Relatives, cocktails, Ani and a housing crisis

There is much to report about this past week.... My lovely cousins from Cairo came to visit me: Jonah and Jessica and their ridiculously photogenic daughter Makaylah (17 months). I had seen them in January and February, when I spent about 6 weeks in Cairo visiting them and going to another cousin's wedding in Israel. It would be great to get to see them twice a year every year, but I don't think a trip to Egypt and Israel is in my annual budget. Anyway, they flew into Seattle on Monday night August 7th, which gave me almost enough time to recover from the Pickathon. I drove to Seattle, picked them up at the airport, and we all visited our grandmother, Happie, for two nights (Happie's late husband, Charles, was Jonah's grandfather). Also saw Jessica's friend, Scott. (And at this point I should say that Jessica and I have an agreement that I am Jess and she is Jessica, cuts down on confusion most of the time, at least for Jonah.) The second picture above is everyone sitting outside Victrola Coffee in Seattle. From left it's Makaylah, Jessica, Jonah, Scott and Happie.

Last Wednesday we all drove down to Portland, had a lovely playground date at Wilshire Park with Willa (my very favorite 3, almost 4-yr-old) and her parents and a few other 3-yr-old friends. Jessica and Brandon, Willa's dad, turned out to have tons in common, both being middle school drama and English teachers. Later on, I took Jonah to Laughing Planet to try the burritos, since he is a burrito aficionado and wasn't sure any burrito could be as good as those at Bueno y Sano in Amherst, MA (thoughts, anyone??). Turns out he *loved* the burritos at Laughing Planet and insisted on eating them twice a day for the remainder of his stay. I was pleased, but after a few days I refused to eat any more burritos myself.

We all had a very nice visit, walked around the neighborhood, went to Pix, saw Raina play at the farmer's market (left)... It was really just good to have them around. Sleeping on the couch and being woken up by a small child early every morning was absolutely worth it! Things got crazier, though. Little did I realize that having Jonah, Jessica and Makaylah meant all kinds of people for everyone would descend up my house. On Friday, Abbie Moos (a cousin of Jonah's dad) came up from Corvallis with her two kids, Jamie and Lily, and Lily's fiance, Pete. We, of course, ate burritos with them for lunch. It was great to see them and I resolved to hang out with Abbie in Corvallis (or actually Philomath) more often.


Here's where it gets bad: around 5:30pm on Friday, I arrived home to an eviction notice posted to my front door!! My landlord is selling and we have to be out by, get this, September 11th (I don't know if this counts as eviction, but it sounds more dramatic)!! I love my house and my apartment and my neighborhood, and this is no time for me to be dealing with this, I was was supposed to leave for Colorado on Monday... Needless to say, I was not happy at all...

That night, we had sushi with Raina and Briel. And then went to the airport to pick up Angie, a friend from Vancouver (via Cairo), who flew down to see us as well as Alex, Jonah's best friend from New Jersey, who flew in later that night (are you still following?). Then on Saturday, more relatives showed up, this time Judi Scharnberg (my mom's cousin) and her partner, Marcus, from Arcata, CA (see first post below). We all went out for brunch at Equinox. Yummy. After that, Jonah, Angie, Alex and I went down The Bite of Oregon, a waterfront music festival. My friends Tracy Grammer, Mark Erelli, and Stephanie Schneiderman were performing (unfortunately, at the same time).

We rushed home around 6pm to clean the house and have a cocktail party. Very much fun and good music was had. Makaylah stayed up until midnight and was so enthralled with all the people and the music that she didn't even have a tantrum, just tired herself out and crashed.

Jonah and Jessica and Makaylah left early Monday morning and I decided to get a flight to Colorado instead of driving, since I now have to deal with my housing situation. I'm not going to get into all that here, I've thought about it enough for now and this is long, but email me if you're interested.

On Tuesday night (after a burrito with my upstairs neighbor, Abby... It had been two days!), Phil took me to the sold out Ani DiFranco show at the Aladdin (he said he wanted to do his duty and bring a lesbian... thanks Phil!!). I hadn't seen her in years (5 or 6?) and I really had a great time. She played a lot of older songs from Little Plastic Castle, which made me happy. Something I think I don't like her anymore, but I was reminded of how much I used to love her (every thought her fans are awfully screamy). :) Also met some of her crew, who Phil knows. I might see them again on Sunday at the Rocky Mtn Folks Fest....

Anyway, I am now in Boulder at my step-brother, Bindu's, house. A lovely new house he has with his girlfriend, Jeanne, on Dogwood Lane in North Boulder. Tonight I will go to Lyons for the Folks Fest. I look forward to visits with my friends Beth Amsel and Darryl Purpose in Nederland next week.