Henry at 6 weeks!

Henry is all smiles on Sunday morning.

Orange is his favorite color...

Ready for a trip to Sauvie Island.

Henry's red-headed friend.


Handsome, just like Dad.

Henry loves taking his bath in the kitchen sink--but not for much longer.
They're trying to dress me without my permission!!

Henry at 3 weeks

So here are some more pictures of dear Henry. You can see his red hair... where did it come from? He is now over 11 lbs and is in the 95th percentile for height. Maybe he'll be tall like his parents :)

Not that having a new baby in the house is tiring, it just seemed like a good idea to take a nap!

This is the chalk board outside Alma Birth Center where they record the names of all the new babies born there. The day we were there, two other babies were born, which is unusual for them.

Bath time is not that rough for him. He seems to be ok with being clean.

Henry Calhoon Hart is here!!

15 minutes old after a very long multi-day labor. Everyone is healthy and happy. He was born on Friday, August 14th at 8:41 PM. 8lbs 10oz and a full head of red hair... From one of his grandparents or his red bearded dad :)


Henry and Marilynn enjoying an afternoon meal together.

His model pose...

Marilynn's Mother and and Henry get to meet for the first time. He was quite content in her arms.

Both Grandparents were in on the action.

Lavender Festival

Some pictures from our trip to the lavender festival in Helvetia, OR. I think this is the 4th year we have gone and it always is so cool to see a giant field of lavender. Once you get closer though, you can hear a strange buzzing sound that emanates from the bushes. Every bush seems to be humming.

They are filled with bees! Tons an tons of bees are in every bush. Popping from one flower to the next with utter indifference to our presence. It is unnerving at first but then you realize that they truly don't care that you're there.

Between the chickens scratching around for snacks and the smell of lavender saturating the air, the two of us had a memorable time as usual, though next year there will be three ;)

Pictures from the garden

The garden is going full force right now and we have been enjoying peas, zucchini, lettuce and broccoli over the last month or so. Tomatoes and green beans are next. Even a couple of onions too!

Marilynn is sick of Zucchini already and the plants haven't even hit their stride yet. If anyone has any good Zucchini recipes, let me know!! I have done a lot of different things with it but I sure there is a lot more that can be done.

The first garden picture is from 1 month and a day ago and the other picture is from today.

We also canned some pickles from the Farmer's market today. They made four jars of dill pickles!! Yumm. We'll see how they turn out as this is our first attempt :)

Frittata lovin'

Gayle has asked for this recipe so I will share it gladly. I make this on a Sunday so that M and I have something to take for lunches during the week. Everything in it is from the Farmer's Market except for the eggs.

I have just been using seasonal ingredients for the filling and right now leeks and potatoes are abundant and go well together.

Dice the potatoes and brown them like you would make hash browns or skillet potatoes. After they are browned, add three diced leeks and two diced cloves of garlic. Cook until the leeks and potatoes are soft. Salt and pepper to taste.

Put the cooked mixture into a bowl and add 10 eggs. Mix well and then add a 1/2 cup cheese. Heat an oiled cast iron pan until smoking and then add egg/potato/leek/cheese mixture. Turn down the heat and cook for 10 minutes or so on the stove until the egg mixture starts to set up slightly. Meanwhile, turn the broiler in the oven on high.

After the egg mixture has set up some, cover the top with cheese and put on a lower rack under the broiler and cook until cheese is browned and frittata has set up firm.

Turn out onto a plate when done and enjoy!

MMMMM! So good!

Meat, eggs, and rhubarb

Another Saturday and another trip to the Farmer's Market. It is so cool to see peoples selections expanding as the weather warms and the days lengthen.

These are amazing meats from a butcher called Chop. He makes these various pates which look and taste incredible.

A beautiful carton of farm fresh eggs. They had blue eggs, green, brown and white. The variety of colors blew me away.

The rhubarb is growing again and there is plenty to be had at nearly every booth at the market.

Crusty breads from the Pearl Bakery. Each one is a yeasty soft pillow of goodness, wrapped into a crusty exterior. A perfect companion for a goat cheese spread and wilted greens.

It's a boy!

Well, we got our first ultrasound today and neither of us were prepared for what we saw. WOW... there really is a baby there and it's moving around all over the place. You know there is a baby but when you actually see him, it's amazing. He was so active and.... well, active. We are going to have our hands full.

They pointed out the anatomy that showed it was a boy but as you can see from the pictures, it is a little difficult to tell what is what :)

Portland Farmer's Market

What a cold start to a nice day. It was 38 degrees this morning as we browsed the first offerings of Spring from our local farms. Marilynn was wearing a scarf and I was woefully under dressed in just a fleece! We are so ready for warmer weather.

Making up the spreads were radishes and leeks, potatoes, mushrooms, chard, tomatoes!!, parsnips, carrots, lettuce, vegetable starts and lots more. We strolled through the market sipping coffee, munching on a fig and anise panini from the Pearl Bakery and this is what we saw...

Hedgehog mushrooms

Wild greens

Hydroponic tomatoes... wierd to see at this time of year.

The J.O.B.

Well, things are progressing at work. We have reached the fourth floor of the tower and are connecting it into the seven floors for the "sidecar" as we go. They have formed up the "sidecar" which is a lower separate area, that is tied into the tower. It was poured first and now the

tower is taking shape and being joined to it.

It is amazing to see a building rise by a floor every week or so!! Each floor in the tower takes about 300 yards or more of concrete and thousands of pounds of rebar. When the slab is poured, three days later, they tension hundreds of special cables that were poured into the concrete to create a much stronger building without as many columns as a normal building. In the picture below, the steel at the top of the "sidecar" is going to house our mechanical room for that half of the building.

We have completed the bulk of our work thorough the third floor of the sidecar and still have four more floors left to go there and 30 more to go in the tower! Here below, is a picture of a typical floor being prepped for concrete.

Soon (1/2 a year or so), I will be able to get some sweet pictures off the higher floors and give you an idea of what a killer view a 28th or 30th floor on the waterfront has.