Summer in Portland, please don't end

Had a lovely day today, even though much of it was consumed with getting the last stories written and edited for the magazine. Drew took Rachel to swim lessons and the farmer's market while I worked; when they got home I biked to my pedicurist, raced home and mixed up the batter for popovers and put them in the oven. (Popovers! Popovers! How can I not have made them until now??) Then I put the special spread I make for steaks over the buffalo and beef, and we grilled.

Later on we went to an artisan place called Salt and Straw in North Portland that I've been dying to try, but the line is always too long. Tonight we decided to brave the crowd, and a nice group of women let us go ahead of them because Rachel, typically, was being adorable. Drew got a chocolate malt; Rachel got chocolate with gooey brownies, and I got blueberry with key lime marmalade. Unbelievable mix of flavors, which the place specializes in (I don't yet have the stomach for pear bleu cheese ice cream).

On the way home Rachel asked us to sing AGAIN "Roll on Columbia." Not quite the same as singing it along the Columbia River, where we were recently (more on that later) but she is obsessed with the song and was asking all sorts of questions about the lyrics, which are quite involved. So I ended up explaining that Tom Jefferson, our third president, sent a bunch of white people, led by Lewis & Clark, to explore the West. And they did some good things, like bring back samples of plants, and flowers, and things to eat, and they were able to tell him what was there, but they also did some bad things, like steal the land of the Native Americans who lived there (I didn't have the heart to tell her that our house sits on stolen land). Not quite sure that I didn't botch the explanation, but I did my best.