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Kidlet wanted to go somewhere else for college and so she is; I'll be going with her to do things like drive, choose a rice cooker to buy, move things, and get really tired of being in a T*rget. It's not all drudgery for me; I can't afford to take much time off of work and I'm going to miss at least one class but I did manage to stick on a weekend in Portland, OR at the end of it. I'm going to be too late for the September Tigard Knitting Guild meeting and the TKGA Knit & Crochet Show but I could make it to the Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival. You might remember the last time I was in Oregon and went to the Flock & Fiber, where I spent 45 minutes crouched on the floor of the Blue Moon Fiber Arts booth, trying to choose yarn without getting hit by a shopper (I don't think any of them intended to hurt anyone but dang if you want to see some yarn enthusiasts get a little thin on the etiquette, open a fresh box of Socks That Rock), and my companions were entertained for approximately 20 minutes by the show alpacas (maybe more like 10. They tried to be polite about it). Because it's been almost 2 years since I've spent time with some of my nearest and dearest, I will probably skip the festival and stick to a short list including a trip to the Naked Sheep Knit Shop. The last time I was there, I took a dear one by the shop briefly so I could buy a gift certificate for someone else, and she took a liking to the shop and her latent crochet bug flared up (I'd taught her years before but for some of us, having a baby can really reorganize ones priorities). I will also definitely go to Powell's Books. The rest of it is maybe – the International Rose Test Garden, the Button Emporium & Ribbonry, the Moon & Sixpence Pub (best fish & chips I've ever had outside the UK and better than a lot of what I had there, Scotland included), Pearl Bakery, and even the Saturday Portland Farmer's Market will be a maybe (although if there are cherries and apples…we'll see).