Country road

I don't claim that Portland is paradise the way many local gushers do, but I concede that it's not a bad place to live. One of its strengths is location: you don't have to drive far in almost any direction to have a sense of being in the country and sometimes actually being there.

Our country drive today began in our favorite dog park in West Lynn, one of the many bedroom communities for the city (they probably don't like to hear that). We like the park because it's not fenced. Dogs run in a section of the park reserved for them. Today the park was a zoo with some kind of kids' soccer tournament going on but after finding a parking place, we discovered the dog park was less crowded than usual. Sketch had a good long run, and we were off again.

Next stop a water garden place in what might be Wilsonville, on a country road. I bought some water plants for the Kaypro 2x garden. I should've bought more, it turns out, but maybe they'll grow. They usually do but I also usually get the water garden up and running before the 4th of July. This year I was busily making videos instead.

And I guess I'll keep making them. Our "company," which is what we're beginning to feel like, has too much energy to dismiss. H. and I continue brainstorming her mockumentary idea and have come up with some really good bits. She's seen every Christopher Guest movie a zillion times; this is her favorite genre, so she is full of details that I would have missed. This has the potential to be our best project.

Just as "Heirs", the silent comedy, has the potential to be our best project to date. I still have two more shooting days: Aug 3 and 10, but the editing should go quickly after that. I have everything else edited, including some really fun cast credits. I think the biggest challenge left is taping the last sequence, a tango between the only two characters still alive ... H. assures me she can choreograph this so the gestures we need in the scene will be there. I've been listening to tango music generated by BIAB and getting some good possibilities. What is REALLY good, is that since in BIAB I change the the tempo without changing the pitch, I can easily match the rhythm of the music to the rhythm of the dancing.

A busy day. A good day.