The Daily Discoveries of Gustavo Valentine

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Saturday, May 22, 2010

Hearting Portland

It is time for me to tell you how deeply in love with Portland Oregon my family and I am. The rains of winter can be long and dark but the secret that we are not supposed to tell is that it didn't actually rain that much and the sun was out a whole lot of the time this winter. But none of that matters because once you get to the glorious spring your memory is wiped clean of anything wet and gray and all you can see is dazzling color everywhere you look. You step out of your house and are just instantly happy. You feel like you are the richest people in the country living in the most expensive part of town because the trees and bushes and flowers are so pretty. Pink and white blossoms cover the sidewalks like it just rained cotton candy. Tulips are EVERYWHERE, in every color from magic yellow to the darkest purple black. The wind blows and you smell jasmine and lilac and rosemary and it's like you're living in a perfume factory. And in between all this is green, green, and the lushest green. It's almost hard to take, like it's too much for one person's eyes. There is a new word I learned to help me understand all this, and the word is SUBLIME.














These are just the pictures and colors you can see from our house. Times this by a million and you will start to understand why we feel like we live in Paradise.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

more CAPE LOOKOUT!!!


It's hard to choose the most beautiful pictures to show you because they are all take you breath away beautiful.


I mean, come on!


120 year old lighthouse.


As far as your peeper's can peep.


Peepin aide.


Tranquility.


Hugging dad for taking me on the Cape Lookout hike along a cliff's edge trail looking down on the ocean.


Hugging mom for saying we can turn back when we saw a genuine bear track. Not joking, the sign says Warning: Bear Country!


And the ride home. Done for now. But we'll be back.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

CAPE LOOKOUT !!!


We went to the coast last weekend to a place called Cape Lookout where there was so so so much to lookout at.


This was our beach, a short walk from our yurt.


The Oregon coast can be chilly but when the sun comes out from behind the clouds you better get ready for more beauty than your little peepers can handle.


Lookout, I'm having a lot of fun!


This is our yurt, with its little deck and its little fire pit outside.


And this is my bunk, on top. Crazy! Excellent! Mom and Dad slept on the bottom bunk. I love it when we all sleep together like a family slumber party.


We brought a transistor radio and lucked onto the greatest radio show out of Astoria called Lost Highway which played all my parents' very favorite and obscure folk and county cuts. And I drew a picture of a rainbow and hung it all the wall to give our yurt even more of a homey touch. You're supposed to bring your own ambiance. We brought it!


And this is the Octopus Tree out at Cape Meares, a short drive up the Three Capes Scenic Route (very scenic!). It is a sitka spruce tree that's hundreds of years old and has 8 giant weird trunks. Whatever?!!


And this is the view from top of Cape Meares. You can see all the way across the whole Pacific Ocean.


We cannot wait to share these amazing sights with our friends and family so please plan your trips soon. Yer yurt awaits!

Sunday, May 09, 2010

Nothing Better Than A Mom

I usually put up pictures of my mom on this day and talk about how much I love her and need her and am thankful for her but today I am letting her use my blog to tell her mom those things. Her mom is my Nana and she says that Nana was the best mom in the whole world. I don't want to get into any arguments on Mother's Day but I am going to have to stick to my belief that no one is a better mom than mine. These are pictures of Nana when she was my mom's mom:




Saturday, May 08, 2010

Tuesday Night Potluck

And on some Tuesdays, we have the friends with kids over, for some take-out or potluck or something with less work in the kitchen and more visiting time in the living room. This time Tasja had a big essay due in school so she had to do her homework while we all were having a nice time visiting. I tried very hard but I could not keep myself from going into the office and talking to her and trying to get her attention because, as you see, I do really really love her attention!

Thursday, May 06, 2010

Sunday Evening Picnics


Up on Mt.Tabor for an impromptu picnic with Mom's girls and the kids.


Dawn and hers.


Me and Dad looking down on all of the city of Portland.


Britt and hers.


Moms can sit and talk and kids can run around. Sometimes kids can sit and talk too.