"Hot Fun, Summer in the City...

...Crabfam getting out and getting gritty."

So the song goes, though there was nothing gritty about our recent city foray to Portland Oregon, land of Nothing Gritty and Everything Really Damn Nice.

What a delight of a weekend. Portland is so cute I could just squish it up on a roll and eat it! It's so compact! It has such sweet little Craftsman bungalows! It's really a sort of backdoor SanFran, what with its excellent produce and craft markets sporting lesbian-made purple-glass windchimes.

How scrumptious its oysters and parks! How divine its Asian jardins! How incredibly pleasant its abundant homeless people! Seriously, I have never met such nice and sophisticated homeless people. They are shockingly pleasant. In fact a lot of PDXers seem almost threateningly pleasant: strangers are just so helpful there it's almost sinister. And I am not just referring to homeless ones who probably are definitely actually wanting something from you when they chime in about breakfast spots in their threateningly chipper way...I am talking just generally about genial people on the splendid PDX public transportation, everyone desperate to help you discover a town whose inhabitants could not be more content.

As for Crabtot, what could be better than a place where they have this city fountain that kids actually swim in. Jamison Square. It's honestly the best bloody thing I have ever seen. A tasteful stone slab arrangement with water gushing out into a pool where all the kids leap about while parents watch from the lawns, eating their organic pizza from Hot Lips. Excellent! Now that's a fountain you can get into! As opposed, say, to the Trevi fountain in Rome where on a boiling day you—along with a giant clot of Nikon-toting tourists— have to stare at the cool blue delights of water falling on white marble, but you can't climb in. But Portland is far more civilized. It is a city where a Crabtot can feel free to frolic naked upon civic water features.

It was also smashing to see smashing friends such as Scott and Jege. We had, overall, a jolly good time. And as you know that always makes me panic regarding blogging. If I am happy and things go well, I have nothing to write about. And that makes me nervous.

So I shall leave the Crab-outing there and instead give you the heads-up on some significant Crabmommy happenings to watch out for. Tomorrow, stop by and read about my next giveaway, involving my local Dollar store. Note too: there will be some magnificent schwag happening sometime later this month, here on this very blog. People, the schwag-hander-outers are swarming near me, publicists flinging freebies my way. Stick around.

Also please go to Cookie to see my latest invention if you haven't already: The MartyrMeter is a must-have for any new family and makes for a perfect baby shower present. Yay!