Serving Portland....

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If Sarah Hoyt doesn't mind standing in the path of a car to get a good shot then I don't mind not telling her it's there. :)

Something amazing happened today .

We biked to North Portland for a kid gig. As I helped Olive make balloons I noticed something that struck terror in this clown. Two ponies! My job was giving bike rides, how the hell am I gonna compete with that?

The kids were bright and a lot of fun but they were not in the habit of mincing words. My balloons kept popping! Two kids and a mom asked me in my face "Is You a professional?"LOL! I was worried they would make me start doing yard work after I saw those damn horses.

Turns out the Tall bike TROUNCED the ponies for popularity (my opinion) In the time it took one kid to get a sedated pony ride up and down the street I would have taken one or two at a time, while in character, being funny and fun and my bike has a sound system. When we got there I had my bike shooting showers of sparks!
It's a safe bet that I made some friends today but this trip starts across-ed town.

But first we gotta get there. It's really far from SE Hawthorne all the way to N. Dekkum. We got our bikes going and hit the road an hour before. This is Olives first trip carrying a big trailer. We both keep a close watch on each others rear ends to make sure the load is carrying well and the ropes hold...plus we are huge fans of each other's rear ends.

Sometimes I simply call her "Fantastic"..she earned it.We are both so happy to be riding long distances again after a long winter. All through the cold season we only made short trips so we were all stiff and achy.

She really is what a lot of people dress up as.

We were lost for a while so eventually we called and found we were WAAAAY off course.

There it is!!! Olive went first to soften them up, I showed up with the sound system blasting Balkan Beats while the fireworks went off. I like making an entrance.

Step right up madam! I brought a helmet but I couldn't bring myself to use it. For one thing all the kids had headfuls of braids, beads, pogs, trinkets so the helmet wouldn't fit...also it's my daughter's helmet. I was in the neighborhood I raised my baby in..and I took her everywhere on this bike with that helmet. I'm doing my thing so I suck it up, I got a long ride home to cry about it. for now it's three kids birthday party and I'm ready to ride!!!!

Ok lets see you get in the back cuz yer bigger, hold her tight ok? ...I didn't grow up using helmets. You will find zero concussions on my record of thousands of rides given. The birthday girl did really well sporting her safety tierra and her friend used a braid bag..

Here is a new take on the pinata...candy cannon!!!!all the kids load the cannon so Dingo can shoot you with it!...sounded great on paper...i should stop listening to paper.

Back at it, I didn't want to stop. I gave many many kids rides many times over.

A kid was on the pony as I rode by and he was looking at me and my passenger saying "Maaan that's a cool bike..I wanna be NEXT!". I was as cordial and professional to the pony lady. I wanted her card and Olive wanted a pony ride.

Candy Cannon!The rules are simple, The kids must gauge the mass of what they just put in the cannon vs. the pounds per square inch of air pressure vs, the angle of the barrel and the trajectory plus factor in that I'm screaming like a banshee! The candy flies out and the kids attack!I never put candy in my pockets or the kids tear them off! well not this inspired batch of youngsters.

I made a friend...I had no idea I was sporting so much chest hair!

Monday's excursion.

"Binga-binga-binga-binga EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE" thats what our biggest fan was sayin. She is the cool cat of the clan, She is often the first rock star to arrive at Storytime..

We got a lot of people but that won't stop Rootbeer from doing the balloon dance to call in customers.

After a lively storytime we went over to Pepino's for burritos.We tipped them well and made the whole crew Mexican themed animals. The manager got a scorpion! I love how much friendliness and respect they have given me over the years but I also wanted to soften them up. Y'see I would love to work there. Not just because it's fun, I'm good of it, trackable income etc. As a good clown I really need to know fluent Spanish.

I made this donkey for the flat top cook.

Then Olive amazed everyone with this sweet Flamingo!!!
The cook who received it was stoked! She agreed with it quite a bit stating "It's MY color!!!!". Looks like we accidentally matched her preferred color scheme. I hope she smiles about it all day.
I bet if they mailed this back to Mexico the postage would only be the weight of the box! This one will last about 2 weeks I don't know how long it would take to get there.

Another WED. Storytime at Sound Grounds cafe comes to a happy close. This is the first Storytime gig we ever set up so we are very close to the folks who come every week.

It's very rare in my life to have a job I'm looking forward to.
I'm so happy about this one i literally sing.
I have a lot of paternal skills, instincts and motivation so i need this as much as they do.
I can never help but think..."Y'know who would LOVE this?" MY KIDS!

I try not to get any faces in the photos out of respect for the parents. I was never worried about that with my kids because i watched like a hawk and I'm very fierce. Today Harper's Mom Amanda Flower's took the photos. All the parents seemed to have the same attitude as I have.

Look at the intense look on this woman's face. !

Olive and i talk about individual kids and parents lives and progress all week. We miss the ones who have out grown us and we delight when they come back for a visit as bigger kids.I see lots of one year olds that we may get to spend years investing in. I hear that a lot of the regulars talk about us all week too.

One of our favorites books is read by Olive with me outside. It's simple but a big hit. We save that one for when it gets too much like the Muppet theater. If we need everyone's attention we gotta think outside the box.
"Can you do it?"!

My biggest fan loves the T rex i made him. Go get em dude! Thanks for showing up little man, I hear we will be seeing you tomorrow at the Thursday Storytime at Cafe Au Play on SE Division.

The first year I hosted Open Mic I quickly collected about 50 memories of adults having first stage fright experiences. With this job I'm collecting memories of kids learning that balloons pop and freaking out. Just like with Open mic they soon get over the fear threshold and have fun like we do.

Another threshold i get to witness is Dads dropping guard and doing the "I'm a little tea cup" routine for the Daughters. GOOD ONE DAD!

Rockin the cold weather!

recent paintings

Striking Vikings and Chicken Salad.