A: journal 7/25

Dear Journal,


This has been an odd weekend and that's putting it lightly.
On Thursday afternoon, my Mom and I drove to Portland. My Mom had me
drive most of the way. She's developed an irrational fear of free-ways,
at least in the city. Seeing as she's always seemed so capable and
street savvy, this came as something of a surprise to me. I kind of
enjoyed driving on the freeway. We visited the Saturday market, which
was what it was. It was a craft fair with all kinds of people hawking
this and that. I bought a tye-dye shirt, which I really like. We ran
into a monk who sold us a copy of the bhagagavita for $10. It's a very
nicely printed copy with illustrations. The feel of the city was very
remarkable. I've been there very many times before but not recently. It
was a culture that I fit into much better. The life force seemed to be
everywhere. After this, we went to the art museum. There were many
pieces here. Monet's "Waterlilies" was just hanging on the wall without
a case or anything. Even more intriguing was a Bhudda head from China
2000 years ago and a statue of some strange lion-like beast from
medieval Germany.