portland in white

"it's a marshmellow world in the winter..." you know that's my favorite song. and here in portland, it kind of is a marshmellow world; a brutally cold and mean winter wonderland. yet despite how horribly chilly it is, the snow does seem magical. i woke up this morning ready to walk to the store to buy some ingredients to make muffins. my coworker kevin was having a brunch today at his place in john's landing and so i was going to bring muffins with me. yet leaving the apartment i realize that the snow the weatherman has been predicting for days has finally arrive. i rush in and tell josh and booth. and unlike the snow i've seen when i was young, these flakes were coming down fast and furious. a frigid wind is blowing from the east sending snow everywhere. i decided to go out and find coffee and muffin mix, so i bundled up and headed out. i had to keep my eyes on the ground or the wind would blow the snow into them. my hands froze even through the gloves. and when i arrived at crema, the line for coffee was long. but there is a certain satisfaction to be found in the crunching of snow under your shoes, and the wind agitates the wind chimes all around the neighborhood so the streets are bright wind and filled with soft music.




when i finally got home, there was no time to make muffins if i was going to catch the bus down to john's landing, so i just walked out the door and over to the lloyd center to catch the train downtown. the snow wasn't bad downtown, the city being too close to the river to really get too cold, but that wind was brutal as i waited at the bus stop. after thirty minutes, when the bus should have arrived ten minutes before, i called trimet to figure out when my bus would finally arrive. "35 bus to macadam: next bus in... six-ty-seven minutes..." no, i decided there was no way i waiting an hour to take a bus anywhere and perhaps get stranded there when the bus stopped running because of the weather. so i ran across the street to stumptown, bought some coffee and headed home.




booth and i then decided to grab some brunch, so we headed around the corner to pambiche, the cuban restuarant, a delicious idea. i had almond french toast with fruit and cuban coffee while booth and i watched the cars and pedestrians walk through the 28th and glisan intersection. we watched a stranger help a van stuck in the slush and a mother pulling her children behind her on a sled. now we're at home trying to stay warm and dry and i'm trying to figure out how i'm going to get to work tomorrow. that 35 bus best not be an hour late tomorrow morning. i would kill myself. especially since booth just reported to me that weather.com says the temperature is 26 degrees but feels like 12. gross.