arrivee en portland

i spent the day after christmas with my brother and sister-in-law (we enjoyed juno) and that night we ate at paesano's. at some point i picked up something nasty because the following morning i couldn't stop ralphing. no, not 'rolfing,' providing deep tissue massage; ralphing. barfing. vomiting. worshiping the porcelain goddess. thankfully, none of my fellow family members were ill, so it must not have been paesano's. but it was icky. and after the ralphing was done, there was still a lot of damage to recover from.
on the 29th i went to portland to stay with friend beth who recently moved there. it was lovely, rainy, verdant, cold. my appetite had by that time returned so i ate a delicious reuben sandwich; my stomach however was still replenishing its natural processing fluids and as a result had some difficulty digesting. i spent most of the 30th in a kind of drawn-to-the-toilet frenzy, emitting something that looked suspiciously like pond water. by the evening of the 30th i was weak and dazed enough to thoroughly non-enjoy a sushi dinner. when beth said she could feel my self-hatred radiating across the table, i reacted sourly. it was a dark day in portland.
but when i awoke on the 31st, glory hallelujah. my energy was restored. my stomach was functioning. my eyes were filled with light and my gratitude soared up into the blue sky. beth and i walked to a cool little cafe called anna bannana for steamed eggs and oatmeal and one of the most delicious soy lattes i've ever had. then we drove to beth's friends' place in milwaukie (just outside of portland) to check on their frail kitty. then we walked around on a little island just outside their back door, an island in the willamette. then we drove to tryon state park and walked in the woods for an hour or two. i'll post pictures soon, but walking in tryon state park was like being immersed in the life-giving moisture of a woodland bloodstream. after my bout with digestive gnarliness, the trees and ferns and sheer green of the woods were the most thorough healing balm i could have asked for.
by the time we got out of the woods, it was around 4 pm. beth and i ate an early dinner at a mexican/salvadorean restaurant in milwaukie. we had homemade pupusas, tamales, salvadorean guacamole (made with onion, garlic and egg) and fried plaintains. it was heaven. we also drank celebratory margaritas. i consider it our official new year celebration.
other things we did: walked up the hill to the park where the rose garden is; ate pizza with beth's friend kristen; went to powell's; talked in french accents to strangers; had long discussions with each other. beth's my oldest close friend... we've been pals now for 21.5 years!
next time, i'm going to tell you about something else going on in my life that's exciting.
i bet you can't wait.
hello?
hello?
echo!