So long, so long.

[PHOTOS BY SAMUEL, TAKEN DURING THIS TRIP]

A tale of this morning's breakfast.

I haven't been using this space lately because I've been so busy out there, using that space. Out there in the garden, out there at the beach, out there on my bike, on my feet.

I'll be back, in time.

On another note—but still that of summer—I made the peanut butter and honey variant of this tonight, and it was delicious.

I give you another in a series of messes, this time taken at dusk. Sam's bringing home my favorite green curry and we'll spend the evening tidying, preparing for Ashlee's visit tomorrow—we're going to a couple ball games and then I'm traveling back to Louisville with her for the weekend.

If you'd like to follow along, I've started—like, yesterday—instagramming @jessicakleoppel, much to my friends' approval. I'm plunging back into the world of social media, hoping to find a happy medium of connection and inspiration instead of feeling overwhelmed and shutting it all down. (The constant desire for or dependence on new content is a scary feeling for me and one I'd like to avoid.)

How do you find the balance? Suggestions and insight are very welcome.

Samuel in the summertime.

Summer's taking it easy on me tonight, sitting on the rug with the breeze from the rotating fan catching me every 15 seconds or so. I just put on an old Kurt Vile record that reminds me so much of when we first moved into this apartment a year ago. It reminds me of sitting beneath this rug, on the floor, before I ever found the jute thing on Craigslist, before there was any of our furniture at all.

It's hard for me to listen to music that once meant so much—I guess, because it still means so much. It's of a certain time, and, although I'm a big fan of change, I can't wrap my head around time passing. Instead of the years building up and accumulating and becoming this life, I feel like mine is a book of short stories, cohesive only in the way that they're created by the same author.

As Kurt sings, and I so easily relate: "I don't know if it's real, but it's how I feel."

I'm tucked away someplace quiet for the week, where I have to venture out for internet and phone access in the morning. Now I'm sitting in a little cafe, getting some work done and listening to the locals talk about triathlons, traveling, Santa Claus—conversation flowing seamlessly between faces who see each other every day, and probably have for a decade. Have you ever been "a local"? I'm not sure I have since leaving my hometown, but it seems like it'd be such a nice feeling, such an easy feeling.

Above—a place I do frequent, though there's no one to know me by name—my favorite lunch break reading spot.

Sarah, Sam's sister, emailed me about a vegan cooking blog she's been fancying lately, and I spent that same evening preparing two recipes. The beauty of this pair is that it was quick and refrigerated overnight, which meant waking up to a prepared meal, which felt . . . great.

I've been cooking more simply this past week—meals that take 15 minutes to prepare instead of an hour. This morning I had overnight oats and iced chocolate chai (using this local tea), and tonight: sprouted toast with goat cheese, black pepper, sliced cucumber, a fried egg, and Sriracha.

Here are a few from Victor and Rajiv's garden, where I pull a few weeds sometimes, but have a beer on the back deck always. V packs me up with vegetables, herbs, and flowers, and this time he took my photo too.

They have the most wonderful family, neighbors, and friends—hi, guys!—and a gorgeous apartment you can see here and here.

[PHOTOS FROM A DISPOSABLE CAMERA]

Molly featured me in her Style Muse series today. You can see another photo and read the Q&A here.

Thanks, Molly!

1/ Muffin and coffee at Random Order Coffeehouse & Bakery.
2/ Coffee date with Anne and our cameras at Coava.
3/ Beer with Ally at Rogue Distillery & Public House.
4/ Schoolhouse Electric & Supply Co. (and their logo!) is an incredible and inspiring space to see.
5/ Green curry at a Thai food cart as it was . . .
6/ Pouring rain in downtown Portland.

This will probably be the last Portland set I'll share. The trip gave me a lot of perspective and got me excited about things I've been meaning to do, especially concerning my apartment—but I'll talk to you about that later.

Thanks, Ally and Jake, for everything.

You have to visit the Oregon coast, where the ocean swells, the heart swells, and you find starfish the size of your head.

One of two long hikes we took in Forest Park. Afterward, as the sun began to set, we shared a croque-monsieur, beet salad, and sparkling lemonade outside at St. Honoré Boulangerie. I asked Ally if she wanted coffee and dessert and we both laughed—of course we were getting coffee and dessert.

Multnomah Falls, Oregon

(The last one? I think that's what they call a vista.)

Ally borrowed these words to describe our afternoon at Lan Su Chinese Garden and I thought they were terribly apt:

Most cherished in this mundane world is a place without traffic; 

truly in the midst of a city there can be mountain and forest. 

-Wen Zhengming, poet from the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644)

Living in the Midwest, I dream of mountains and oceans and forests. But I've embraced the landscape, my home, and started working on creating my own mountains and oceans and forests.

My Bensimons traveling around Oregon, soles nearly worn through.