Date: Mon, 06 Sep 1999 16:07:08 -0700

Subject: Postcard from Portland

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy Labor Day!

Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work
hard at work worth doing.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), U.S. Republican (later Progressive)
politician, president. Labor Day speech, 7 Sept. 1903, Syracuse,
N.Y.

Once again, I must ask your exculpation for not having published a PfP
last month *sigh*. We had company (as you will read) during the last
week of July and beginning of August, and two weeks later Liz was out of
town (as you will also see). This left little-to-no time for me to share
with you just how busy we've been. ;-)

In the last PfP (July's), I promised to post some recent pictures of
Elisha on our web site. I've fallen short of fulfilling that pledge, but
I *have* updated the picture that greets you on Elisha's web page
(http://www.herring.org/elisha.html) with a photo taken around her first
birthday. I will soon replace that with a current photo, which is due
back from the printer in a couple of weeks. As time permits, I'll be
catching up on Elisha's gallery, starting with the oldest unposted shots
first. She grows more beautiful each day [0] and I'm anxious to share
with you a hint of what fills our lives with love, elation and awe.

I'll do my best to reconstruct the events of the past two months, but
lately I often feel like HAL in 2001 as Dave disables his circuits...
Daisy, Daayzee, g i v e m e .. . . .

As with the last PfP, Elisha has recently recovered from another malady.
Halfway into August, when Liz was out of town, she suddenly developed a
fever of 104F. Of course, this kind of thing always happens on the
weekend. I called and had our pediatrician paged. She indicated that
since Elisha was older than six months and had no other associated
symptoms (vomiting, etc.), to treat her with Tylenol and bring her into
the office the following Monday if the fever had not abated. The fever
was down within 24 hours, but I kept her home from daycare that Monday.
Liz (who returned Monday night) stayed with her the following day. Liz
noticed that her temperature was elevated and so took her back to the
doctor's office. Diagnosis: another @#%*! ear infection. :-( By Thursday
she seemed well enough to go to daycare. But Sheila (the daycare
provider) called us halfway through the day and indicated we should come
and get her since she had a rash all over her back and chest. Liz got
her straight into the ped's office... diagnosis: Roseola [1]. The poor
little girl! Fortunately, Roseola isn't anywhere near as devastating as
the Rotavirus she had last April. But since it too, is a virus, there is
nothing medical science has to offer - the Rx is a time balm.

Elisha's climbing adventures have continued. She's discovered she can
get a leg up on the coffee table and ottoman. She also managed to get up
and balance on the back of one of the sofas. We've been discouraging
these latest assaults. But since she has also learned that she can drag
her doggie chair or a pillow to formerly out of reach base camps, she's
set her sites on new peaks. She's also walking up and down the stairs
while holding our hands. We are her Sherpas.. and gatekeepers! We have
enrolled her in the next Gymboree "GymRunners" class [2]. She'll soon be
climbing walls and redpointing overhangs with crux moves [3].

There are simply too many additions to Elisha's vocabulary to enumerate.
I encourage you to peruse the "recent" section [4] of her diary for more
detail. Suffice it to say that she mimics much of what she hears. Elisha
has been counting and identifying letters in the alphabet. Her
articulation continues to improve. She has started to string words
together into couplets and triplets, constructing phrases like "Where
she go?" and (our favorites) "Hi, daddy" and "Hi, mommy." It is
difficult to describe the sense of wonder we keenly feel as we watch her
discover and learn about the world around us. Indirectly seeing
ourselves and our surroundings through her eyes has renewed a sense of
freshness deep within us.

Our little "boo" girl is the ultimate snuggle bunny. She enjoys hugging
us every bit as much as we delight in her embrace. She has also been
blowing us kisses when we drop her off at daycare. The world would
simply be a better place if people hugged and kissed more! The cuddles
make it easier to endure the occasional tantrums that our soon-to-be
two-year old has begun to brandish. The catalyst can be the most
innocent request. "Elisha, please put your shoes away" may be answered
by her throwing herself on the floor and pitching a fit. These incidents
can be so absurd that we sometimes need to stifle the urge to laugh. If
she ever decides to formalize her study of acting, we're sure she'll be
the consummate thespian. Liz and I call her "our little drama queen."
She has, in fact, been singing and dancing.

At least Elisha didn't give us a hard time about a change we've made to
her schedule. Previously, we waited until she gave us a sign that she
was ready for bed before carrying her up to her crib. But that time
gradually crept up to 10pm - a half hour past when *I'm* ready to
retire. I mentioned it to Sheila, and she indicated that a child
Elisha's age should be in bed between 7:30 and 8:30 - and recommended we
start doing so before she reached her rebellious two's. Liz and I made
the change immediately, moving her bedtime to 8:30. At 8:00pm every
night we switch on lullabies for background music and read books to her
for a half hour. Much to our surprise, she never complained about the
schedule shift!

Liz's early birthday present was a treat for us both. We spent eight
hours at the Lilith Fair [5] and were blessed by a sunny day with a
light breeze and moderate temperatures. Sheryl Crow and Sarah McLachlan
were both in their prime and put on a wonderful show, including throwing
a duet into the mix. We were also quite impressed with Mya, both for her
pipes and athletic abilities. She exhibits the kind of energy one would
expect from an 18-year old. :-) Luscious Jackson (not to be confused
with the former 76er's basketball player), of "Clueless" and GAP
commercials fame, also wowed the crowd. The only detractor was Sandra
Bernhard. Liz and I both agreed that we could have done very nicely
without listening to her act (twice!). I didn't feel the least bit
uncomfortable being one of the few men at the concert. Liz and I had as
much fun crowd watching as we did taking in the tunes. We left Elisha
with one of Liz's ex-coworkers/friends, who also happens to have her
children in the same daycare as do we. We were concerned about leaving
her for that long, but she hardly knew we were gone. Elisha had a bunch
of fun playing with Karen's two daughters and was sound asleep when we
returned to reclaim her.

On the 28th of July Liz's mom and aunt arrived after a two-day drive up
the coast from San Francisco. They motored their way here in order to
bring with them some furniture that Liz's Grandmom Maxine (as in
Elisha's middle name) left to Liz when she passed on. This was the first
time Elisha and her Aunt Suzanne met. She (Suzanne) was, of course,
impressed. During their stay, as a belated birthday treat for Liz,
Priscilla treated us to dinner at the Harborside Restaurant [6] (owned
by McCormick & Schmick's) where we feasted alfresco, overlooking the
Willamette River. Elisha had been a little fussy before leaving the
house, but settled down and had a lot of fun at dinner. We were
fortunate to be seated next to a family with children who had brought
outdoors entertainment - bubbles. Elisha was fascinated. During dinner
Priscilla snapped some absolutely incredible photos of Elisha modeling
her blue denim hat. I promise to have them up on the web site before the
next PfP.

Within hours of our visitors' departure (no association intended :-),
Portland experienced what (for us) was a significant seismological
event...

Time of Occurrence (PDT): Friday July 2, 1999 at 06:43:54.33 PM

Depth (km) 40.57
Magnitude (Mc) 5.1

Location 47.0757N 123.4635W
8.2 km N of Satsop, WA
28.9 km ENE of Aberdeen, WA
103.5 km WSW of Seattle, WA

I was at work at the time, and as Dr. Kate in SoCal would have said, "it
was felt" - likely due to my being on the top floor of a four-story
building. I immediately called Liz. She not only hadn't felt it, but
doubted my sanity until the TV news confirmed it (the quake, not my lack
of sanity :-).

On July 14th Liz flew down to SoCal to hang out with her high school
girlfriends on the occasion of their 20-year reunion. She had a blast,
and very much appreciated the sacrifice Elisha and I made - we sure
missed her.

You'll notice that the lengthy weather summary is absent from this PfP.
I've decided to abandon attaching it from now on. The URL is listed in
its place if you care enough to chase it down yourself.

<RANT>
This is not to say that I've stopped *commenting* on the weather.
Anything but. Everyone in Portland has been griping this year about the
summer - or more to the point, the lack of one. Although the rainfall
has actually been slightly below normal the past two months, we've had
more than our share of gray skies and chilly (for this time of year)
weather. One local radio personality described the summer as "being
locked in a dark closet with someone shining a flashlight in your face
every now and then."
</RANT>

Work is going very well for me. My current project is due to go into
General Release in about a week. I've already developed a feature for
the next release which addresses the major complaint our clients have
had - and one which WRQ, the manufacturer of the product (Reflection)
was unable to resolve. I won't bore you with the technical details, but
in all fairness I should point out that WRQ bears no responsibility for
fixing the problem and should be applauded for simply entertaining the
enhancement request I submitted. Liz's workload, through neither fault
nor desire, has been light. We're hoping and have reason to believe that
will soon improve. Kain ein horeh, [7] we'll have more news on that in the
next PfP.

Our plans for this month include celebrating our 5th anniversary!

Until October, may your lives be as brilliant as the coming fall
foliage...

we love and miss you all,
Sandy, Liz and Elisha

[0] I'll take credit for the curly hair, with the balance flowing
from Liz!
[1] http://kidshealth.org/parent/infections/skin/roseola.html
[2] http://www.gymboree.com/
[3] http://www.rockandpaddle.com/Dictionary.htm
[4] http://www.herring.org/elisha.html#RECENT
[5] http://www.lilithfair.com/
[6] http://portland.citysearch.com/profile/8450477/portland_or/mccormick_schmick_s_harborside_at_the_marina.html
http://www.mccormickandschmicks.com/
[7] http://www.ariga.com/yiddish.shtml#kx
_________________________________________________________________

What happened to the weather summary?!

Get it yourself at http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/climate/index.php?wfo=pqr

--
Sandy, Liz & Elisha Tigard, Oregon School of Herring
webfeet@herring.org bigfish@aracnet.com http://herring.org/

And that's the news from Portland
where everything is green, rolling stones gather moss,
and the rainfall is always above average.