Portland International Muslim Festival

Sue has come home and brought one of her nephews to town for a week's visit. We went to the Muslim Festival and saw these two volunteers having a good laugh on their break. It seemed to us there was a pretty good turnout, hard to tell how many people showed up because people were coming and leaving all the time, but there were many people shaking hands and smiling, and we saw no signs of hate. The Jewish Voices for Peace were on hand with some striking posters proclaiming solidarity with Muslims. The Portland Police had a community relations booth. There were hijabs and women's jewelry for sale, soft drinks, a booth offering Sharia-compliant loan services, and some excellent musicians playing flutes, auds, and drums. Sue tried to get a photo of me with my new look, but the light was glaring and we weren't happy with the results. We'll try again another day.