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Predicament: Dave and Annette's Housewarming 2012 9/16/2012 3:15:26 PM
I was looking for Dave’s place for I was invited by Bob, that Dave has a house warming party. The place is somewhere in Oregon City and I thought I knew where they were located. There house might be by the ledge off downtown where the Willamette River runs through it. I worked there in the beginning of my career when I first moved to Oregon. The downtown was on the flatlands by the river while houses and other businesses were on top, by the ledge. That was why I thought that Dave’s house was among those perch on it. There was also a waterfall which was not so high, traversing the river but that was a mile away from downtown. I knew that it existed but I never saw them until such time as just recently when I drove along the highway that snakes along the river.
And so I thought. I stopped right 2 miles before the downtown, on the other side of town from the falls. I made an exit from the freeway and headed by the highway that has no houses from the main city to the next available place of habitation. That is about 3 ˝ miles! I thought I missed the road to which I should have turned so I returned back 3 ˝ miles. After some exploring, I discovered that I was right the first time around. There were some lefts and rights I had to take until I reached a loop up the hill, from which houses line the street as if promenading like gorgeous ladies bedeck with wildly flowing gowns and sparkling jewelry. They were indeed well maintained, with their front yard that can accommodate a house or two and who knows how much backyard they have.
Dave is Russian Orthodox, a religion I vaguely knew. When he got married to Annette, they had an elaborate wedding, quite different from the Catholic tradition. Their marriage seemed spontaneous. Their priest (I don’t know what to call him), talked to them and the congregation like it was an ordinary conversation which was unlike the Catholics wherein the priest was more formal during the ceremony. The church, I was told, encourages their congregation to stand up, that was why there were a few seats relative to the congregation. And mind you, Dave and Annette’s wedding was overcrowding the church. They had their candles and the ring exchanges. But there was also a crystal glass wrapped in cloth in which the glass was broken. After the ceremony, there was a reception held on the next building. I saw Dave like a serious professor while Annette was smiling broadly and very friendly. I thought that Annette was the happiest bride on earth that day.
After a few back and forth on the street, I found the house and as I was about to ring them from the front door, I saw Dave standing right by the door. I was welcomed in and he pointed where the food and alcohol was and where the “gang” was. He walked me to the kitchen where I saw unfamiliar faces. I was looking for Bob and the rest where I have always seen them at Greater Trumps. But when I went to the back porch, I saw them sitting and smoking their pipes. Bob for one apologized for not bringing in his cigar. When he was leaving his home, he forgot it and took instead his pipe and tobacco. Bob pointed out what was in the ravine facing us. He mentioned that there was a garden “down there” but he had not yet ventured into it.
Later, a small group of us ventured down the hill. It was a big lot but half the acreage is downhill, not too steep but nonetheless, steep. We first pass a picnic area then swung right to face a covered above-ground pool. I saw an outhouse which they say Dave uses as his office; and the garden. Then we stepped on a wooden stage from which we can survey the woods and the steeper parts of the property. Instead going deeper, down we headed back to the porch and there told stories of this and that. And as we exchange experiences, I wondered at the beautiful trees that grow out of Dave’s backyard.
Those trees are abundant, overgrown and lusciously green. Dave and Annette just moved into the property and had not yet have that chance to clear whatever was overgrown. Dave had surmised that when the rain comes to Portland, he would be in the same spot I was, smoking his pipe underneath the shade while wondering how beautiful the rain is. He would sip his liqueur as he would imagine that he and Annette probably will exchange their vows, again. There were many possibilities of picnicking and trekking down that hill. The pool, cleaned and unwrapped of its covering, will be where they and their friends will wallow. And their garden will still be a study in organized disarray.
How wonderful this home will be, full of promises for the future! I hope that this home will be a place a place where people will always be welcomed, a place where gracious living will predominate.
