Meeting with the Accountant (04-16-11)

A dreaded annual moment: meeting with our (quite likeable) accountant. To me, there is nothing more boredom-evoking than a calculator, but Craig C. apparently thrives on making sense out of the stacks of paperwork I present to him.

Not my idea of fun...

A Visit to the Hospital (04-15-11)

Our daughter Moso had to go to the Emergency room because she felt some discomfort in her eye. I drew these sketches while I waited for her.

Distress

The sketch above was done surreptitiously, because I didn't want to get in an argument with the parties involved, but I liked the pose of the big (tough-looking) girl sobbing in the arms of her (tough-looking) girlfriend.

Hospital waiting room

It turned out that Moso had a tiny metal shards in her eye! The doctor tried to remove them unsuccessfully, but at least we found out there was a problem indeed. (Good thing we went to the Emergency room after all...).

Historic Inventory Presentation (04-15-11)

The Oak lodge History Detectives organized a community event to present the variety of architectural styles of the houses in the area. Driveing through the McLoughlin Blvd./Hwy. 99 wasteland, one would never guess that there are some unique properties in this area (mine included). I recognized some of the photos I took, and that was pretty cool.

Presentation by Jane Morrison

A trip to the Immigration Services (04-13-11)

I went downtown to the "US Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services" (how things change, and how they remain the same; it used to the Immigration and Naturalization Services); while waiting for my turn, I drew this sketch of other people waiting.

Disappointing Evening at Little Bird (04-12-11)

The Portland French Alliance had organized a dinner at Little Bird for native French speakers and, to my great disappointment, it turned out that this event was attended by the usual Americans who:
1.) think that their high school French from a bazillion years ago has somehow made them fluent in the language
2.) spent a year in France at the turn of the previous century
3.) love anything and everything French and proclaim it enthusiastically
4.) are super-boring.
No offense, but once in a while, I'd like to have a conversation in French without having to patiently wait for my interlocutor's thoughts to surface in their consciousness and painstakingly materialize into coherent French conversational words, without biting myself to not correct the other person when they invariably butcher the French grammar, without cringing internally at every sentence because it's so painful to control myself... Gosh, think whatever you want. Since I live in the U.S., I just want to have a meeting with other French native speakers once in a while, and that's that.

View from the mezzanine

Anyway, let's talk about the food. Another reason I was looking forward to this dinner is that I had read lavish reviews about this restaurant, and especially about the hamburger they served. So, after carefully studying the menu, that's what I ordered. Bummer. My hamburger, although juicy to the point of dripping onto the plate was overall dry in the mouth and left me with the feeling of having swallowed a cannon ball.

Conclusion: a disappointing evening.

Drink at St Jack's (04-11-11)

I drew this sketch of Mary G. at St Jack's where we went after a Visual Journaling get-together.