Wordstock: Happening This Weekend

Hey there all you book lovers! Wordstock is happening this weekend, so if you have some spare time you should swing by. I'll be volunteering on Sunday as a stage assistant, and I can't wait!

If you've never heard of Wordstock, let me just tell you it's the finest collection of events centered around books, writing, and authors this side of the Mississippi, as far as I know.

Happening at the Oregon Convention Center, for more information check out:

http://www.wordstockfestival.com

I'll write more about my experience later, so check back!

Read It, Love It

I finished reading Tony Vigorito's Just a Couple of Days about a week ago. It's taken me that long to really digest all of the things it made me contemplate. The overall theme is one that I think is especially timely: when you strip away society and the modes of definition, we are all the same.

Using a slightly frightening tale of bio-warfare gone terribly wrong, Vigorito demonstrates what life would become without the use of words. Instead of being a post-apocalyptic nightmare, it twists and delivers a smack to the human race that is desperately needed. Without words to communicate, humans evolve to a level of understanding and unity that we otherwise would not be able to achieve.

Is it plausible? Probably not, but it drives one to think that maybe something of this nature happening would drive us as a species to accept the fact that we are not so different from one another. The main thing separating us is lack of understanding. If you could clearly communicate your message to everyone else on the planet without having to worry about language or tone or misunderstanding, think of the things that could be accomplished.

The prose flows forth in a beautiful symphony of description and narrative, and there is a lot of irony contained in this story. Overall a great read with short scenes making it great for bedtime reading (you can quickly end a chapter as soon as you start to feel sleepy). A must read if you like fantastical what-ifs.

Volunteering, etc.

This fall the volunteering in my life really picked up. I signed up to do Wordstock where I will be helping out as a stage assistant, and I've done two work parties for the Nature Conservancy so far. I also signed up to be a SMART volunteer which means that I go to an elementary school once a week and read to two little kids. It's way more fun than I thought it would be.

I am typically not a person who likes to do hard labor (especially for free), but I have to say that for some reason I find tons of expendable energy when it comes to doing things for the environment. Earlier this month I went with a group from the Nature Conservancy to the Camassia preserve. If you haven't been there, I highly recommend it (in spring there's an amazing blanket of wildflowers throughout). It's a small plot of oak savannah that the conservancy bought way back when there were no houses in that area. Since then, the residential neighborhoods have grown around it, and houses can be seen from almost anywhere inside the preserve. The task I had to help complete was spreading compost over a small area where they are planting some hedges to keep out the trash that floats in from the neighboring apartment complex. I was sore for about three days.

The second work party I went to I took my good friend Josie, and we had a blast. We went to the Kingston preserve near Stayton. The caretakers have been working very hard to bring this area back to its original state by eliminating the invasive species and harvesting the seeds of the native ones. They do this in a number of ways including controlled burns, but on this particular day we were lopping the heads off of Queen Anne's Lace and collecting the fluffy seeds of some kind of aster.

Here are some photos from that day:

I liked the way this lichen contrasted with the drab of the fall prairie.

I don't know what this plant is, but I like the fluffy, curly seeds.

We were collecting the seeds of this plant.

Just another sign of the times...

Cannon Beach

It's been a while since I've posted. I've been busy with my classes and volunteering (more on that to come), and just enjoying this lovely October we've been having in the Portland area. A couple of weeks ago Colleen and I went to Cannon Beach, it was probably the last "nice" day we'll have in a while (the air temperatures were in the high 60s, low 70s and it was so sunny, not a cloud in the sky).

I will be thinking back on this day for the next several cold months to come, for while it may be sunny from time to time, the cold has begun to settle in.

If you haven't been to Cannon Beach, you should go at least once in your lifetime. While it is a tourist trap with huge crowds on the sunny weekends, it does have a quaint charm all its own. The downtown streets are lined with taffy and ice cream shops as well as a library (they sell some great finds cheap) and clothing stores. There's a great yarn shop if you're into knitting, and kite shops for the kid at heart.

For more info go to: http://www.cannonbeach.org/

Once you make it down to the beach, walk over to Haystack Rock. I would reccomend going at low tide.

Haystack Rock

Mussels and starfish in the tide pools.

Starfish and anemones in the tide pools. I'm not sure what the difference is between purple and orange starfish.

Mussels and large barnacles. They were making a fantastically weird sucking noise as they tried to keep all of their moisture in.

Friends!

Anemones look very strange when they are not in the water.

The sea, for once, was calm.

This little guy was doing his best to hide, but I saw more than one person who wanted to snap him up for supper.

It is a strange landscape.

I loved the reflection on the water from this lonely mini haystack rock.

Socks!

The last couple of weeks I have been madly knitting. I think it has something to do with the cold weather coming on. That, or I'm finally starting to get bored. Na, that couldn't be it. Although I have been feeling a little bit like Bubble-boy for the last few weeks. Time to go outside for my daily walk I think.

At any rate, I knitted these really warm, comfy socks. I used Debbie Bliss "cashmerino aran" yarn, a blend of cashmere, merino, and microfibre. They are so soft, it's like having a cloud encircling your feet. If you're lucky, I just might make you a pair. But you have to ask nice (and give me money for yarn)!

I used the two circular needles method, oo-la-la, now aren't you impressed?

Why yes, I am a foot model.

When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano

Alright, so I'll admit that this spectacle isn't nearly as impressive as when the swallows come back to Capistrano. But it is pretty cool. Every fall these migratory birds roost in the chimney of Chapman Elementary School. More info can be found at the Audubon Society website here: http://www.audubonportland.org/local-birding/swiftwatch/swifts.

Some friends invited me to come watch last night, and even though I've been here for 8 years I had yet to witness the event. So I figured it was high time. The birds were already circling and entering the chimney when I arrived, but I was able to snap a few photos and take a short video so that you can see what it looks like.

There were quite a few people there, and I imagine that if it were quieter, or if you were all alone watching, the sound that the birds' wings make would be like the quiet rush of the blood flowing through your veins. The image of those birds moving through the air reminds me of those videos they make you watch in high school of blood cells soaring effortlessly through the tunnels constructing our bodies.

It's hard to see them, but they look like tiny flecks of pepper.

(If you click on the picture you can see the gigantic version of it)

Here's some wobbly and giggly footage.

Another Thing You Should Read: 2nd Installment

Today I learned something disturbing. Let's just say that first you think you know somebody. Then you realize you have no freaking clue about anything. And on that note, I'm going to recommend that you read Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl.

Yeah, it was a best-seller. What of it? Anyway, it has a great mystery driving the whole plot forward, and it's definitely one that you won't want to put down. When you're reading it, you'll feel like you entered high school all over again. Only this time you're that freakishly smart kid that intimidated everyone with your crazy wacked-out knowledge. This same smart freak is accepted into the famous clique and hijinks ensue. Then someone dies. And things get really complicated really fast.

It just goes to show, you never really know someone.