When I told people I was moving to Dallas, people familiar with the area warned me about the heat. I shrugged it off. I lived for 15 years in Los Angeles, most of that time in the Valley area where temperatures in the summer often breach 100 degrees. Still, I must admit, summer here sucks. It's been over 100 degrees pretty much every day for over a month, heat that has been promised to continue well into August. It's not just the heat, either...it's the humidity. While it's not nearly as humid as I've experienced elsewhere, such as New Orleans or even Hawaii, the humidity in cojunction with the relentless heat is nearly unbearable.

Charles and I took some time off and went to Portland, Oregon for the 4th of July weekend, where the weather, though warm, was a nice, cool 85 degrees. It was like heaven compared to the summer here in Dallas. We had a nice visit with a lot of my old friends, and Charles got to meet pretty much everyone in my very small family. We ran ragged every day going from place to place and person to person. We did manage to fit in a visit to the Saturday Market (one of my favorite places in Portland), a quick trip to the Portland Chinese Garden, and a day trip out to visit my dad and his wife outside of Oregon City.

On the 4th of July, my friend, Jason's band played a backyard party and some of my friends from high school were there. It was great to see everyone and the band, Rubella Graves, put on a great show. I've known Jason since I was 12, and I'm very proud of his current project. Rubella Graves is a 7-piece band full of banjos and mandolins, and they play what I would call Alternative Folk. Sometimes folky, sometimes country, sometimes rockabilly-Americana and generally irreverent, the band has produced a great CD and puts on an entertaining show. If you're interested, you can hear their music and buy their CD at CD Baby.com.