Second thursday.

Second thursday.
Originally uploaded by dieselboi.

On N Mississippi.

Last night was fun. we walked down n. mississippi for the second thursday event with phoebe. she was a hit. and, there were plenty of other little dogs out there showing portlanders that they are here to stay. one thing though - for being a music walk, it was pretty quiet. last month, there was music eminating from every storefront and streetcorner, whereas this week, it was eerily quiet. it didn't help that belle epoqe salon had a huge RV from some vendor parked right in front. suggestion - next time, park on a side street or do that some other time (i.e. saturday or something.)
in my humble opinion, mississippi commons is the place to be. all the stores were open and bustling and laughing planet even got our order right this time. there were vendors and kids and everything (except music.) all in all, a great walk.

so, i'm back from vacation. you probably saw my posts about the hike and the head injury and the hotdogs. vermont is cool - small, but cool. our stay on the islands was great except for the shitty cozy cottage that we slept in. think "the beach house" and then age it by 40 years with no cleaning or updating or repair. yes, that was the cozy cottage. oh well, we made the best of it with plenty of beer, wine and liquor.
montreal was the shiznay. wow, what a beautiful city. we managed to get a perfectly located hotel, right in the latin quarter of the city. think shopping/eating street about 20 blocks long. also, while there, we came upon the Montreal Jazz Fest, the largest in the world - and it was free. mind you, i don't care for jazz, but seeing the crowds and hearing the music in the background was pretty cool. and 90% of it was free. we did catch a few instances of live music while there and enjoyed it.
highlight- saturday, when it was raining, we decided to say - fuck it, we're getting out - and we went for a walk (24000 steps I think). while walking, we came upon what at first we thought was a parade. it turned out to be a Hari Krishna celebration. There were two significant rolling carts with different people on them and most of the crowd was singing and assisting in pulling the carts up the street. everyone was smiling and happy and it gave me this warm fuzzy feeling - being in Montreal experiencing this randomly. gotta love it.
the trip back to the US was fine. the border guard let us pass with little or no hassle. back in vt., we headed for Montpellier, the smallest capital in the states. what a quaint little town. we weren't there long, but it appeared to be a narrow city in a valley. there we hung with michael and bev, my newest friends. michael has been known by a. for awhile, but this was my first real meeting (we won't count the first michael.)
they took us out and then we ended up sitting in the living room chatting about stuff - i think we could have chatted all night it was that comfortable and enjoyable. and it was the reminisient type of chat that eventually gets boring for the parties not in the know of others' pasts.
flight home was long, but not excruiating. it was great to see the dogs and snuggle with them and sleep in my bed.
so, off to sfo this weekend - more on that later. btw - bjm is coming to puddletown on sept 8 @ dante's and the tickets are only $5. also, check out SMOOSH.



Sent from my phone, probably whilst I am out walking.