Judy – Page 125 – Dear Liza

Oh, Christmas Tree

Dear Liza,

Yesterday was predicted to be the only dry day for the next week, so we went out and got our Christmas Tree. We stopped by the Eagles Lodge, where we went for Halloween Karaoke, and they had good trees, good prices, and a nice fella to help.

We found one just the right size and named him Herby.

Once we got Herby home, we did the usual hauling up the stairs, getting him settled in his stand and vacuuming up the needles…and then we all went to do other projects for a while. Decorating the tree feels more like an evening thing.

First, Grandpa Nelson put on the lights. This involves long strings of glowing bits, which Mousekin thinks are just for her. It’s always a challenge to get them safely on the tree, and we say a small prayer for the survival of the tree.

We put on Vince Guaraldi’s light piano jazz (he does the Charlie Brown Christmas music) and started dressing the tree. It is smaller than usual so we were more choosy this year, only putting on our favorites.

Usually, an ornament is loved not for what it looks like, but where it came from. Ornaments that have survived from our childhoods, that belonged to your Great grandma Billie, or from our friends or travels are especially sweet.

This year we even have a new one! Grandpa Nelson bought one of Kat Mistry’s crocheted doughnuts at SideStreet Arts so our tree is delicious, as well as beautiful.

Merry Christmas!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Chilly Laurelhurst

Dear Liza,

You knew I couldn’t stay inside forever, didn’t you?

Yesterday afternoon, after two days baking, writing, sewing and listening to music in the house, I went out for a walk. It wasn’t even four o’clock yet, but it was very much going-on-dark.

I carried the umbrella, because it was raining, but it mostly got in the way of me looking up at the trees. I folded it up.

The park wasn’t empty. There were couples and singles, out walking. Mostly without dogs, which is unusual, and no joggers at all. Maybe the ground was too slick for them.

I like walking by myself sometimes, because I can think my own thoughts and not worry about trying anyone’s patience as I take six pictures of the same tree. Dark, rainy afternoons are especially good for this.

On the way home I enjoyed watching the traffic signals reflecting on the wet road. What a pretty planet we live on!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Very Merry Cash and Carry

Dear Liza,

Auntie Bridgett’s art gallery, SideStreet Arts, opened its pre-Christmas sale and show this weekend, and it is delightful!

Grandpa Nelson and I walked over to the gallery on the way to the movies (we saw “It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”) and then stayed longer afterward to walk Auntie Bridgett home in the rain.

The Very Merry Cash and Carry show is fun because it has different rules. Usually, when you buy a piece of art from an art gallery, you need to wait until then end of the show (maybe a week, maybe a month) to take the art home. This is because the art has been arranged carefully and if one leaves, the others look lopsided or incomplete.

Melody Bush’s Excavated Books are amazing

But for Very Merry, people are buying for Christmas presents and want to take the art home right away, so the walls are hung FULL of art. When some leave, the walls are still pretty. Also, artists bring extra work that is kept in the back room to fill in the spaces.

On Friday there was a good turnout and lots of sales! We also got to visit with Alicia Justice as she made some of her felt dolls, which are beautifully detailed. She showed us photos of her Krampus dolls, which always sell like hot cakes. Krampus is an evil monster that deals with bad children… sort of the anti-Santa.

Kat Mistry has new work being displayed in a new glass jewelry case to keep it safe. She also has a new raspberry beret, which is very adorable.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Wintery Thoughts

Dear Liza,

Mousekin, wondering why I am not being her lap.

The winter cold has always appealed to me, bundling up and going out to feel the chill on my face, and looking at the lights. But this year, as much as I am trying to maintain my adventurous spirit, it feels like winter is turning me into a bear. Not a grouchy bear, just an I-want-to-eat-everything-and-Stay-Inside sort of Bear.

Auntie Bridgett has put up the decorations in the house, and they make very pretty scenes…. gnomes by the tv, Santa cookie jars by the philodendron, and even Ellen Hughes’ little needlepoint village on the windowsill. “Stay in and look at us,” they say. “You don’t need to go outside.”

My still-in-progress story calls me to the computer. “Come edit this mess,” it says softly. “It will be wonderful, but right now, Chapter 20 doesn’t make sense.”

Mousekin the cat looks accusingly at me. “If you get up,” she asks, “who will be my lap?”

Tasty food calls to my bear tummy. “How often do you make really good cornbread?” it asks. “Come have some more, with butter, and then we’ll make cookies!”

I know my teacher colleagues are dealing with over-excited students. I know my own children are parenting their hearts out and working hard at jobs they are incredibly good at. But today, I just want to bake. And maybe nap.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Neighborhood Lights

Dear Liza,

According to the weather news, this winter is supposed to be drier and warmer than usual. In November we got 2 inches of rain instead of the usual 10, and it was a few degrees warmer most days.

Well, we aren’t seeing rain, but it sure has been cold! Crystal clear, cold skies with air that hurts a little to inhale. This means that we aren’t walking much after dark, and haven’t had a chance to see many lights.

But here’s what I have so far, from our Sunnyside Neighborhood and the Laurelhurst area just around the park.

Our new friend Matthew’s homage to Snoopy and Woodstock

Well lit, old fashioned houses make for such lovely shapes against the darkness. I am looking forward to showing all these beauties to Auntie Christy and Cousin Kyle when they come up to visit!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Oh the Noise, Noise, Noise Noise!

Dear Liza,

We knew the sewer work was coming, and now it is RIGHT in front of our house. Between now and Friday, if we will need the car during the day, we need to get it out of the driveway before 7 AM, and then can’t bring it back in until after 6 PM. This, in a neighborhood where street parking is already in short supply.

We were going to get the Christmas tree today, but don’t want to get up early, park our precious Miles on the street, or carry the tree for blocks, so we will wait until next week.

This weekend is busy with a Christmas Art Pop-up, where Auntie Bridgett is showing her work at her friend Nicole Curcio’s house. That will be fun! But there are cookies that need baking to feed the art-lookers. So I will be walking down to Safeway with my backpack to pick up butter, eggs, and such to make a double batch of Oatmeal Everything cookies.

Inside the house, it is very noisy and shaking from 7 to 6 everyday. Fortunately, we still have Christmas decorations and our Mouse kitten to make us smile.

But all the racket can make me grouchy, I will admit. I have even been channeling Dr. Seuss’s “How the Grinch Stole Christmas“:

They’ll come with the diggers, the rollers and flashers!

They’ll bring all their dump trucks and huge asphalt slashers!

I sat at the coffee table, with my tense fingers drumming,

“There must be a way to stop Construction from coming!”

Love,

Grandma Judy

Jasper Turns Ten!

Dear Liza,

Your oldest cousin Jasper, the fellow who started this whole Grandma Judy thing, turned ten last week. We celebrated this momentous anniversary at Blackbird Pizza, at the corner of SE 20th and Hawthorne. They have several things to recommend them.

First, they are close by. Even on a near-freezing evening, Grandpa Nelson and I walked there. We took the umbrella to make sure it didn’t rain (you know how that goes) and had a chance to see the Christmas lights going up in the neighborhood.

Second, Blackbird makes really good pizza. Since there would be seven kids and five adults, we ordered two large pies, one plain cheese and one “Proctor Special” as the kids call it. This has pepperoni, olives, pineapple and basil. Weird, yes, but definitely good! We also got some yummy Malbec wine for the grownups.

Third, there are games, video games on the first floor and pinball on the mezzanine. The kids played with pocketfuls of quarters.

Uncle Dave brought cupcakes, candles and matches, and lit up the dessert. I was amazed at how pleasant this party was… no drama, no fussy eaters, no overly tired kids losing their cool. I guess everyone is growing up. It is a good step.

When it was time to head home, we bundled up and headed back up the hill, warmed by love of family, a little wine, and woolen sweaters.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Lighting the Tree in Portland’s Living Room

Dear Liza,

Crescent moon hovering over the traffic downtown

Last Friday was an event we have missed the past two Christmases here in Portland, the lighting of the City’s Christmas tree. But this year, we went!

The 1876 Pioneer Courthouse, lit up for company

Pioneer Square, between 6th and Broadway and Morrison and Yamhill downtown, was the location of the elegant Portland Hotel from 1890 to 1951. President Theodore Roosevelt stayed there in 1903. It was the fanciest, tallest Hotel in town!

But by 1951 the hotel had become outdated and it was torn down, leaving a vacant lot used for that urban black hole, a Parking Lot. The city of Portland decided to create a public space and in 1984 the stair-stepped, brick covered City block opened and was quickly dubbed Portland’s Living Room.

Summer view of Pioneer Square from the Cupola of the Pioneer Courthouse

It is home to food trucks, a Starbucks, and a tourist information office. But mostly it is where folks go to meet friends, people watch, have a cup of coffee or eat their lunch, or enjoy some free music.

For the ceremony Friday, we took the number 15 bus downtown. We had a quick, tasty dinner at Killer Burger before joining the flood of folks heading to Pioneer Square.

The still-dark tree, a 75 foot sustainably grown Douglas Fir, stood like a tall shadow in the middle of 25,000 of winter outfitted people. Spirits were high and we were packed in shoulder to shoulder.

Pink Martini, one of our favorite music groups, was on stage (which we could hear, but not see), leading the crowd in Christmas Carols.

At about 6:15, the countdown began and we all ooohed and ahhhed as the white lights twinkled and then colorful and Christmas-y lights came on, signaling the beginning of the season and the end of the ceremony.

The river of people reversed course and began flooding toward bus and train stops, still in good spirits but also chilly and foot sore.

This is one of the things I love about being in a big city, the chance to be part of Big groups of people doing things I love. Now, it is full speed to Christmas!

Lights and crowds heading back to the bus stops

Love,

Grandma Judy

Thanksgiving Day!

Dear Liza,

I hope you had good food and family for your Thanksgiving. Up here in Portland, we had both.

The day started with watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV. New York was having such high winds, they almost had to ground the big balloons! But the winds died down and the balloons flew.
Auntie Katie and the Cousins arrived, and we had before-dinner cheese and crackers on Great Grandpa Lowell’s coffee table, using my Winnie the Pooh tray and Auntie Olga’s little snack plates. Kestrel declared them SO cute, and she was right!

There were games of Phase Ten and a home made 3- D tic tac toe game. Auntie Katie and I played ukulele and guitar and sang together, and then it was time for dinner. So much food! We ate turkey (carved beautifully by Auntie Katie) horsed around, and had some wine to toast the holiday and each other.

After dinner, Aunties Katie and Bridgett did the heavy work of breaking down the turkey for leftovers and soup, and putting all the leftover food in the fridge, while I put the Turkey skin and bones into the slow cooker with some onions and celery for stock! It will cook for hours and get delicious.

I wanted to go for a walk before it got dark, but the Cousins and Grandpa Nelson decided to stay home and play. We grown up ladies bundled up (it was 42 F!) and enjoyed Laurelhurst Park’s trees, dogs and a large contingent of ducks rustling through the fallen leaves looking for bugs.

Laurelhurst ducks enjoying their own feast

Heading home, I showed Katie the “dinosaur infestation” at a house down on Morrison. The lady who lives there, Elaine, collects and places plastic dinosaurs in her heard and trees, and it is adorable! Auntie Katie thought so, too.

Auntie Katie documenting the dinosaur infestation

It was dark by the time we got back, and Auntie Katie got Grandpa Nelson to play some music. Then we had slices of three pies! My pumpkin, and and apple and pecan from Katie. Yummy!!

Cousin Kestrel made a miniature dinner table out of the Tic-tac-toe game, and she and I set it up for dinner with plates made of tin foil and napkins and food cut from Post-it notes. Auntie Bridgett invited two tiny stuffed crows over for dinner, and it was quite a party, right there on the floor!

We all shared some music, on videos or guitar, ukulele or singing songs that Jasper is learning at school, and eventually it was time to get kids and us to bed.

A bunch of leftovers went home to feed the family, because Auntie Katie will be busy tomorrow, having a big Black Friday sale at Books with Pictures!

Love,

Grandma Judy

No Snow, but Cookies….

Dear Liza,

As I write this, it is Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving. I stayed up half the night waiting for it to snow, as the weather service said it would. Denver got a foot, Chicago may be getting a bomb cyclone, and the Macy’s Parade in New York May have to ground the balloons. It seems our beloved Pacific Northwest is the only section of the country with no snow.

But tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and food is always good. I am softening butter to make Snickerdoodles, proving yeast for some Amish white bread for your picky-eater Cousins, and simmering cinnamon sticks for the cranberry sauce.

It is amazing how excited I got about Thanksgiving once we decided to buy the turkey pre-roasted! I can enjoy making the food I know I can do well for people I love and still have energy to enjoy the day. I can’t believe it took me until I was 63 to realize that I can hate cooking turkey and still be a good woman. Oy. Old stereotypes run deep.

Bread, and the children who love it, are wealth.

I hope you and your Daddy David and Momma Olga have a wonderful Thanksgiving! I will send pictures from our celebration tomorrow!

Love,

Grandma Judy