Date: Mon, 01 Jul 1996 22:50:03 -0700

Subject: Postcard from Portland

Dear Family and Friends,

Time to extend a summer salutation - and Happy Birthday wishes to
Robert!

And summer it is indeed! We had barely a trace of rain in June to
distract from the sunshine and warmth. The month was ushered in with a
party thrown by one of Liz's coworkers and her husband - Sheila and Tom
Haddad. Tom is from Jordan and just completed his medical residency.
Sheila is American and is a physical therapist. Sheila did all of the
cooking for the shindig, preparing Mid eastern delicacies - falafel,
dolmas, babaganoush (sp?), hummus and baklava. What a feast! No one left
hungry. They have a very comfortable house with extensive gardening,
which we all enjoyed from our vantage on their back porch.

The following day Liz and I continued the Bacchanalia by treating
ourselves to Copper River King Salmon on a cedar plank w/asparagus &
mashed potatoes at Jake's. Jake's is a 103 year-old restaurant which is
a local landmark and a shrine to seafood. Copper River salmon are
available for only 2 or 3 weeks out of the year. They were running when
Liz and I came to Portland for my interview with ADP last year. So of
course, we had a repeat performance. It was every bit as good as the
first time. I suspect this will become an annual tradition for us. In
fact, a week later we bought some Copper River salmon for Liz to prepare
at home. No cedar plank the second time around - but every bit as much
of a treat. I don't think we'll ever tire of salmon.

Portland (aka The City of Roses) celebrates the Rose Festival the entire
month of June. Liz and I missed it all last year since it took place
between the time I interviewed and the time we moved. This year we
nearly missed it all, but managed to carve out one weekend to enjoy the
festivities along the riverfront. We watched the Dragon Boat races,
admired the Navy ships (including a destroyer) which had docked for the
occasion, took in the arts and crafts exhibits, sampled the ethnic food,
listened to free concerts and gawked at all the weirdos who had gathered
to do likewise.

It was a very busy month for us. Liz worked on two of the weekends so
that she would be assured we would be free to visit her parents on
Father's Day. Our trip to Southern California was one to remember! We
left after work the Friday before Father's Day. The traffic on the way
to the airport was bumper-to-bumper. In spite of the fact that we had
left plenty of time to get there, we became concerned we would miss our
flight. Little did we know we had plenty of time since our plane was
delayed for nearly an hour. This was not really good news, however,
since we were flying into LAX with a connection to John Wayne. We
deplaned in LA just in time to miss the SNA hop. The airline put Liz and
me and the other two passengers who were in the same boat (pardon the
mixed metaphor) on a van to OC. We were told we would be the only
passengers on the van. The driver had other ideas. We insisted that he
check with his dispatcher to confirm that the airline had contracted for
the exclusive use of the van. He did so and was not happy with the
answer. The ride to John Wayne was Mr. Toad's Wild Ride from Hell - 90
mph and door-to-door in 35 minutes. We were ready to kiss the ground by
the time we arrived. Fortunately, the rest of the weekend was much
kinder on our nerves. It was great to see and spend quality time with
Liz's parents. The weekend passed all too quickly.

I have also been very busy at work. I've been "productizing" Reflection,
a terminal emulator developed and sold by WRQ - a Seattle based company.
We are going to remarket it to our customers who want to use PC's rather
than dumb terminals to connect to our host systems. Last Monday I went
to WRQ in Seattle with my boss and two other ADP associates to meet with
the folks at WRQ and hammer out some issues. It was my first visit to
Seattle. Ron (my boss) drove and 'insisted' that we spend some time at
the Pike Place Market after our meeting (there were no arguments). We
had fun watching the flying fish (customers pick out the fish they want
and the helpers fling it back to the counter to be wrapped). They even
sell t-shirts bearing a black and yellow striped caution "Beware low
flying fish". We also took in the fruit and vegetable stands (where I
bought some yummy Rainier cherries) and the quaint stores. Seattle was
fun to visit, but I don't think I'd want to live there. It's a lot more
congested than Portland. I do, however, plan to take Liz there for a
weekend.

Somehow we also found time to shop for the Ford Explorer which will
replace my Porsche :-( We were pretty discouraged at first. The exact
vehicle we wanted simply didn't exist in the Pacific Northwest. But then
we engaged the services of a broker. Gary (the broker) located an XLT
which was slated for delivery to Portland in July and was nearly what we
wanted. He was able to put in a change order to have the factory build
it with cloth seats rather than leather and to shine the moon roof. We
are expecting delivery the week of 7/8! We'll believe when we see it :-o

July shapes up to be another very busy month. We'll be hosting a visit
from Liz's parents who are coming up for a week to join in her birthday
celebration! And my Mother will be coming up the beginning of August,
joined by Shelly, Mitch, Missy and Richard - nearly da' whole fam damily
;-) We're very much looking forward to seeing them all.

We hope you all enjoy the coming month basking in the sunshine and the
warm glow of your loved ones.


we love you all,
Sandy & Liz



climatic summary for portland oregon
national weather service portland oregon
119 am pdt mon jul 01 1996

...precipitation...

yesterday.............   0.00
total for the month...   0.65
normal month to date..   1.48
total for the year....  31.07   total since oct 1...  51.28
normal year to date...  18.69   normal from oct 1...  32.83

...astronomical data...

sunrise today...526 am    pdt
sunset  today...903 pm    pdt
sunrise tomorrow...526 am    pdt
sunset  tomorrow...903 pm    pdt

-- 
Sandy & Liz Herring                permanent address: sherring@ACM.org
Portland, Oregon                   provider du jour : shh@teleport.com
Peck of Pickled Pisces ........... http://www.teleport.com/~shh/

                And that's the news from Lake Oswego,
           where the women are strong, the men good looking
               and all the children are above average.

guestbook

Webmaster

Home, Sweet Home What's New Back to Postcard Index

If you are harvesting email addresses, I know shnorrer.28/Aug/2008:10:26:30/pfp_9607.html@herring.org and the gummint would be delighted to hear from you.