Expo and Dinner

Friday, October 17, 2008
I didn’t sleep well and so stayed in bed when Neal left early for work. I got up at 8:00 having gotten about an hour of sleep.

I worked on the computer and getting ready for the day until about 11:00 when Neal came home to pick me up for the show.

The show opened at noon at the Portland Expo center. I really enjoyed myself and learned a lot about finishing projects. We bought a finish stripper to use on Andrew's cradle. Neal plans on using that tomorrow morning so that he can get it finished and shipped to Utah in a few days.

We had lunch at one of the booths. Both Neal and I enjoyed hot dogs and Charles Forcht had a hamburger. We had hoped that Don would be able to attend with us but he is just so busy he was unable to be there. Neal did a good job of interpreting for Charles while I kept my conversations to asking about equipment that I was unfamiliar with. Charles was very patient with me and slowed down enough for me to understand.


Charles is a wood worker and knows a lot. He told me about his tools and how they differed from the new ones at the show. Sometimes he would joke with me and explain, for instance, that a bar sander was really a treadmill. He was funny and I enjoyed our time with him.

Our last demo was the best and showed how to make cabinets. We all enjoyed ourselves.

It was 6:00 when the show ended and we were exhausted. We said good-bye to Charles and then decided about what to do for dinner. Italian food sounded the best but we have very few restaurants that won’t cost an arm and a leg for a meal.

For fifteen years we have passed by a small Italian restaurant over on Powell named De Nicola’s. It is near the Original Taco House where we have gone pretty often over the years.

Neal pulled into the already packed parking lot. Friday night at 7:00? Yeah, good choice, I thought. But there was one booth left.

We were in the restaurant for about 1 ½ hours because it was so busy. It was worth it! Oh my goodness, everything was absolutely delicious.

I snapped this picture of my plate after I had taken a couple of bites.

I brought more than ½ back home in a container. So I didn’t mind the $13.00 charge for it. Because we had been kept waiting for such a long time we ate two slices of bread each along with a small antipasto plate of salami, pepperoni, carrots, mozzerella cheese, and cherry tomatoes, we weren’t very hungry by the time the entrée arrived.


As we were leaving I snapped this photo and the man in the photo joked that he was part of the Witness Protection Program. We all laughed until we got to our cars.


When we arrived at home I checked my email and then went to bed. I fell asleep for about 15 minutes during a movie and then was wide awake until about midnight.

I was awake at 1:00 and didn’t fall asleep again until about 6:30 or 7:00 when Neal headed for the shop to work on Andrew’s cradle. I awoke at 8:30 feeling very well.

I have some things to do here at home and then will head for the office as soon as I am able. Hoping for a wonderful day.