The Year 2006, Highlights:

Jan. 1st: Erica simultaneously begins working for Grandma Enid Ritter (as live-in caregiver) and as Office Manager for "the city repair project." http://www.cityrepair.org. the city repair project is a Portland not-for-profit group specializing in helping communities create ecologically- and artistically-oriented projects to transform the places where they live. (alternate motto: We Build Things Out Of Mud.)

February 14: Erica has been dating a series of strange young men, none of whom she wishes to introduce to her parents or grandmother. She also practices Aikido twice weekly at Two Rivers Aikikai. http://www.2rivers.org/

March 15th: Erica joins the VisionPDX team for the city repair project, bringing her weekly time commitments up to about 45 hours per week. http://www.visionpdx.com/

April 22nd: Erica and Jenny Leis take VisionPDX to the Earth Day celebration, surveying hundreds of Portlanders about their visions for the city's future.

May 19th: the beginning of the city repair project's annual Village Building Convergence. http://vbc.cityrepair.org .
Erica meets Ernie Wisner, a tall and charming redhead who's bicycled in from Coquille, Oregon. Everybody makes
things out of mud for a week.

May 26th: Ernie gets hit by a car while making things out of mud, lower right leg is thoroughly smashed. Erica spends the next few weeks visiting him in the hospital.

May 30th: Erica gets a wart removed from her right foot, commencing The Week From Hell. (See journal entry from early June at http://www.journalscape.com/ecca.)

June 3rd (approx): Erica's dad, Russ, has a ladder-related accident and gets stabbed by a rhododendron bush. Uncle Paul, Russ's brother, is in Denver having another surgery on his back. Grandma's oncologist gives
her the summer off from chemo, as it doesn't seem to be preventing the regrowth of her asymptomatic "node" (tumor).

June 15th: Erica gets tonsillitis and asks the city repair project to reduce her hours on the VisionPDX project, to reduce strain. (Later, begins spending weekends away from Grandma's, for similar reasons. Eventually stops attending Aikido.)

August 21, 2006: Erica takes Ernie to cousin Anna Campbell's wedding. Ernie meets family, spends his first 3 minutes off of crutches in an impropetu dance. Erica and Ernie cook lasagna for Grandma, visit family on weekends.

September 2006: VisionPDX project closes, Erica does final paperwork and attends a closing celebration Oct. 15th. Mom Eleanor gets a kitten, called "Tillicum," or Tilly for short.

Sept. 30-Oct. 1: Erica and Ernie teach a "Rocket Stove" workshop at TryOn Life Community Farm in Portland, bring in some much-needed cash for Ernie's living expenses. (He is still occupying the living room of Guillermo and Jodie, who graciously extended his original 10-day stay from May thru … indefinitely... but have reasonably asked him to kick in for rent & food costs).

October 2006: Ernie begins occasionally walking around the house. Yay!
Erica takes a vacation from both City Repair and Grandma; takes Ernie up to Seattle / Snohomish for a weekend with godmother Mary Ann and the horses. On returning, Erica submits letter of resignation from the City Repair Office Manager job, while agreeing to do final report for VBC2006. Erica also makes Ernie buy socks for winter.

November 22, 2006: Grandma celebrates Thanksgiving with Russ and Paul. Erica and Ernie celebrate it with the Campbells at Katharine's house.
Ernie's hosts Jodie and Guillermo celebrate it by packing all their worldly belongings for a trip to North Carolina, where Jodie's family is gathering to help her Dad through a medical crisis.

November 25-29: A last-minute Thanksgiving Weekend trip to visit Ernie's long lost brother and father turns into a four-day ice-driving adventure. Luckily, Erica already quit work, so they can't get upset at her for being gone. And Grandma's appointments are easily rescheduled. Ron Wisner Sr. and Jr. both turn out to be pretty good all-weather drivers.

Meanwhile, Grandma's cat Jasmine is dying. Erica buries the cat in the backyard November 30th.

December 15th: Ernie's deadline to move out of Jodie & Guillermo's house, to release it to the new tenants. Also, coincidentally, the date of the next surgery to repair his stubbornly broken leg.

Where will he go? … and will Erica go with him? …
They begin making wreaths and other Christmas crafts to build up the rent fund... see http://www.journalscape.com/ecca for details.

December 22nd: Follow-up surgery; then
on the 25th: They'll probably spend the holidays with Erica's folks. Much warmth anticipated.

Love,

Erica

If you, too, are trying to find addresses in order to send Christmas cards or anonymous threats, you can reach Erica at any of these:

Grandma's House:
4647 NE Ainsworth Street,
Portland Oregon 97218

Mom's House:
18850-D SW Mayjohn Court,
Aloha Oregon 97007

eritter@gmail.com
503-758-1093
http://www.journalscape.com/ecca