Any day that we drive into Portland, it's automatically a big day.

Today, we took in the fourth "Pirates" movie, on a big screen, in 3-D. We enjoyed the movie, but both of us found the 3-D effect distracting, and recommend that people save a couple of bucks, and watch it in 2-D.

After the movie, we got lunch at Panera. Good sandwiches, lousy baked goods generally. If you go for lunch, skip the sweet rolls for dessert. You can get better elsewhere.

We also did a little shopping: the satellite Powell's Bookstore, Fry's Electronics, a yarn store previously unknown to me called "For Yarn's Sake," and Trader Joe's for groceries. "For Yarn's Sake" was full of tempting goodies; I'm going to be sure to come back sometime when my pockets are feeling full.

I finished up the uncut part of the yarn I was using, the red rayon chenille. Rather than cast off at that point, I decided to go ahead and add in the little balls of yarn I couldn't get frogged, and had to cut free from the unsuccessful shawl. It'll only add a few inches, but the little balls of yarn themselves would have been lost and alone, if I hadn't used them.