Two-for-One Special

Note: There are TWO entries in this post! You can thank my faulty Internet connection. Enjoy! And check Picasa if you want to see more photos. :)

From June 6, 2011

Hello, and Happy June!

Crown Point, looking over the Columbia River toward WA.

As most of you probably know, I had two very special visitors for five days over the Memorial Day holiday, and I had so much fun with them!!! My mom and Brittany arrived safely (with no Wolff-worthy travel trouble!) on Wednesday night, so I showed them to their room, gave them a tour of the house, and introduced them to the housemates who happened to be around. They were tired from their journey, so after a quick catch-up, we all headed to bed, in anticipation of the next day’s fun.

On Thursday, their first full day, we started out with a “tour” of Gresham, which highlighted the historic downtown neighborhood where we live and the El Programa Hispano office, of course. They got to meet my supervisor, Sandra, and also Carmen and several other coworkers who were around. Lindsay joined us for this and for lunch at a yummy Thai place afterwards as she had to head out of town for the remainder of my mom and B’s stay. It was nice that they all got a chance to meet one another as Lindsay has been an important person for me this year and I would have been sad had it not worked out at all.

Multnomah Falls!

After lunch, I drove us to the Columbia River Gorge and we started our waterfall tour, stopping at Crown Point’s Vista House, Latourrel Falls, Shepperd’s Dell, Wahkeena Falls, and ultimately the 600ft+ Multnomah Falls. It was an overcast day, but the beauty of the Gorge shines through in any kind of weather, and they loved it. We stopped for a quick bubble tea (well, I got a bubble tea—they didn’t like the tapioca balls) before grabbing pizza from Flying Pie here in Gresham. We brought that, and some beer, back to the house and had dinner with my housemates, which I really enjoyed. Then, we headed over to Alberta Street so that Britt and Mom could witness the spectacle that is Last Thursday. Although it was pretty mellow compared to the summer street fairs, there were belly dancers, fire tossers, and plenty of creative costumes to gawk at. And Brittany bought an adorable headband! Successful outing.

I love my Mama! (Japanese Garden)

We slept in the next day and then hit up Target for some essentials. I was a bit discouraged because the weather looked crappy once again. After a little meltdown, though, we decided to try to stay positive and enjoy any sunny intervals. We spent some time in Powells (where it’s actually not a problem if it’s raining) before getting lucky and enjoying our first food cart lunch in the sun. It got rainy again right after our Moonstruck chocolate treat, so we ran back to the car and drove to Washington Park. By the time we got to the [roseless] Rose Garden and the Japanese Garden, the rain had quit again so we got to wander around the lovely grounds without getting soaked. This occupied us until it was time to go home, freshen up, and meet José for a Peruvian-Northwest fusion dinner on Alberta. Our delicious food was topped off at Pix, where we had dessert with Lizzie across the street from her house (I really can’t say enough about this place… soooo good!). Mom, Britt, and José seemed to get along quite well, and we were all happy to see Lizzie too. She couldn’t come with us for the next activity, but the rest of us headed over to a bridge to [illegally] stand there and watch the Rose Festival kickoff fireworks. I was quite happy, to say the least.

Cannon Beach. I love my sister too!!

On Saturday, I took Mom and Brittany to the famous market in Old Town and we met up with José again. The four of us then joined Karen (my coworker and Portland “mom”) for lunch at a Greek place called Alexis, thus continuing our unintentional around-the-world culinary tour. Then, José left us and we hopped in the car and headed west, coastbound! We made a quick stop at Seaside before deciding to drive a few more minutes down the road to the touristy but always lovely Cannon Beach. We parked a bit far away from Haystack Rock, but it was a beautiful afternoon (thank God!) and our walk along the beach was fantastic. We played in the chilly water (and some of us got a bit more than we bargained for when the tide came in!) and creeped on babies and puppies, a favorite activity of at least two of us… but I’m not naming names. We wrapped up our afternoon at the ocean with two essentials: ice cream and salt water taffy! And then we headed back to Portland to find José for, you guessed it, more food! This evening, we ate at my favorite Mexican restaurant, Por Qué No, and then ended up bowling at a place nearby afterwards, which turned out to be super fun.

Wine Tasting!

Sunday was an earlier morning because we wanted to go to Mass at St. Andrew’s on Alberta, and the service started at 9:30. After Mass there with Lizzie, we treated ourselves to my favorite, well-practiced Sunday routine: tea at Townshend’s—followed by sandwiches at the Grilled Cheese Grill (José caught up with us here). YUM! After that, the five of us set off for the afternoon excursion that turned out to be one of my favorite activities: wine tasting in the Williamette Valley! We didn’t have much of a plan, but things worked out and we ended up doing tastings at five different wineries and having a wonderful time, thanks to José’s generous and excellent DD’ing! We stopped at a McMenamin’s in Hillsboro for some Cajun tator tots and a beer before making it back to Portland just in time for an event called Holding Hands Across Portland. This peaceful display of solidarity was a response to an attack on a gay couple, and the turnout at Hawthorne Bridge was really inspiring and impressive. I’m glad we got to take part. Afterwards, we continued on to Kell’s Irish Pub (a must for this group!) for dinner and drinks and some live music.

I miss you ladies already!

On Monday, we slept in again and then had a slow morning, wrapping up some loose ends and ultimately getting ourselves out the door around noon. We stopped at my favorite garden, Crystal Springs, to see the rhododendrons that mom and Britt also grew to love during their time in Oregon. Then, we met up with José for a final food cart lunch in downtown and a quick trip to the World’s Smallest Park, a tiny little planter called Mills End that really does hold the Guiness record and really is part of the Portland Parks System. Finally, we headed to Happy Hour at Portland City Grill, which was really just an excuse to look out the windows of this 30^th floor establishment. Although the sun we’d had while walking along the river earlier in the afternoon had mysteriously disappeared, it was still a really cool perspective of the city and a great idea on José’s part. After we bid him goodbye, we ladies headed back to Gresham to meet up with my housemates and have a delicious dinner at Jim and Mary Ann’s to finish up a wonderful Memorial Day and an absolutely phenomenal family visit!

I was sad to see Mom and Britt leave on Tuesday morning—and returning to work wasn’t nearly as fun as playing with them around Oregon!—but I’m so grateful that they were able to visit me. We did some of the same things that I did with my dad, but the two visits were also completely different. I feel very blessed to have had two wonderful visits with my family. Thank you!!!!!!

Posing at Mill's End Park, the smallest park in the world.

After recovering from a whirlwind of fun, I actually had a pretty busy week. And things are getting busier! Retreat is next weekend, and then the Portland Plunge, a weeklong urban/homelessness immersion that I’m helping Daniel with. Updates will follow all of these fun events, but be patient with me! I love you all and I’m excited to see many of you soon. I know these last weeks will fly by. I hope you are all doing well. Please keep me updated on your news as well—I know that many of you are transitioning and doing all sorts of things. I keep you all in my thoughts and prayers and hope that summer brings good things for each of you!

Until soon,

Amanda

June 15, 2011

The Final Stretch

Hello, everyone!

Retreat means cooking for 75 people. I made rhubarb crunch!

My internet went out quite inconveniently just as I was about to publish the previous post, so you’re getting a two-for-one special. At this point, much of the last post’s content is a bit outdated as I have already gone to retreat on Whidbey Island, WA and returned! So, to catch you up to speed…

The retreat locale this weekend was beautiful, and it was a VERY relaxing few days! Sarah, a former JVCNW Area Director, was the "facilitator," but I think we listened to her speak for a total of about two hours all weekend. She was very attentive to the needs of the group and saw that we wanted to be in the sun and be together, and she gave us TONS (maybe even too much) of unstructured time to find God in the beachfront beauty and in conversation with each other. I spent some of that time alone in prayer and journaling, but I passed most of the hours with good friends and members of my community. Even when I wanted to withdraw a bit and sit on a rock alone to reflect, it was so hard to do when there were hoards of people having fun and playing games right next to me. So, although I did get to have some time in quiet meditation, I think that my "prayer" this weekend was manifested mostly in that communion with my friends.

UNREAL. Two bald eagles in a nest.

I was hoping to be pushed a bit more spiritually and was slightly disappointed in Sarah's rather whimsical and vague musings, but I understand that she was trying to be accessibile to a lot of people. She mostly pulled from the Ignatian tradition and she didn't say anything I hadn't heard before, but I guess the main thing I took from it was a few questions here and there, which prompted me to do a bit of reflection about who I've become this year, how I want to integrate this experience into my post-JVC life, where I'm headed, and so on. Still, if you could follow her and all of her verbs, there were gems in what Sarah was offering us, and I'm holding on to and chewing on a few of those prompts.

The main grace of the retreat, for me, was that it was a really fun weekend with my housemates. We had a chance to get together and have a talk about what this year has meant for each of us, and we are really holding dear these last seven (!) weeks together. I feel rejuvenated and reinvested in that regard, and I think that's what I needed most of all. It was a restful and holy weekend, albeit a pretty unstructured one. I got to catch up with my friend and fellow JV, Beth, and she and I had some beautiful conversations about where we are at spiritually. I always look forward to seeing her on retreats and I’ll miss that consistency once we part ways next year. She's headed to school in Berkeley, CA in the fall to get her Masters of Divinity, and I told her about my recent questions, doubts, and difficulties in terms of my spirituality. She cited a beautiful poem from Catherine of Siena, one that perhaps you’ve already read, and she shared many of my sentiments and frustrations. I’ve shared it with you below. All in all, I think it was a pleasant retreat experience. I returned feeling spent but rested at the same time. And all around me, all weekend, was holiness in the form of bald eagles soaring overhead or deer wandering freely through our camp—not to mention the beautiful Puget Sound in front of us and the palpable love and delight that permeated each moment.

Says Catherine of Siena, Doctor of the Church:

“All has been consecrated.
The creatures in the forest know this,

The earth does, the seas do, the clouds know
as does the heart full of
love.

Strange a priest would rob us of this
knowledge

and then empower himself
with the ability

to make holy what
already was.”

Word, sister. I couldn’t have said it better myself. Anyway, speaking of these matters, I had my final spiritual direction meeting with Joyce Ann last week, which was really wonderful. She has been such an important part of my journey this year, and I am so grateful that I was able to connect with someone who has been so supportive throughout this whole journey. I really, really needed that relationship and I’ll miss her dearly!

Cuties.

I want to keep this short since you’ve already read one post, so I’ll end here. Stay tuned for details about the Portland Plunge, which begins Friday! Also, I will be doing some end-of-the-year/what I’ll take with me from this year posts in the near future as that is all very much on my mind. I hope that summer is treating you well (Portland doesn’t know what summer is. It’s still usually in the 60’s, and it rained today) and that you are happy and healthy and enjoying all of the holiness that is everywhere we turn!

Happy birthday to Lizzie Traudt (today!) and Aunt Vicki (tomorrow)! Vic, I am praying for you in particular this week and hoping that your birthday is a wonderful celebration and that the next day isn’t too much of a damper on things. And Danny—I hope to see you soon! Finally, Happy (early) Father’s Day to my generous and fantastic dad. I love you and I’m so grateful for all you do for me and all of your “girlies”!

XOXO,

Oh hey friends.

Amanda