books are great

Today I went to Goodwill and was excited to see what an awesome book selection they have.  I picked out a few to donate to the reading program I am involved with (SMART) and scored a couple for myself.    I stumbled upon a children's book published in 1968 called "Insects do the Strangest Things."  This book is in great condition and looks and feels as though it has never even been opened.  Although the illustrations are pretty basic, I enjoy the color schemes. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the book:

Here we see: what can happen when a termite-infested bat hits an easy pitch, a lovely flock of monarch butterflies, and what I think is the cutest little grasshopper.

Each insect is given a two-page spread under its fancy insect alias.  Can you figure out which insects each of these names represents? (some are more obvious than others)

•  The Beautiful Dragon
• Twiggy
• The Little Workers
• The Hungry Cloud
• Lady Luck
• The Home-Wrecker
• The Green Grabber
• The Spinaround
• The Runaround
• The Housebuilder
• The Bug Boats
• The Enemies
• The Marvelous Journey
• The Silk-Spinner
• The Honey Factory
• The Flying Flashlight

For the most part, they're all pretty creative nicknames. My favorite names of the bunch are: the home-wrecker(termite), the green grabber(praying mantis), the enemies(the mosquito and the housefly), the high jumper(the flea), and the flying flashlight(the firefly).

rain, rain, go away

Today it rained.  No surprise there though. A rainy spring day is normal and a rainy day in Oregon, spring or no spring, is even more normal.  Either way, I'd still prefer to see the sun.  Fortunately, there are plenty of rainy day activities to do in Portland.  Today a friend and I went to Powell's Books. I enjoyed people-watching at the Powell's cafe while sipping on a latte and snacking on a mediocre chocolate chip cookie(they either need a new recipe or a new baker).  During our thirty minutes of people watching through the window we witnessed:

• a man trying to park his over-sized vehicle into the easiest parking spot in the world who, upon hitting the parked car behind him, decided not to park there and drove off
• a herd of teenage girls on the MAX who were staring and pointing at us, I pretended to take a picture of them with my phone as the MAX continued on and one of the girls gave us the peace sign, which is fine with me, because two fingers are always better than one when it comes to a hand gesture
• another man who was able, without incident, to park in the easiest parking spot in the world... i gave him a thumbs up (rule about hand gestures does not apply here)

People watching is a favorite past-time of mine. Nowadays, a good game I like to play while people watching is "blue-tooth or crazy person?", especially in a city known for its vagrants.  Sorry Portland.  Of course, this game can be hard when played inside and people watching through a window, so I recommend to play this game while sitting on a park bench or at an outdoors cafe.  Also recommended is playing this with a friend, because playing it alone might make someone think you're a crazy person.