in touch with each other every few hours today.  Yes, that means that we actually communicated more today than we do on any normal workday when we are both at home.  In our defense, there was more to talk about!  Jon had a long day at work, getting a number of things done.  Cortney toured the Columbia River Gorge along the Historic Columbia River Highway (HCRH) and hiked a mile up a cliff to the top of a 620 foot waterfall (if you look closely you will see Cortney, in green, and her dad, in yellow, posing right in the middle of the bridge before heading up the trail).  She also saw a 10 foot sturgeon (wow) at the fish hatchery, and a pair of osprey fishing in the spillway of the Bonneville Dam.  Jon and Curtis worked late into the night on music that they are composing and recording for a friend's film (almost forgetting to eat dinner).  Tomorrow (Saturday) will be just as busy.  Cortney has the reunion to attend and Jon will be working all day (and Sunday afternoon... that way he will be able to take time off next week so we can spend some time together), and collaborating again with Curtis to get the music done in time.  Only three more days to go!

Parting: not so sweet sorrow

We are 3 hours apart.  Actually, we are an entire country apart (Cortney is in Portland for a family reunion, Jon is at home working), but what makes the separation so striking is the three-hour time difference.  We have always gone to bed together; gotten up together in the morning; called each other during lunch breaks to check in; eaten together; gone to bed together again.  Of course, with cell phones it's not like we are out of contact (even though Jon has been too busy these recent weeks to bother with email), but it is difficult to coordinate our phone calls in a timely fashion.  Jon used the flight tracker widget on the laptop to make sure Cortney's flight landed safely, but by that time it was after midnight.   And Cortney called to "tuck Jon in," but that was at 1AM his time and 10PM her time, an hour and half late/early depending on who you talk to!  But while we miss each other, we both have busy weekends ahead and the time will fly.  And hopefully Cortney will be flying on Monday, but with the Northwest mechanics' strike.... well let's just say that we are keeping our fingers crossed.

"A lady on the left is no lady at all..."

...according to the etiquette advice provided by her majesty's ladies in waiting at Michigan's Renaissance Festival, which we attended with Jon's parents. Fortunately, Cortney was seated correctly on Jon's right for the Italian wine tasting, the special theme for the opening weekend of the festival. Certainly, the food was one of the highlights of the day, offering every authentic old world finger food from huge turkey drumsticks to soup in a bread bowl to pickles in a barrel. Care to sample the king's nuts? (Roasted almonds).
While most of the vendors maintained period costumes and accents, some of the guests took advantage of the occasion to dress more like Xena than Guinevere. This was not so good in the case of the obese women with cleavage that supported a tip jar tucked in between! The most amazing costume award goes to the walking tree man, straight out of the Ents in the Lord of the Rings. The jousting was also a good spectacle, once the long-winded introductions finished. The accompanying drummer helped to increase the importance of the event, much like the timpani player in the movie Spaceballs. We also enjoyed a romantic ride on the Flying Dragons, took in the Ded Bob Sho, bought Cortney a beautiful green ring, and got Jon a didgeridoo. We're not sure how much the didgeridoo has to do with the Renaissance, but Jon definitely enjoyed filling up the car with the sound all the way home.

Rock N Roar, Toledo Zoo

Who said the seventies were dead?  We went with Kristin and Matt to the Rock and Roar party at the Toledo Zoo tonight.  We're not sure why it was the Rock and Roar party as opposed to the Disco Mania Night, but we had fun just the same.  By the way, Elvis really isn't dead and neither are bell bottoms or platform boots.  We also met Austin Powers, or at least saw him try to dance with lots of girls.  Notably, we did some of our own boogying, but we learned upon arrival that the days of arriving too early at a party to be cool do not stop with middle school.  Thus when we arrived promptly at the beginning of the shindig, we spent most of our time entertaining the wildebeast and zebras, not to mention the various crane birds (hey, some of them have the afro built in).  Once people started arriving, however, our attention was drawn swiftly from the grazing ungulates to the oddities gracing the makeshift dance floor.  There are only so many gyrating afros one can stand, so we joined them.  Kristin and Cortney had the moves down.  Matt and Jon just bopped.  The souvenir martini glasses with seven different LED light settings in the stems were totally worth any amount of disco embarrassment, though, right?

Artwork belongs on walls

So how long does it take to put new artwork up on walls?  It depends on the artwork and the difficulty of the location in which it must be hung.  Sometimes.  For instance, we have this great metal sculpture thing (named "Ray") that belonged to Cortney's godfather and was given to us as a gift... last summer.  It is still in the basement, mostly because we want to hang it above our stairs, which requires either a fancy ladder or acrobatics, or both.  We also got a great clock from Jon's mom for Christmas, and until tonight that was sitting on the wine rack in our kitchen, but there is no excuse for that delay beccause it is just on a normal kitchen wall now, ticking away.  Then there's the African photograph we got at the Art Fair several weeks ago.  It waited on the floor in Cortney's office until tonight when it has finally come to rest on the wall above our bed.  Ah well, Ray will have to wait another few weeks I fear.  As for our bedroom, we are now sleeping in the heart of Africa although the wildlife seems to be a bit on the small and cuddly side (except for the turtle, which dwarfs our bed).