Fall Fragments

Posted on by Crystal M. Trulove

There are dozens of little moments still that I haven’t mentioned, and I’d love to show you images that help reveal our lives these past few months.

I know I already wrote about the Vaux’s Swifts, but those photos were from 2023. I never posted my 2024 images. Pedro and I took the twins out to Rainier once again and it was as great as we remember it.
The moment when the swifts descend into the chimney.

Interestingly, about the time we discovered the Swifts were using a chimney in Rainier to roost during their migration, we heard that they were not using the Chapman School chimney in Portland so much anymore. But then maybe these two things are related to each other.

This trail scene seemed particularly artistic.

Pedro, and me, and Liam rarely turn down an opportunity to walk the trails around here. There is something to see and appreciate every time we head out. (Andre always prefers his computer, but we can sometimes get him outside too.)

A nutria we spotted. They are pretty common in the marshy areas that our trails follow.

I taught in Annapolis in September. This year we were asked to pack an extraordinary amount of teaching into a short amount of time, and we were all exhausted. One of the instructors and I worked together and I presented a request for a pay raise. This is the first time in my whole life that I asked for a raise. It went so well that the person I sent the request to said he thought we did not ask for enough, and in 2025, we would find a substantial increase in our pay stubs. That is awesome.

Portland as the plane lifted off. Mt Jefferson on the horizon, Columbia River in the foreground.
Mt. Hood beneath the wing, a wildfire in the foreground.
I’m always in awe of what I see from the air.

I went out to dinner with one of my Belles from the Belle Brigade and their wife, who are in Washington, D.C. for the year. I left the table at one point to use the restroom, and the next day found this on my phone:

Best gift ever.

The Portland International Airport has been under construction for a very long time and FINALLY they revealed the biggest changes. It’s not quite done, but oh, what a difference there is now.

The airport’s most stunning feature is not the live, mature trees inside, but rather the timbered roof made of 3.5 million board feet of Douglas Fir, all locally sourced including purchases from Oregon’s Coquille Tribe. There are skylights to let in tons of light, huge screens on the walls that show slow-moving videos that celebrate Oregon’s stellar scenery, and they change according to the time of day. In the photos above you can see the screens showing mountains on the shore in one image, and the red Painted Hills in another. One of the most fun parts of the new airport is that they brought back the famous vintage carpet, so we can once again get shots of our shoes on our favourite airport carpet. #pdxcarpet

Speaking of friends, I took my friend Heather out to see Black Violin for her birthday.
My friend Sandy was also at the concert. Sandy joined me teaching in Annapolis this year, which was so much fun. I think they really liked her style and will ask her to teach again in the future.
Kev Marcus
Wil B
I never get tired of Black Violin concerts. But do I detect some salt-and-pepper in Kev’s beard? If so, I refuse to take this as a sign that many years have passed while I’ve been following this band.

Our friend, Madhawa, who I attended Brandeis University with, was in Portland for a conference, and we had a chance to meet him and go out for cajun seafood.

Mads and his wife Udani have invited us to visit them at their new home in Massachusetts, so we hope to do that soon.
I missed all the cool celestial events this year, due mostly to Oregon’s cloudy skies. So we did not see Northern Lights or the comet. This photo, taken by my cousin Dave, in Tucson, was my favourite of them all.
Fellow Portland to Coast racewalkers and I volunteered to work at the Great Donut Race, a fundraiser for people trying to kick addictions. I bought the ladies fake donut accessories for the occasion. Felice bought us donut earrings.
Pedro got a new car in honor of his Camry being ten years old, and the twins being now old enough to drive. He gave the old Camry to them and bought this new RAV4 hybrid SUV.
A rabbit on our deck one morning. One of the last days of Racecar’s life, when my little heat-seeking missile loved to take naps in sunbeams. A squirrel-monster, begging for peanuts at our sliding glass door.
Pirates performing at the Tigard farmer’s market on one of the last days it was still running. They sang shanties and other pirate-appropriate tunes, and occasionally brought out an accordion.

That’s quite a collection of stories, yes? We’ve made a concerted effort to stay home more often, and when we do travel, to travel fewer miles. Our life is no less full, and the decreased demands on our time and our energy have been appreciated. We are partly trying to simplify, but partly getting ready for some big travel coming up. We will be in New Zealand the first three weeks of January, and then I’ll be heading to England in May with my friend Margaret. I’ll need to drop a couple more catch-up blogs on you, so that you’ll be up to date when I begin posting about our summertime vacation in the middle of winter.

14 thoughts on “Fall Fragments”

  2. My goodness Crystal, what a load of stories and fun. Love the secret selfie, it’s good to have fun friends. Love the coloured leaves on the path and the nutria in the water
    Pedro looks like he might enjoy a new car.

    Reply

    1. “secret selfie.” Love that expression, and yes, those two are so much fun. The kind of people who leave you no doubt that they want to hang out with you. It’s so great. The coloured leaves; aren’t they wonderful?

      Reply

    1. And I love your life!! You have a relationship with some of the wild lands around you and I am envious of that, but so glad for your relationship and the fact that you share it with us. ❤ Thanks for being excited about the trip with me!

      Reply

  5. Well, well. You’ve been busy.

    You teach at Annapolis? Isn’t that the Naval Academy? (My memory is getting so bad with names, but I remember you served in the Navy)

    Reply

    1. Great memory, Brian. Yes, the Naval Academy is in Annapolis. It is a beautiful base and because I was former military, I’ve had great access when I have time to tour the base. My work is with a veterans advocate group called Veterans of Foreign Wars, or more commonly, VFW. I teach their employees how to help veterans access VA services. It’s my history with Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) that makes me valuable to VFW. I teach in a conference room in a hotel, which is much less interesting!

      So many acronyms! That’s one thing I find funny about the government: all the acronyms.

      Reply

      1. Compliments. Helping others to find their way through bureaucratic nightmares is very commendable…
        Well that’s the alphabet soup for you… Keep up the good work.

    1. Thank you, Jolandi. Me too, actually. It’s fun to read back through and remember it all. My therapist has given me a photography assignment for my trip in New Zealand: I must take at least one photograph of something that represents my gratitude in the moment, each day. I am so excited to do this and I think the practice will be a great way to train my brain. But looking back through this post, I see that I love to capture a single image of a great moment anyway. 🙂

      Reply

      1. I love your assignment. It will be so much fun, and I am looking forward to you writing about it. You must be getting really excited for your trip.

Leave a comment

Unknown's avatar

Published by Crystal M. Trulove

storyteller, thinker, worker, lover, student, mother, dreamer, achiever