Slippery Slopes, Leaps of Faith, and a Milestone

Some things take a while to reach fruition -- and even then, they've only begun their journey to perfection. It's been two years, for instance, since Dave S. brought up the idea of a giant Slip 'N' Slide via Columbia Citizens, our neighborhood wiki. "A crazy idea, I know," he began.

But I wanted to put it out there -- to discuss, see if there was any interest, or more importantly, any feasibility.

I imagine the slip-n-slide to be so long that it borders on the ridiculous. Perhaps starting at the top of the Columbia Park zooming its way down past the Columbia Plaza, past the Library (basically following a similar course of the foot path).

Things that need to be addressed are:

Location: Already suggested, but any other ideas?
Supplies: Suggestions?
Water: Maybe get the church to throw a hose our way?
Interest: Based on how awesome this idea is, I don't think we will be lacking in this category.
Date and Time: TBD

What do you think?

What did we think? Was that some kind of trick question? Hell yeah, that's what we thought.

Based on how awesome this idea is, it's hard to believe it took us until last Sunday to give it a try. I guess the harmonic convergence of sun, water, hoses, plastic sheeting, and eager kids turned out to be harder to arrange than you might think. Three cheers for Scott (who completely and thoroughly rocks) for taking the bull by the horns!



(I'm convinced that Dave's original idea of getting the thing to stretch all the way down past the library -- some five or six hundred feet in all -- is worth attempting at some point. But fifty-six feet of slippery high-speed hurtling feels like a damn good start.)

Another idea that's been a long time coming is the TiffyMobile. Our friend Tiffany has dreamed up countless visions over the last couple of decades, many of them loosely based on the theme, "creating a magical place to gather friends, nurture community, make art and music, and hang out." But it wasn't until she saw an ad for a 1982 Portland City bus on Craigslist that she thought to add "on wheels" to the description -- and suddenly it all came together. Or at least, arrived. At the curb. Some assembly required.

It's nowhere near finished, of course, but already you can feel the magic swirling through it: from the freshly-painted periwinkle seats to the yarn basket next to the spare wheel to the old Hollow Earth Radio shows drifting out of the laptop. Somehow it all conspires to make everyone who steps aboard feels right at home -- even Joe the Hugeful Cat.

We can't wait to see where the open road will take Tiffy's magical mobile mission!

And then there's Lauren, an ever-evolving vision all her own.  I'm not sure how she pulled it off, but somehow she managed to go, in what seems in retrospect like the blink of an eye, from this:

to this:

There are no signs she's stopping there, either -- au contraire, ma soeur.

Happy Birthday, Lauren!I'm so grateful the last few years have brought us close enough that I've been able to enjoy your fabulous self on an almost-daily basis, to share challenges and triumphs along with platters of day-old eclairs and cut-throat rounds of Bananagrams -- and to borrow your fabulous outfits. I hope this next year brings you joy and success on your new path. And that you'll eventually forgive me for arranging (despite your concerted efforts to avoid it) to have everyone (and I mean everyone) at La Medusa sing "Happy Birthday" to you last night.