Date: Sun, 11 Jan 2004 16:42:44 -0800

Subject: Postcard from Portland

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy New Year to you all. May it bring with it health, happiness and good
fortune!

Before I begin, and lest I forget again...

                                   -=*=-

Errata for the 2003 Summer/Fall PfP:
====================================

I forgot to mention the dinner we had at the Dahlia Lounge in Seattle
(thanks in part to a gift certificate from WRQ). Liz and I split an order of
the Shrimp-Scallion Pot Stickers. Liz chose the Wood Grilled Lamb Saddle and
I had the Dungeness Crab Cakes. For dessert, we split a heavenly pear tart
with almond cream...

        http://www.tomdouglas.com/dahlia/dinner.html
        http://www.tomdouglas.com/bakery/index.html

Everything was yummy and the service was excellent.

-+-+-+-

I also neglected to mention the Massive Garage Cleanup into which Liz and I
put our muscle and poured our sweat during the Labor Day weekend. We totally
filled a 3 cubic yard container (like this one)...

        http://www.uswaste.com/graphics/3yd.jpg

Before and after pix tell it all...

        http://herring.org/photos/garage/garage.html

                                   -=*=-

And now for the November/December news...

The grand event was Elisha's 6th birthday on November 11th. We celebrated
this year with a bowling and pizza party...

        http://herring.org/photos/Elisha/6thBday.html

In November, we also went to see Disney on Ice presents Princess Classics...

        http://disney.go.com/disneyonice/

Elisha was one of many princesses in attendance (some of whom came attired
in costume). She was totally enraptured by the 3 hour performance. I was
fortunate enough to get excellent seats (rinkside, second row from the ice).

A less-than-grand November event was the forced hiatus I've had from my Krav
Maga training. Two days after I sent out the last Postcard from Portland, I
was practicing inside defense against a straight punch. I misread one punch
from my sparring partner as coming from the left hand. The intended
deflection resulted in direct opposition to the right hand punch, resulting
in a huge black and blue mark on my right wrist. After a week of pain, I
went in for an x-ray. Here's what the radiologist had to say in his
report...

        Seen only on the lateral view is slight irregularity of the dorsal
        margin of what is probably the triquetral bone and possibly slight
        cortical offset. The other bones are intact and the joints are
        normally maintained.

        Cannot totally rule out a small nondisplaced fracture of the
        triquetral bone; however, this is a debatable finding and clinical
        correlation is needed. Should clinical symptoms continue, a repeat
        right wrist x-ray is recommended in another week or so. The
        remainder of the right wrist appears normal.

So WTF is the triquetral bone you wonder? (I did)...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triquetral_bone

To make a long story short, I wore a support for several weeks to immobilize
the wrist, and suspended training in Krav. A follow-up x-ray then showed no
sign of a fracture. However, due to holiday travel, a nasty cold, and
inclement weather, my return to Krav was delayed. I will finally resume
training tomorrow. Huzzah!!

November was capped by our annual Thanksgiving trip to San Francisco where
we enjoyed the company of Liz's aunt and cousins, as well as her mom (who
came in from Huntington Beach). As usual, her cousins John and Cindy hosted
quite a feast...

        http://herring.org/photos/Elisha/2003_TurkeyDay.html

We also enjoyed a visit with Liz's good friend Jan, her husband Cliff and
daughter Katie. We had lunch at Max's Opera Cafe® of San Francisco and then
went to see a performance of the Nutcracker performed by the San Francisco
Ballet. IMO, their interpretation was superior to the Portland Ballet
company, whose performance Liz, Elisha and I had seen the previous year. The
San Francisco company had more precise execution and more grace, as well as
a wonderful sense of humor.

Our return from San Francisco was prefaced by a two-hour delay at SFO
courtesy of fog so thick that "even the ducks were walking". And our arrival
home was accompanied by a nasty cold characterized by a sore throat, sinus
congestion and eventually, chest symptoms aggravated by coughing. Elisha was
the first to come down with it, with an added bonus of ear infections. Liz
and I quickly followed. It took two weeks for us all to regain our health.

Elisha participated in her very first performance - a holiday program put on
by her KinderCare. She was very cute... Liz and I kvelled...

        http://herring.org/photos/Elisha/2003_KinderCare_Holiday_Show.html

December's finale was marked by our annual trip to spend Christmas with
Liz's mom. It was punctuated, as always, by too much food, too many gifts,
and time which passed too quickly...

        http://herring.org/photos/Elisha/2003_12_California.html

We did have an opportunity to spend an evening with our much missed friends
John & Linda and their son Jonathan; Garrett, Colleen and their daughter
Kaela; as well as our dear friend Deirdre. John, Colleen and I passed much
of the evening playing Christmas carols on guitar & violin (John), piano
(Colleen) and flute (yours truly). Elisha and Jonathan delighted in renewing
their friendship, alternately chasing each other like screaming banshees,
and spending quiet moments together reading or watching TV. They stayed up
way past their bedtime, as did the rest of us. We were surprised that
midnight was upon us by the time we said good night. I had a chance to see
John again at the end of the week at a Friday Night Jam[TM] with fellow
musicians Jim and Shirley. I sorely miss being able to do that every week -
once a year simply isn't enough. On the last night of our stay Liz and I
went on a "date" while Grandma Pris and Elisha had some special 1-on-1 time
together. Liz and I had dinner at Mongolian Bar-B-Que Pan Asia, a favorite
haunt of ours...

        http://www.ocweekly.com/ink/00/27/restaurants1.php

We then took a walk around Balboa, enjoying the over-the-top house
decorations. One of the award winning homes featured Frosty the Snow Man
with REAL frost supplied by the air conditioning coils within!

Our New Years Eve celebration was far more subdued - a quiet evening at home
watching TV together. Mother Nature provided the excitement. We awoke New
Year's Day to a landscape whitewashed by newly fallen snow. Liz had planned
to work, but returned home soon after leaving the house. It quickly became
apparent that staying home was the sensible decision. We ended up with seven
inches of dry (thanks to temps in the mid-teens) powder before all was said
and done. But Madam al Fresco had more in store for us the following week...
a paralyzing ice storm that virtually closed down the city for three days...

        http://herring.org/photos/Elisha/2004_01_NewYears.html

The forced time off afforded us a welcome opportunity for time together as a
family as well as a chance to finally post some pix and pen another Postcard
from Portland - which we hope you have enjoyed.


Addendum: Kids Say the Darndest Things Dept.
============================================

(on admiring the autumnal colors)
When the trees are ready to hibernate they shake their leaves off.

(playing w/pencils w/fancy erasers in a fanciful skit of her own creation)
Elisha: We have to go pick some berries.
Daddy:  (interrupting) What kind of berries?
Elisha: Indian berries. They're just for Indians, Americans don't like them.
Daddy:  Indians /are/ Americans. They were here before any of the rest of
        us. They're the /original/ Americans.
Elisha: But now they all live in Indiana.

(after feigning flatus)
Daddy:  Why is that funny for you?
Elisha: Because I'm a /kid/.


we love and miss you all, 
Sandy, Liz and Elisha
-- 
Sandy, Liz & Elisha      http://herring.org/      webfeet@herring.org
                  And that's the news from Portland
       where everything is green, rolling stones gather moss,
              and the rainfall is always above average.

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