Shabbat picnic

The Jewish Federation of Portland did a lovely thing tonight. They arranged a picnic Shabbat at Laurelhurst Park, the same place we had Rachel's birthday celebration (as you can tell, it's a very popular spot). We made reservations, and the federation arranged for the Klezmonauts (a klezmer group; I LOVE klezmer music!) to play, a local comedienne to do standup (she was only medium funny) and every family got a loaf of challah and Ben & Jerry's ice cream cups for dessert.

A rabbi from a local synagogue, not ours, gave a blessing and we proceeded to eat as lightly as possible in the 100+ heat. Everyone brought their own food, and Drew and I had salads and gazpacho. We ran into friends of ours who live three blocks away and had just returned from a Nieman fellowship at Harvard. They invited us to join them and we moved our picnic blanket next to theirs. We had a great time catching up (they both remarked how big Rachel has gotten and how much she looks like me these days) and Ruthie, their almost-6-year-old girl, took Rachel running and rolling down the grassy hill, and then they danced in the grass to the music. Drew and I quizzed Anna and Judy about the private school where they've enrolled their kids.

Afterward we drove home and I raced off to a nightclub where a former colleague of mine from the Oregonian, Nikole, had arranged to meet folks. She lives in Brooklyn now and was in town for a visit. We had fun catching up; then I stopped at Fred Meyer to pick up ingredients for a chocolate chip cake (our chavurah is meeting tomorrow night and I offered to bring dessert), came home, put the cake in the oven, and am waiting for it to finish baking before I toddle off to bed. It has been a long, long week. I'm tired and desperately need a day off, but there is no relief on the horizon until after Labor Day.

Tomorrow Rachel and I are meeting my friend Amy and her friend Jake for Multnomah Days, a parade and fair in Multnomah Village in southwest Portland. (Drew is staying home to continue the massive de-cluttering of the basement and to get some workout time). We'll head to the chavurah at 5, then may rent a movie tomorrow night. Sunday I'll do some work at home while Drew and Rachel head to the zoo. Then it's back to work on Monday.

I need a vacation.

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Rachel said this the other day as she and I were driving home: "Daddy and I can be 'Blueberry Eyes.' And you can be 'Nut Eyes!'"