what we did on Paul's day off

I'd been wanting to go to the Oregon Forestry Center for awhile....I heard about it a long time ago, and thought it sounded neat, but then I got worried about it. I even asked someone, which side is it on? Is it all pro-logging, hurray for using lots of wood, or is it on the side of the forest? I was assured, then, that it was fine, it was on the side of environmentalism, and all that. The MAX train goes straight there, and so yesterday we walked down to the station and took it straight to the forestry center. When we got off the elevator that took us from way down deep in the earth where the subway let us off, we were right in front of the forestry center. Great! We ate our lunch first and then went to explore. Paul had been skeptical from the get-go about what point of view it was going to be from....and he was right. Using lots of wood is good! See, primitive cultures use wood for their wood carvings and maracas and such. They use wood, we use wood. If we cut down on our use of wood, it'll be bad for the economy! Other building materials are not made in a sustainalble manner. How, I don't know--it didn't say. Now, I'm all for using materials that are good and solid and will last and last. I'd much rather have a wood something than a plastic something. But the rate we're cutting trees at is having a big impact on the earth--erosion, animal habitats, emissions not being absorbed, etc.

These exhibits were the more meaningful ones. Then there was the raft set up in front of a movie of a river going in the background, and you could get in the raft and an automatic camera takes your picture and you can buy it in the gift shop. Great. And then there's the lift. I had thought when I read about it that it was something similar, if not such a grand scale, as the tram in Palm Desert that takes you from the desert floor to way up in the mountain in only 10 or 15 minutes. It's a whole other climate up there, and that's really interesting and educational to see two totally different environments in such a short period. But the lift at the forestry center is just a seat that lifts you from the floor to the top of the building. Dumb.

We didn't stay long, and were not happy that we'd spent our $24 there to get in. The rest of the day made up for the lousy beginning.

Went out for dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant: Queen of Sheba. It made the top 100 restaurants in the Oregonian this year, so we had to try it. We love Ethiopian food--any vegetarian just has to try it. We'd only been to Mudai in Portland, so it was nice to expand. Paul and I thought maybe it was a little better than Mudai, and it had a bit more variety on the vegetarian sampler plate (which is what we always get, no matter which Ethiopian restaurant it is). Hibi thought it was too spicy. And Zac seemed to enjoy it a lot.

And then....we went to an English Country Dance! Woohoo! We used to go to the Contra Dance in Fresno when we lived at St. Nicholas Ranch. This was similar, but more stately and proper--you don't do the stomping and swinging that you do in contra dancing. It was fun! They do English dancing on Friday nights here, and contra on Saturday nights. We're usually not available on Saturday nights....though I suppose, since it doesn't start until 7:30, that we could go after vespers. We all had lots of fun and the kids want to go back next week. Zac and Hibi were the only kids there, though....maybe we could recruit some more.

And now morphing into a related topic...we so enjoyed the contra dancing in Fresno, not just for the dancing itself but because it was a meeting place for progressive minds to meet in a very conservative place. Fresno is not known for it's radical thought. It gets difficult for folks who are more progressive to live in such an environment, and so the progressive community has really banded together there. I belonged to an amazing group of women that was really a godsend to me then--it was an ecumenical group who met once a month to discuss topics of spirituality from a feminine perspective. We had speakers from our own pool of women, no one from the outside came and spoke to us, and never a man. I don't have anything against men, God knows I love my man and the men and boys in my life! but I think we women too often get preached to by the male perspective and it's so helpful and empowering to just be a group of women and hear a uniquely female perpective. This group was really wonderful, and I miss it terribly.