Judy – Page 119 – Dear Liza

More Portland Police History

Dear Liza,

Police Chief Hunt and his Officers in 1903

The city of Portland started in 1851, but didn’t have a Police Department until 1870. I guess before then, it was a pretty wide-open Western town, and folks were sort of on their own as far as dealing with crime.

The first Police Chief was James Lappeus, and he designed the uniforms based on English Policemen’s uniforms. The hats resemble English “Bobby” helmets. Their uniform, a key to the Police call box, and a whistle were the officer’s entire weaponry. It was a tough job.

In this photo of the Police force in 1903, Police Chief Charles Hunt stands with his department of 56 men. At the time, the population of Portland was 90,000, so there was about one police officer for every 1,500 people.

I know I missed a lot of Information, because I was focused on the year my story takes place, 1903. There were photographs of Trick motorcycle riding In the 1950s and even a Glockenspiel Quartet. I’m sure I will go back and learn some more!

To misquote John Steinbeck, “There’s always something to do in Portland”.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Portland Police History Museum

Dear Liza,

Pretty, old-fashioned streetlights near downtown

Well, the one story I was working on has split into two, and I am doing some more research, so Grandpa Nelson and I walked downtown yesterday. We headed down Yamhill to the Morrison Bridge though the neighborhoods, enjoying the bright blue sky and the occasional “I’m gonna get you!” cloud.

After we crossed the bridge, we stopped for lunch at the “food district” under Pioneer Plaza, and had some yummy sandwiches, fries, a milk shake, and even a yummy cookie from Bridge City Cafe. We were pooped, having walked nearly three miles, and wanted to get our strength up for….

The Portland Police History Museum! It’s in the Police Station on 2nd Street, just off the glittery marble lobby. When you see this fellow, you know you are there.

I was there to learn about police procedures that would have been in place in 1903, and to answer some questions.

How did you call for help or report a crime? You would need to find a policeman walking his beat, that’s how. The Police Call boxes, these wonderful cast iron inventions were installed every few blocks, but they were locked! Only police officers had keys.

Couldn’t you call on the phone? Nope. Even though many businesses and even homes had telephones as early as the 1890s, the Portland Police station didn’t have a switchboard until 1905.
How did Police Officers get their prisoners to jail? There were no Police Cars yet and the Police Department didn’t send officers out with wagons. So, once an arrest was made, the Policeman walked his prisoner to the nearest station.

The answers to these questions should help me tell an interesting, historically accurate story.

The Museum had other interesting exhibits, as well. I’ll tell you about them tomorrow!

P.S. Yes, I know the numbers are wrong. I can’t get them to line up properly.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Pink…. It’s Complicated

Dear Liza,

When I was growing up, I never liked the color pink. As the only girl in a male-oriented household, pink was “for girls”, which was always said in a way that implied it was weak, sissified, and not up-to-snuff. I saw it as a mark of different-ness and steered clear of it.

This disappointed my mother, I am sure. Your Great grandma Billie had waited all of her thirty-six years for a girl, putting up with Great Grandpa’s brothers hanging around and raising two boys of her own. Then she got me.

From the get-go, I favored dungarees and shirts to dresses. I climbed trees and got skinned knees. I had more boy friends than girls because I didn’t much care for Barbies or make up.

I tried to wear my hair long and wear dresses in High School, as a way of looking less freakish than I felt. Even as a young Mom, I wore skirts and even those wooden kindergarten-teacher necklaces, as a way of saying, “See? Nothing weird here!”

I was 40 when I finally stopped waiting to “grow out of” my boyish phase and embraced it. I cut my hair super short, bought my clothes at the men’s department at Sears, and started to make myself in my own image. I felt stronger and more confident, and less like I was failing at playing dress up.

Now that I am older and retired and I can wear what I want every day, it is still shirts and jeans, except when the weather gets really hot.

Last summer I bought a few long dresses because they are just looser and more comfortable. They make me look so elegant that I want to stop people and say, “This isn’t me, really, I’m just wearing it,” to make sure people don’t get the wrong impression.

I still steer clear of pink. Old prejudices die hard.

And Portland, my new hometown, is up to its Spring eyeballs in pink. Cherry blossoms, hyacinths, and Bergenias pop up all over town. Portland looks better in pink than I do, and I enjoy it every day.

Love,

Grandma Judy

The Sun Before the Storm

Dear Liza,

Spring is coming to Portland! The hyacinths are standing proud, cherry blossoms are drifting down like snow, and we are getting sun!

Last week only played at being sunny. Teasing us, being bright and sunny and luring us outside, but still really cold. But yesterday, POOF! It was sunny AND warm. It was so pretty, Grandpa Nelson and I went for a walk.

Well, technically, I was going to make dinner. But Grandpa Nelson mentioned “Salt and Straw” Ice Cream, and dinner got put back in the fridge to wait for a while.

Division Street used to feel like a long walk, but it’s only a mile south through lovely older neighborhoods of Victorians and Craftsman style homes. The oak trees are tall and fat, the steps properly mossy, the garden a bit shaggy. Politics is blooming. It was wonderful.

Once we got to “Salt and Straw”, there was a line inside and happy people sitting in the sun licking ice cream cones outside. It felt like summer, with people in shorts and sunglasses, chatting and taking selfies in the sun.

We stepped into the St. Honore Boulangerie next door to pick up a nice pain au chocolat for Auntie Bridgett, who was home with a cold, and headed back through the neighborhood.

And we saw these inky clouds over the bright pink trees, and knew that our sunshine would be short lived, that this coming week was going to be wet and cold.

Spring is tricky that way.

Love,

Grandma Judy

New Sewing Project

Dear Liza,

The original Pencil Roll, now a little smudged

This week, Auntie Bridgett asked me to make her a new pen holder. I made the first one about seven years ago, from a pattern I found in an old Quilting magazine. I have lost the magazine and even altered the pattern, but I am eternally grateful to whoever invented this little marvel.

Auntie Bridgett’s drawing and my directions

It started out as a “crayon caddy”, a way for little kids to carry their most basic art supplies. I made some for nieces and grandkids, and sold some at Auntie Bridgett’s Cartoonery and at street fairs in Salinas.

It is simple, sturdy, and pretty. But nothing lasts forever, and things can always be improved on.

The crayon caddy, as it was, had one flaw. Pencils and pens tended to slip out of the top, like hot dogs slipping away from their buns. Auntie Bridgett hunted on line and found the Japanese Roll Pencil Case from B’etha Bags, which had a flap to fold over and contain the slippery pencils. Using their photos for reference, Auntie Bridgett drew me up a design and I made a pattern to sew from.

We used some of the fabrics we picked up long ago, and it worked out well. Now she has the old one for colored pencils, and the newer one for her fancy fountain pens, which she loves very much and wants to protect.

I am happy to be making useful things again. Spring always energizes me!

Love,

Grandma Judy

More Fun with French

Dear Liza,

Our family speaks a lot of languages! You speak Russian with your Mommy and Grandpa Victor and Baba Alla, Spanish with Ita and your friends at school, and English with everyone else.

I know sign language and Spanish from school and have studied French with our friend Shawn and Hebrew with dear Rick Hughes.
I want to be able to speak with people when we travel to France later this year, so that’s what I’m working on now.

But we learned our languages in different ways. Even when you were a baby, your different people spoke to you in different languages, and you somehow sorted them all out. I only knew English for a long time, and have been playing catch up ever since.

For French, I use books, tapes, Duolingo, and movies to help me learn and remember new words. I spend some time each day practicing, sometimes having slow conversations with Auntie Bridgett.

And now we have a new way to practice! Our friend Michelle has given us Refrigerator Poetry in French, and with the help of a metal cookie box, we are using it everyday for a giggle and practice.

So far, my favorite sentence is “Je suis ici pour la mousse au chocolate et des chausettes rouges.” This means “I am here for the chocolate mousse and the red socks.“

Pretty much says it all.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Print Artist Annie Meyer

Dear Liza,

I met a new artist Saturday! Well, she’s not a “new” artist, she’s been working for years. But she’s new to me. Her name is Annie Meyer and she has a studio and gallery down in the Clinton neighborhood, just about a mile and a half south of our house.

Annie is a painter, but works in different media: mono prints, oils and acrylics, and ceramic tile. Her subjects are mostly abstract landscapes and the human figure. Since she is from the Midwest, she says, she paints mostly empty landscapes, highlighting the feelings they evoke rather than the details of trees and such.

Her large, dreamy works absolutely captivated Auntie Bridgett, and she and Annie talked for a long time. Annie even let us step through a curtain for a glimpse into her studio. It was wonderfully big and cluttered!

Auntie Bridgett explaining something to Annie….

I found a new connection, too! When Annie is in eastern Oregon, doing landscapes there, she works with the Crow’s Shadow print studio, that I learned about at the Fine Art Print show with Poppy Dully a few weeks ago.

I love finding all the networks!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Hangin’ with the Rhodies

Dear Liza,

Once we got to the Rhododendron Garden, we saw all sorts of interesting things. First we met Chunkers the squirrel, who is famous and has his own Instagram feed. He is also a bit overweight, so the garden folks are discouraging visitors from sharing their treats with him. Chunkers does not approve of this decision.

We also saw that there is quite a bit of repair work being done. As with all trails, the ones in the garden need to be kept clear of small landslides and built up so they drain properly. I’m glad they take care of these chores in the off season!

We found the earliest Rhodies tall and beautiful, standing against the blindingly blue sky. The lower azaleas weren’t blooming yet… maybe we’ll come back in March to see the progress!

The ducks and geese that call the lake home were being very vocal and friendly. They are so used to people, they only pay you any mind if they see you have treats. We didn’t.

There is a small waterfall on a tiny pathway and it may be my favorite part of the garden. It isn’t the sweeping views or the bursts of color, but it sings a cheerful song.

When we had seen all there was to see, chatted with all the critters and sat on most of the benches, it was time for the next part of our adventure.

We walked through the neighborhood and caught the Orange Line Trimet train downtown, where we enjoyed lunch at Bless Your Heart Burger. Yummy!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Sunny Walk to the Rhodies

Dear Liza,

It has been sunny all week! I stayed inside for a few days to work on my story, but yesterday Grandpa Nelson and I walked almost seven miles!

We headed straight south, down 33rd Avenue. This took us through the Sunnyside, then Clinton, neighborhoods that I have walked so often. We enjoyed seeing the cherry blossoms leaping up against the glowing blue sky.

Summer Concession stand at Kenilworth Park

We kept heading south, through the Richmond and Creston Kenilworth areas. It was fun to notice how different neighborhoods had been built at different times. The Victorian houses of the 1890s became Craftsman style in the 1910s and Ranch styles in the 1950s. It was like an architectural history lesson.

Then we came to the Reed neighborhood, at Steel Street. By then we were three miles from home and ready for a snack, but there were no (Gasp!) coffee shops around! It was weird.

But we persevered, heading west a few blocks, past what was once the edge of town. Right by a tiny stream crossed by “Harry’s Bridge”, we found the “Berry Good” fruit stand and got some juice to keep us going.

We finally arrived at our destination, the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden. This nine acre garden full of flowers, waterfalls and small lakes was founded in 1950 by some dedicated flower lovers when two “Cynthia” rhododendrons were transplanted to this spot.

The land was donated by William Ladd in 1917. You will remember his name from Ladd’s Addition and his donation of land for our Laurelhurst Park.

Tomorrow, I will tell you about the loveliness inside the garden!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Bridgett Spicer’s Art

Dear Liza,

You know Auntie Bridgett is an artist, right? Well, this week she sold three of her lovely paintings!!

Bridgett shows her paintings, collages, buttons, magnets and zines at SideStreet Arts gallery at SE 28th and Ash Street here in Portland. She is one of nine members of the gallery and also handles the graphic design for their show postcards, their news releases, and advertisements. It is a big job!

This last Sunday was a good day for art selling. The lady who had bought Bridgett’s wonderful collage of Max Jacob last year came by, and they got to chat. It is always nice to know where your art has gone.

Then a couple came in and, attracted by “(I wish I were) A Paris”, they went to the corner where Bridgett’s paintings were. They fell in love with, and bought, three of her wonderful blue “Paris Rooftops”!

I love these paintings, which were inspired by our vacations to Paris, and I am so pleased that people love and appreciate Auntie Bridgett’s art. It makes her happy to create it, and then it goes out and spreads happiness in the world.

That’s a win-win, as they say.

Love,

Grandma Judy