Sister Spirit

A pre-wedding celebration

This past Saturday, our dear friend, Marean, hosted us for a pre-wedding dinner at her house.  We really wish Marean could join us in CA this Saturday for our wedding, but she has a retreat that has been scheduled for months and understandably could not back out of that commitment.  No worries; she will be with us in our hearts (and physically as well, as Karen will be wearing a necklace Marean made for her).  Pat and Carol joined in the festivities, and Marean's friend, Margo, was there, too, visiting from the Bay Area.  A big heartfelt thank you to them all, especially Marean, Pat, and Carol, who make every day special for us here in Sisters.  This photo album will share some of the evening's memories. ~Chris

Celebrating us :)

Last night, Karen and I went to Jen's Garden, Sisters' internationally recognized, five-course, prix fixe restaurant.  We had never been before, for it is a bit out of our price range, and we don't often dine at such fancy restaurants, but it was a special occasion, with us, well, celebrating us and, you guessed it, our upcoming wedding.  It's true... we're rather romantic. What can we say.  Below is a photo of us at our house right before we left for dinner.

Anna Quindlen on Gay Marriage

One of my favorite columnists and writers, Anna Quindlen, had this to say about gay marriage in a Newsweek article published in June:

During his sophomore year in high school, one of our sons mentioned at the dinner table that a classmate had come out of the closet. I can't even remember which of the two boys it was, and that's not only because my memory is now so bad that I can reread mystery novels and not recall whodunit. It's because the announcement was such a big nothing among the kids that it was only slightly more noteworthy than "pass the mac and cheese." Unlike my own high-school friends, these kids took gay for granted.

One of the most transformative social movements over our lifetime has been the battle for gay rights, and the key to its great success has been the grass-roots phenomenon of exploding stereotypes by simply saying, "Yes, I am." Each time the woman at the next desk or the guy down the street lets it be known that he or she is gay, it takes another brick out of the wall of division. Or, as Ellen DeGeneres told John McCain on her show recently, "We are all the same people, all of us...."

To those who still oppose gay marriage, she adds:

Here's what I don't understand: is there so much love and commitment in the world that we can afford, as a society, to be contemptuous of some portion of it? If two women in white want to join hands in front of their families and friends and vow to love and honor one another until they die, the only reasonable response to that is happy tears, awed admiration and societal approval. And—this part is just personal opinion—one of those big honking KitchenAid mixers with the dough hook.

Before we know it that will be the response everywhere, not just in Denmark and the Netherlands and Canada and California: approval, appliances. The polls predict the future. The younger you are, the more likely you are to know someone who is gay. The more likely you are to know someone who is gay, the more likely you are to support gay marriage. The opposition is aging out.

Someday soon the fracas surrounding all this will seem like a historical artifact, like the notion that women were once prohibited from voting and a black individual from marrying a white one. Our children will attend the marriages of their friends, will chatter about whether they will last, will whisper to one another, "Love him, don't like him so much." The California Supreme Court called gay marriage a "basic civil right." In hindsight, it will merely be called ordinary life.

Words shared from our dear friend Susan, one week before our big day!

“Writers say that love is concerned only with young people, and the excitement and glamour of romance end at the altar. How blind they are. The best romance is inside marriage; the finest love stories come after the wedding, not before.”
-Irving Stone

Bring your dancing shoes!!

I'm putting the final touches on the reception CD for our wedding next Saturday.  I don't want to give them all away, but here's a few of the songs that will come on early in the shuffle (you'll notice a heavy Motown theme... guess that speaks to our ages):

• "We Are Family," Sister Sledge
• "Dancing in the Streets," Martha and the Vandellas
• "Love Train," the O'Jays
• "So Much in Love," The Tymes
• "I Love You, Always Forever," Donna Lewis
• "Walking on Sunshine," Katrina and the Waves
• "Lady Marmalade," Labelle

And you probably thought it was going to be all Melissa Etheridge and the Indigo Girls, didn't you? : )  ~Chris

Hike to falls and an emerald green pool

Today, Karen and I drove over the pass about 45 minutes to hike along the McKenzie River.  Our destination:  Sahalie and Koosah Falls, and the Tamolitch Pool, the collector of the river's and falls' waters.  We sat high above the pool, in awe of the emerald blue-green water.  When you check out the photos, you'll be amazed at the color and clearness of the water.  I didn't alter the photos; the colors you see are the colors we saw.  Simply spectacular! ~Chris

Checking in to shake out of blog dry spell

Been fairly quiet on the blog lately.  I think I've got the Oakland A's blues.  What has happened to this team?  How does a major league baseball go from 10 games over .500 to 10 games under in one month?  And how, frankly, does a MLB team go 3-21 over a 24-game period.  They're not only awful; they are boring.  I say bring Rickey back and add Bonds, too.  We'd score more runs and they would sure be more interesting and entertaining to watch.

Now, interesting to watch has been the final half inning of the last two Giants games!  Beating the bums the Dodgers in the bottom of the 9th the past two games has almost been enough to shake my A's blues away.  And it was good to see Barry make a return trip to Pac Bell Park (I'll call it what I want to) and get the ovation he did.

Meanwhile, our wedding is just under two weeks away, which also includes my return trip to CA for another semester and/or school year.  It's depressing to think too much about the latter, so we try to focus on the former.  Can't wait to see most of you readers there! ~Chris

Three year anniversary: Sisters home owners

Three years ago today, we got the keys to our current home in Sisters.  Needless to say, it marked the beginning of some major changes in our lives, most notably moving up to Sisters full-time.  I was going through some photos earlier today, looking at the house then compared to now.  Most of the changes are the result of Karen's gardening touch.  She has learned over the years what the deer won't eat (or at least she's discovered what home-made spray they don't like), and the house really looks terrific.  Here are a few then and now photos, starting with the front of the house:

Next up, a closer look at the front porch, three years ago and today:

Here's a look at the back of the house:

 

I'll end with a close up of the front garden, offering a close-up Karen's beautiful corner lot:

 

Movie updates

Been a while since I posted about movies we have seen (except, of course, the fabulous Mamma Mia!), so I thought I'd use this post to share some of the movies we've watched recently.

Last night, Karen watched the entire film and I about 3/4 of The Kite Runner, the movie based on the best-selling novel by Khalid Housseini.  Some of you might recall that the novel was one of UC Davis' book project selections when Karen still worked there, and we had an occasion to meet the author, especially Karen who got to spend a great deal of time with him.  The movie follows the book very closely, which is one of the reasons Karen enjoyed the movie and I had to leave the room on occasion.  It tells a story of friendship and redemption, but it has some unsettling scenes, in my opinion, but at least with the movie, I knew when to leave the room.

A couple of nights before, we watched the delightful Feast of Love, a drama/romance sort of along the lines of Love Actually or The Notebook.  Starring two of our favorites (Morgan Freeman and Jane Alexander), I'm guessing this is more of a chick-flick than one for the guys, so that might influence whether you check it out or not.

Minus Karen, I went to see The Dark Knight.  Heath Ledger certainly deserves all the praise he has received posthumously, for he plays a very creepy Joker.  I enjoyed the film more than I expected to.

Though we love Laura Linney, we had to stop watching Jindabyne before it ended, troubled as we were by the events surrounding the murder of a young woman.  Next was Vantage Point, a film I enjoyed more than Karen (too much violence for her).  It tells the story of an "attempted assassination of the American President ... told and re-told from several different perspectives."  Interesting, IMO.  Karen sat through that one with me, and I sat through The Darjeeling Limited with her.  Yawn.  Maybe she can add some thoughts to this post about that film.

Finally, we rented Season One of Exes & Ohs, a Logo series which follows the lives of several single lesbians looking for love.  It's The L Word meets Friends, I guess, though "not as good acting as in either of those two," notes Karen, who is the only one of us who has ever seen Friends!  ~Chris

Back from camping

We had a fun time camping at Sparks Lake this week.  We took a couple of hikes, including one to Lucky Lake where the lupine was in full bloom (the late snow melt has created various blooming seasons around Central Oregon).  You can check out a few photos of our trip here. ~Chris