All in a day

Sometimes the mundane and the meaningful come together in ways you don't see coming. Forgive the navel-gazing, but Saturday was, all in all, a pretty good day.

6 a.m. -- I love the serenity that comes with running at this hour. No traffic and the opportunity to notice new details even as you run past things for the hundredth time. Unfortunately, I ended the run with tightness in my right calf muscle. Not enough stretching, Lori says.

8:15 a.m. -- I catch the bus for a 15-minute to work. It's been eight or nine weeks since the last time we on the weekend crew actually had significant breaking news to cover. Portland's no Miami in that regard, but that's fine with me. I think people are just enjoying the summer with their bicycles, kayaks, kids and pets.

5 p.m. -- With another quiet day at work behind me, Lori and I walk 10 minutes to an Italian bistro to meet our kids for dinner. I picked Simone up at the airport Friday night.** Her partner Kyndall -- after a bad-to-worse experience with a friend's car in Vancouver, B.C. -- scrambled to take a bus, then a train to arrive in Portland at mid-day. Jordan and Jamie drove down from Olympia and Nathan joined us before going to work at the nightclub where he's a doorman.

As everyone rose to say their goodbyes at the end of the meal, Lori teared up just looking at the kids and their partners, and I knew exactly what she was feeling. It had been nine months since they (and we) had all been together -- since Jordan and Jamie's wedding in late November. All of them are so happy now, with where they are in life and whom they're with. As a parent, it makes you feel proud.

7 p.m. -- With just a short break to catch our breath, we headed out the door and around the corner to join in on the block party. We said hello to a fellow condo owner, Helen, and introduced ourselves to a few of our new neighbors on 11th Avenue. Quite a switch from where we used to live, where the last block party we attended was bustling with kids and younger parents. This gathering was definitely an older demographic, with several couples who'd made the decision to downsize after their kids had left home, but just as mellow a group as you'd find anywhere in the city. A couple of cops even stopped by to chat.

One of the residents arranged for a jazz trio to perform (quite a good vocalist in Natalie Keizur) and one of the neighbors we met -- an aspiring chef who just moved from Boise -- joined in spontaneously on the trumpet. Cool.

Another neighbor, a free spirit named Holly, sold us a half-dozen eggs. Score! Turns out she keeps two dozen chickens in her backyard. I'm sure we'll become regular customers.

** The busy weekend continues today with a rooftop party we're hosting for my colleagues in the Editorial Department, and Simone and Kyndall coming over to spend their last night in Portland before hitting the road early Monday for their cross-country trip to Pittsburgh.

Movie poster: Internet Movie Poster Awards