Judy – Page 128 – Dear Liza

Liza Games

Dear Jasper and Kestrel,

It is always fun seeing what Liza is up to. Like you and many of your friends, she enjoys Pokemon cartoons and toys, likes to wear unicorn clothes and fairy wings, and she even enjoys going on walking and bussing adventures with me.

And, like you guys, she makes up her own games. When our friend Alicia Justice gave her a “surprise ball” filled with small toys, she used them to create a game. The New Year’s noisemaker became the hockey stick with which she knocked small flies and butterflies through a ‘goal’ made of candle holders.

She likes (and is good at!) making pancakes.

She found a project for a bird feeder in Highlights Magazine, involving pine cones, peanut butter and oatmeal. That worked out nicely.

She also likes to make words, though she needs a little help. We played with my Bananagrams game, making words about family and geometry.

Since she has just started reading, Mr. Steinbeck’s quotes on rocks around Salinas are fair game. This one, at Central Park, says, “I’ve seen a look in dog’s eyes, a quickly vanishing look of amazed contempt, and I am convinced that dogs think humans are nuts.” It took two times through until she realized it was funny, but then she laughed and laughed. “Dogs think humans are nuts!” she kept chuckling to herself.

But her most complex, repeated game is the one we play at the Steinbeck Center. It spans three rooms, three books, and gets better every time we play it. She opens the curtains at the labor camp in the Grapes of Wrath room, and talks with the children there. “Would you like to come to my party?” she asks.

Then we go to the room set up with the Pipe House from Sweet Thursday and pretend to decorate. The most fun is in the Sea of Cortez room, where we get in the small boat and set off, catching fish for the party! Tuna, sharks, and sardines are all fair game, and brought into that small boat. It gets a little harrowing.

On this visit, one of the skeletons set up for Dia de los Muertos sat in the Pipe House, beside a small brazier. Liza improvised by cooking the make believe fish over the fire. The game ends when all the children come, we eat and play, and they go home to be with their families.

I love playing games with Liza, letting her make the rules and figure things out. I think it makes us both smarter.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Temple Beth El

Dear Jasper and Kestrel,

While we were in Salinas last week, Grandpa Nelson and I got the chance to take Cousin Liza to our old synagogue, Temple Beth El. It turns out that it was the anniversary, or Yarzeit, of your Great Grandma Mona’s death, twenty eight years ago.

The Yarzeit panel with the lights on for Great Grandma Mona

We were members there for nearly twenty years, and Grandpa Nelson was President for many of those. I helped run the Kosher Luncheon and the Rummage Sale. We attended funerals, weddings, and were involved in loud arguments and tearful reunions. There are lots of feelings tied up in that building.

Hal Hegwer, Leonard Gonzer, and Grandpa Nelson, some former Presidents

Our friend Rick invited us to Friday night services. Rick taught me Hebrew years ago and still teaches the Bar Mitzah and Bat Mitzvah kids. He also helps run fund raisers and maintain the building.

We got there early so I could show Liza around. We saw the playground and classrooms, then the sanctuary. The new Ark that surrounds the Torahs is big and beautiful. Liza met Joloo, a boy about her age who was there with his Grandma Jeannie. They played foosball and dashed around until services started.

There were only about a dozen folks at services, because the community is shrinking as older folks pass away and young ones move away. The kids sat in the front row, and Cantor Margaret Bruner, seeing her unexpected young audience, included the kids in undressing and handling the Torah.

Rick helped out by reading a story about Beresheet, the beginning of the Torah, which is called Genesis in English. The story was illustrated using words for water and earth in Hebrew letters.

Cousin Liza, who knows English, Spanish and Russian, asked “What kind of language is that?”. Rick answered perfectly, saying, “It’s a language you don’t know yet,” and then translated the Hebrew into Russian. Her eyes got very big and she listened more carefully after that. I think she was impressed.

Both Liza and Joloo were very good during the rest of the service, standing, sitting, following along as best they could. They even helped put the Torah away.

After services, there was wine and bread and cookies, and then the kids played while the grownups talked. The whole evening had an odd time-travel quality, because it felt a lot like when we would take your Momma Katie and Uncle David to services.

Grandpa Nelson enjoying good cookies and company with Liza and Joloo.

I went home and had so much to be thankful for. Exhausted but happy, which seemed to be the theme of this trip south.

Love,

Grandma Judy

The Best Beach

Dear Jasper and Kestrel,

We got to spend a perfect afternoon on our trip south. We borrowed Uncle David’s Tesla and drove to Monterey. We walked around the town, had some Jamba Juice, and gawked like the tourists we are at the sailboats and incredibly beautiful Monterey Bay.

This piece of coastline is so lovely, people come from all over the world to see it! It is one of the few things I have really missed in our move to Portland.

“Why do birds always sit on white rocks?”

Someone I have missed is my dear friend Donald. We met in French class many years ago and have been in each other’s lives since. I know I am richer for it.

Grandpa Nelson and I drove along the coast and met up with Donald at The Fishwife, a seafood restaurant just off Asilomar Beach. This was the first time these two of my favorite fellows had met, so they had lots to talk about. Alexander Dumas and Teslas and politics…. what a joy!

After we ate delicious food, we walked down to the beach and enjoyed the cool breeze, soft sand and really chilly Monterey Bay waters. Donald, like us, loves watching other people’s dogs.

People, plus dogs, plus beach, equals happy!

Being on the beach was so refreshing and bright, breezy and clear, I felt really alive. My body and soul were singing, and my eyes were full.

All the sights and sounds, large and small, have fed my heart and filled me up.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Visiting Mr. Steinbeck

Dear Jasper and Kestrel,

While I was in Salinas last week , Liza and I got to have one of our favorite adventures. We woke up early, packed some snacks, and headed off to Hartnell College. We usually have a long chat and visit with the Panther, who is carved from black stone and has been in the same spot since 1932. But today, he was wrapped in protective plastic and we couldn’t get near him!

The whole center of the Hartnell campus is being torn up to get ready for what looks like a new building. I will need to research more to find out what. But for today we could only wave at the Panther and head for Central Park, across the street.

While we were there, Liza and I played that she was running a restaurant and she served me our snack,then shared it with me. Then we found the play fire truck and rescued a kitten and saved a lady whose house was on fire. It was very exciting.

We walked through the neighborhood and finally found Mr. Steinbeck’s Museum! We got there just as they were opening, and the lady explained that in honor of Dia de Los Muertos, there was a Scavenger Hunt. We found really handsome skeletons made of paper mache all through the museum.

We also had a familiar game of inviting the children from the “Grapes of Wrath” labor camp to come to the “Sweet Thursday” pipe house for a party. Then we took the “Sea of Cortez” boat out fishing, caught fish for the party, cleaned it, and cooked it over the paper mache ‘fire’ .

It was a REALLY lovely party with pretend food and pretend friends.

We managed to find all the items on our Scavenger Hunt and have a great time, as usual. Grandpa Nelson came and took us to our next adventure, which I will tell you about tomorrow.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Open Studios (Part 2)

When we had finished our visit with Sharon Jonquil, we headed west over the Broadway Bridge and through the Pearl district of the city. There is a lot of construction and one way streets, and our poor Google navigator just couldn’t keep up! After a while, though, we were able to find Mark Dunst’s studio.

It was as different from Sharon Jonquil’s as possible, it seemed to me. Rather than in his home, Mark’s studio/ gallery is on the street level of a high rise office building, surrounded by existing glass towers and new ones being built.

The neighborhood does have lovely maple trees, however.

I liked him right away, because of this motto stuck onto his door. Kindness goes a long way with me.

Mark’s work is in oil paint, in a style called abstract expressionism. Auntie Bridgett has been doing some of this, as well. She was very inspired by Richard Diebenkorn’s exhibit at Portland Art Museum last Spring. Mark said he had spent a lot of time at that exhibit, as well!

We liked his work very much, and visited for a while before choosing a piece. Of course, we were so excited about buying it that we forgot to take pictures or even note the name!

I will post it later…silly Grandma Judy.

Interesting work (but not the one we bought) by Mark Dunst

We wandered a bit more then went home, with visions of artwork and our life in the city dancing in our heads.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Open Studios (Part 1)

Dear Liza,

This past weekend was Open Studios in Portland, where local artists invite folks in to their studios to see where, and how, they work. On a day that couldn’t make up its mind to rain or shine, we headed out.

Our first stop was Sharon Jonquil’s studio. This is in the basement of her house in northeast Portland, but doesn’t feel cramped or dark like a basement. Along with regular oil painting, Sharon does encaustics, which are paintings made with melted wax!

Sharon gave us a demonstration of her method, using melted beeswax, a small torch and all sorts of small tools, to create beautiful works.

Since this sort of work needs good ventilation, she has powerful fans and a ground level window to open, which also gives her a great perspective on her garden.

Auntie Bridgett knows Sharon because she shows at SideStreet Arts, the gallery where Auntie Bridgett is a member. we enjoyed seeing Sharon’s work and chatting with her about her method and inspirations.

I liked a lot of things about Sharon’s work. Her soft focused portraits have a dreamy feel which I like. There is also an effect that comes with encaustics, a marbleized veining that is just luscious. I couldn’t stop staring at it!

After buying a few small pieces and enjoying a snack, we headed west across the Willamette River to our second Studio. I’ll tell you about that tomorrow!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Imperfect Produce

Dear Liza,

One of the things we wanted to do when we moved to Portland was live healthier. This would mean more walking, less driving. More veggies, less meat, and as much organic produce as we could find.

These are good goals! We ARE walking a mile or more every day, and only drive when we go for weekly groceries or leave town.

But organic produce at the market is expensive. We were looking for ways to eat well for less money when we met some fellows from Imperfect Produce at the Belmont Street Fair. They sell produce that is “Imperfect” and is rejected by the supermarkets because it looks weird. They also sell “surplus” which just means there was too much of something and it was going to be thrown away.

We could sign up for just a few deliveries to try it out…so we did! We set up an every-other-week system so we wouldn’t be swamped with more food than we could eat.

We have had two deliveries so far, and we are very pleased. There several reasons.

1. The veggies, though maybe too big or small or weird shaped, are fresh, organically grown, and delicious.

This carrot with one eye and two noses will make a fine soup…

2. The packaging (unlike Blue Apron and other food-to-home deliveries) is minimal AND the boxes are returned and reused. Less waste!!

3. The price is right. We paid about $16.00 for about 12 pounds of veggies, including cucumbers, carrots, squash, avocados, and Earthbound Farms organic Romaine from Carmel Valley.

4. We get to customize our box. We don’t need to take anything we don’t want, and get what we DO want.

5. Getting packages is just fun, even when they are vegetables.

I will let you know how this all goes, but it seems like the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Trying to Make it Right

Dear Liza,

The other day I accidentally broke something that belonged to Auntie Bridgett. It was the lid of a very nifty baking dish, a gift from a dear friend years ago. I felt awful. There is no repairing it. Could I replace it?

First, I went online. EBAY has it, but I would need to buy both the dish and the lid, and it would cost nearly fifty dollars to buy it and have it shipped. Ouch.

But our neighborhood is full of ‘Vintage’ shops. These carry old things, like garage sales do. Some are fancier, and more expensive, than others.

I went walking. At House of Vintage, on Hawthorne by 35th, I found only three little shelves of kitchen stuff, rather carelessly piled up, and not what I wanted. It was sort of depressing.

I walked west a bit to Vintage Pink, near 24th. This shop is more fussy about what they carry and how they display it. I swear, I saw bar and table arrangements that my Aunt Barbara (who is great at decoration) would have done.

I enjoyed this shop so much! But still no Corningware Buffet Server B-1.75. The lady running the shop recommended a site called “Replacements.com”, which I did… I also (while I was online) tried the Corningware website. No lids in stock at this time.

You know I am stubborn, and I will find a way to try and make this right, to replace what I broke.

Love,

Grandma Judy

It’s Crayon Box Season!

Dear Liza,

I know, I know… six months ago I was going GAGA over the Spring colors….Purples, pinks, outlandish yellows. But now I’m going to gush a little over Fall’s colors.

Growing up in Southern California, my neighborhood was full of evergreen shrubs and trees. “Less messy!” “Pretty all year!” everyone said. And they were right, in the same way that the same outfit everyday would be. But change…. change is good.

Reading about how to care for my new-ish bonsai forest (The Hundred Acre Wood), I learned that the delicate-seeming bonsais (birch and maple, in this case) need to be exposed to the sometimes freezing cold of winter. This lets them have the hibernation period so they can re-awaken in Spring rested and healthy.

And I think that’s true for us, too. People need to rest, tune out, and re-charge. Small kids (and older folks) take naps, but those in the middle need time off, as well. Life doesn’t always make it easy, but I think it’s important.

For me, real winter is sort of a new experience. This past year I noticed that I did more serious research in winter, not being distracted by the drop dead gorgeous-ness of blooms or leaves. In spring, my eyes began to work overtime and I walked miles everyday, just looking.

This winter I hope to finish my story and get it out to folks to read. A few months of grey and rain may be just what I need.

Love,

Grandma Judy

A Halloween-y Zine-y

Dear Liza,

Auntie Bridgett makes Zines, which are hand-made magazines, called Art-O-Rama. She has printed them every two months, every year since 2012. That’s 42 Art-O-Ramas so far! She sells them on-line (at squareup.com/store/bridgett-spicer) and at the Sidestreet Arts Gallery.

Each zine has a different theme, and she draws and writes about it. Some themes have been Imaginary Friends, Creativity, Monsters, and Eat, Drink and Be Merry…. all sorts of things.

Four years ago at Halloween, she was drawing in her sketchbook and this cute little witch appeared. I immediately started thinking of a story about her, and Auntie Bridgett put the story in her zine! I was so pleased!

So here it is, the full story-poem, with Auntie Bridgett’s drawings. Enjoy!

I love that Auntie Bridgett and I can work together and be silly sometimes.

Love,

Grandma Judy