I had a nice week in California and got to enjoy some beautiful sunny weather. Spring is a little farther along in the Bay Area, and the petals were falling from the trees. It was nice sitting on the grass waiting for the Caltrain shuttle after work each day.

And yay, spring was still in Portland when I got home! There are plenty of daffodils to look at, and tulips are just coming up. Excellent. The only problem is that I brought a cold home with me from California (it's such a pain flying when you're congested--I still can't hear out of my right ear), but I'm feeling better.

In fact, I'm feeling well enough to start Couch to 5k training with Patrick tomorrow morning. As I mentioned earlier, we're training for the Starlight Run at the end of May. I have no idea if I'll like running or not, but it's worth a try, and I could definitely use some exercise! Working from home has drastically cut down my daily level of physical activity.

This past weekend we went to a chicken coop building class and SE coop tour at People's. The guy who taught the class was really knowledgeable and entertaining, and he has developed a chicken coop that maximizes space while minimizing footprint and necessary building skills. He'll be selling plans for it soon (I can get you his contact information if you're interested). All four stops on the chicken coop tour were walkable from our house, so Patrick and I walked around our neighborhood and checked the out. One was just down the street from us, which was cool and unexpected. My favorite was a chicken coop that looked like a miniature version of an Airstream trailer, built by a local architect. I wish we'd had our camera with us! It got me excited for the Tour de Coops in July.

I know I always talk about fun things we did after the fact, so I wanted to try to mention activities in advance more often, so Portland people can participate if they want to. This Thursday I think we're going to go to Laura Gibson's record release/potluck (though I hadn't realized there would be tickets involved; I thought bringing a plate of brownies would be sufficient). I read in Willamette Week that Laura will be bringing a pie, which is what sold me on going :)

And then this weekend is the Handmade Nation screening and associated events at the Museum of Contemporary Craft. I'll be going to the Saturday noon screening and probably staying for the craft discussion afterwards. With Crafty Wonderland on Sunday, this is shaping up to be a full and enjoyable weekend!

Oh, and I think we might go to the Anti-CRC rally on Sunday (to show our preference for something other than a 12-lane bridge between Portland and Vancouver, WA), which doesn't promise to be fun, exactly, but I think it's worth participating in. I've never been to a rally before, so this will be an interesting experience if we end up going. It looks like it'll be pretty tame, as far as rallies go, which is fine with me!