The weather is hot and dry here. Hotter than people who live here like. It should hit 90 today.

Monday after work we (P&K, associates and spouses from Perkins Coie) got a personal tour from the curator of the Portland Museum of Art. It is a lovely gallery and while the curator was a bit puffed up for every one's taste, I overlooked his foibles, and found some meaning in the splattering of paint and welded iron scrap.

I really liked this painter from the sketchy part of LA: http://www.kehindewiley.com/main.html

The urban African American male in poses lifted from Renaissance masters' portraits...an interesting juxtaposition. The curator said he was an amazing artist "very articulate and smart." Sorry, but his praise ran a little too close to the "Clean and articulate" description of B. Obama that cause so much embarrassment a few months back...it cause some internal snickering and eye contact searching for friends in the crowd who heard the man fall down the same pitfall.

Later we went to a partner's house for a dinner party. He lives in a very nice area with a swell view of Mount Hood. He has an affinity for art (which is how we got the tour of the museum), glass especially. He has one of those Sub-Zero, Viking range, high-end kitchens. He also enjoys motorcycles, of which he has 22 (although he only had two in his garage at the time...really expensive BMWs, next to the tricked out AMG Mercedes).

Last week he hit a guardrail on the highway with his motorcycle going 70. He seems to be doing fine, though. Most importantly he is very nice and very fond of Polly.

Tuesday we had a BBQ dinner at a summer associates house near Reed College. It was in honor of a vegetarian of his group of friends and so we had vegetable kabobs (which were really good) and Bocca Burgers (tofu- but still really good).

Polly and I slept late, Natasha went on a bike ride and was back before we even noticed she was missing. We had breakfast. I emailed an old friend from college and sent him a picture of Polly and me.

I also washed my messenger bag. It was in need of one anyway, but it seems I left a fresh fruit cup in it since Thursday afternoon. I was meaning to take it home to Polly since she likes melons and I don't. But by the time I found it, the fruit (and associated bacteria) had already started making its own CO2. The pressure forced all the juice out of the container and collected on the bag...it was sickening.

KP&N all took a driving tour through the western hills. We eventually found a little trail (the hills are full of them and walked for a couple hours. Finding ourselves on a remote field with a water and communications tower, we stopped in the shade and ate chips, raisins and nuts.

I am supposed to go to a Patagonia party tonight (another BBQ and then an uphill bike ride to a good place for fireworks watching), but I think we might skip it. WE ARE BEING KILLED WITH KINDNESS!

Polly is napping but has plans to make gazpacho. I want to go to the gym because I missed going Friday.

I missed going during lunch on Friday because I have been put on an additional assignment at work, which will mean an extension to my tour at PGE and a raise. However, the hours will be longer and the responsibilities greater. The job is to create press releases, fact-kits and displays for the dedication of a new generating facility. I was asked if I had ever made a display board before. I said I did really well at science fair...and that was not all because of great science.

All for now,

I'll check back in later.