Reason #543 that I love Portland
[I wrote this draft almost exactly 10 years ago. It amuses me so I decided to finally share it.]
In front of my new workplace, there is a food cart. It’s called the Cultured Caveman and caters to people following the latest foodie trend called the paleo diet. The paleo diet is a meat heavy way to eat, but this being Portland, the cart has veggie fare, too, and I visit it for a snack a couple times a week. Yesterday, the guy at the cart and I were talking about how great the weather has been and how it’s even supposed to last through the weekend.
The Caveman guy said, “Yeah, I’m super-glad. A bunch of us are tanning hides this weekend and it’s a lot nicer to do it in good weather.” Being my brother’s sister, I asked some moderately intelligent questions about his plans and learned they’d procured some roadkill deer and a nutria (a nutria looks like an enormous rat but is web-footed and hangs out in the river). His group would tan the hides this weekend with the intention of eventually using them to make outfits. “I have a small nonprofit in Portland that teaches people wilderness skills and we thought we should look the part more.”
For some reason, it makes me smile to live in a city where some people are engaged in making themselves deerskin clothing.
...Like the Hurricane 
Hi Katrina, good morning! YES, a handful of stories emanating from this photo. And inside your draft. Like, your brother. Interesting guy I bet. And “roadkill”, really ? Or something nefarious.
And who are these Cavemen? Particularly. And, their embodiment of ancient ways of survival. The frilly pelts on the line, the ruffles suggesting the ancient role of the participation of women ? Got me going with the thousand words they say a photo encompasses. 🙂 🙂