Judy – Page 17 – Dear Liza

Re-opening a Favorite

Dear Liza,

When we first moved to this neighborhood, we fell in love with the J. C. Havely House, just katty corner across Belmont Street. It is rumored to be haunted and certainly looks the part. At that time it was being run as The Pied Cow.

The Pied Cow served delicious ginger cake, ice cold sangria, baked Brie on fresh bread, and lots of other goodies. It was amazing. But when the pandemic hit, the strain on both the business and the owner was just too much. The Pied Cow closed and the building was sold.

But good news! The house is soon to be opened as The Foxtrot Lounge, and on Saturday we got to see the inside of the house, the garden, and have a short chat with the new owner, Britain Stephens.

Britain (who is extremely camera shy) and his crew have cleaned up the large garden space and installed beautiful structures. Some of these feel like classy cabanas and will be good for shelter from the sun and moderate rain. Others are just for fun.

Lots of folks were looking around and enjoying the space.

The inside of the Havely House has gotten a facelift as well, and now feels like a friendly, high-end Haunted Mansion. Since the Havely House is home to a ghost called Aunt Lydia, this seems fitting.

We didn’t try any of the food on offer, but there was wine, beer, sangria, and a variety of bruschettas. Britain told us he plans on a proper opening come October… Just in time for Halloween!

And you know we will be there.

Love,

Grandma Judy

End of Summer

Dear Liza,

I know it’s not quite the Fall equinox yet, but we are definitely there. Saturday was the Belmont Street Fair, which is our last street fair of the year.

The weather started off chilly, then the clouds passed and the sun came out.

People were ambling down the street, walking happy dogs and chatting with friends.

Auntie Bridgett visited with Steph at Happy Anyway while a face-painting friend decorated Steph’s arm.

We even got to go inside the wonderfully historic J. C. Havely House, soon to re-open as The Foxtrot Lounge.

I’ll show you more about that tomorrow.

I ran out of energy and came home to rest. By the time we had dinner, the skies opened up and we had a fine gullywashing rain storm. Welcome, Fall!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Autumn in the Neighborhood

Dear Liza,

Our weather is changing here in Portland. Reds and oranges are creeping into the wide swaths of green in our Laurelhurst Park and all through the neighborhood.

The dogwood trees are fruiting, all those pink blossoms fattening up into bumpy red berries. The birds and squirrels are noticing, for sure.

This colorful plant needed some looking up, because it is all over one block. It’s even coming up in the sidewalk! It is called Amaranth, (also called Love Lies Bleeding) and is an ancient grain. It is very healthy to eat… I wonder if these folks know that.

Another crop that is escaping and going rogue is this hops in a parking lot. The soft-stemmed hops plant has found an obliging maple tree to climb on and a blackberry bush to hang out with. Aren’t they pretty together?

I hope your Fall neighborhood is pretty!

Love,

Grandma Judy

A New Friend for … Halloween?

Dear Liza,

We got a special delivery the other day… a skeleton! Auntie Bridgett has named him Mr. Bones and has randomly assigned him the male gender. But you can bet he’ll be seeing lots of costumes.

Mr. Bones came in pieces, and it took some doing to get him together. But he is 5 feet 6 inches tall, pose-able, sturdy, and has marvelous posture.

Our plans for Mr. Bones are still a little vague, but it is a month and a half until Halloween, so we have lots of time to play.

When Grandpa Nelson got him properly put together and in the rocking chair, Mr. Bones got a nice kitchen towel and Halloween garland kafiya.

And let Halloween begin!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Auntie Bridgett’s Birthday!!

Dear Liza,

Tuesday was your Auntie Bridgett’s Birthday, and we had a fine time.

After a quiet morning of breakfast and language practice, she opened her presents, including tee shirts, sketchbooks, and a fabulous Snoopy quilt her Momma Donna made for her. Isn’t it amazing?

Once Bridgett had her celebratory red Converse high tops on, we caught the #20 bus downtown to Powell’s City of Books, which we haven’t visited in far too long.

Just being in the space makes me happy!

They have a new café inside, called The Guilder Café (after a country in The Princess Bride). The food was good and not very expensive, and the seating area has regular tables along with some arena type seating and comfy chairs. We spent more than an hour eating, reading, and browsing. It was delightful.

Then, after taking pictures of one of Coraline’s Curious Cats in her lovely urban environment, we caught the #20, connected to the #6, and headed up to the McMenamin’s Coffee Roastery. Considering how many McMenamin’s venues there are, I was amazed at how small the facility was! This one room, one giant roaster, and one guy named Chris.

Chris gave us all the lowdown on coffee… where it’s sourced from, how long you roast it for, and some of the dangers. Did you know that Auntie Bridgett’s favorite dark roast needs to get to 500 F, and will burst into flames at just 700 F? Dangerous work!

After we heard all that Chris had to say, we caught the #6 and then the #15 to get home, where we all had a nice rest. Birthdays are exhausting!

At dinner time, Grandpa Nelson was still pooped, so he stayed home and I walked the Birthday Girl up to Dov Vivi pizza. We love their cornbread based crust and Quattro Fromagio (Four Cheese) pizza.

We ate out on the patio and watched the world go by. Moms with strollers, kids on skateboards, old dudes getting off the bus… busy city life going on all around us.

We needed to bring half the pizza home, but it will make a lovely lunch tomorrow.

Happy Birthday, Bridgett!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Dopamine Menu

Dear Liza,

Every once in a while, I find a magazine article that doesn’t just speak to me, it calls my name and chases me down. Abbi Henderson, writing for Stylist Magazine, has written such an article. She talked to neuroscientist Nicole Vignola and got some great ideas for helping us feel better on days when peace and happiness feel out of reach.

She calls this list her Dopamine Menu, after the chemical in our brain that gives us joy. Doing these activities releases dopamine and can lead to happier, calmer moods.

I do most of these things, and now that I know WHY they make me feel better and have a convenient list, I can make joy whenever I feel blue, stuck, or just flattened out.

Stretching

Playing with a pet

Enjoying a coffee

Grabbing a snack

Doing a short burst of exercise

Putting clean laundry away

Cooking a meal

Working on a hobby

Exercising

Being creative (painting, drawing, writing, for example)

Listening to music

Listening to a podcast

I have been fortunate to fill my life with Dopamine-enhancing people. Ruthie Inman and Auntie Bridgett Spicer encourage my arts, which gives me courage at my crafts, and everyone loves a walk in Laurelhurst Park!

Maybe people who seem “naturally happy” have, consciously or unconsciously, found their own way to their Dopamine fix.
Maybe this list can help you.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Making My Moves

Dear Liza,

I am still obsessing about our trip to France next year; being careful about discretionary purchases, staring at maps, comparing train routes. I am still stitching in the map quilt.

And now, I am playing a different sort of game.

Since board games are all about moving through space, I am working up a board game that will let me ‘play’ the trip before we go.

I am using an old Chutes and Ladders game board and spinner, and my player’s tokens and rewards are from Trivial Pursuit. I have labeled the spaces with things we hope to experience on the trip, like “Lunch with a View” and “Wine Tasting”.

For challenges along the way, I have made cards with the names of cities, oceans and rivers, with cardinal directions, and “alike” and “different”. These can be used during the game to create lots of different questions (or memory-joggers) like “How is Angouleme like Paris?” Or “Is Lyon north of Bayonne?”. Players get a piece in their token for right answers.

There are false starts, as always happens in any creative process. My first layout wasn’t visually interesting, and the numbers were too big. I also haven’t figured out how to balance the “getting home first” goal with the “enjoying the experience” goal. But fixing these things is part of the fun.

I have run through it a few times, adjusting the number of questions, trying to make it fun to play. When it is better, I’ll bribe Grandpa Nelson and Auntie Bridgett to play with me to test it.

I’ll let you know how it works out.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Signs of the Times

Dear Liza,

You have started back to school there in Denmark, and your cousins (and all the other kids) have, too. Fall is here for certain. All the signs say so.

The tiny library at Sunnyside School is full of older books taken off the shelves to make room for the new ones.

The leaves are changing all over the place.

Apples and pears are being offered right off the tree (or sidewalk) by overwhelmed home owners.

Sunflowers are growing up to the second floor windows…

And homemade signs are sprouting up, proclaiming faith in the democratic process.

Ready or not, here comes Fall!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Acres and Acres of Stitches

Dear Liza,

As I stitch more on my map of France, adding dozens of icons for row crops, vineyards and wheat fields, I feel like I’m looking backward and forward at the same time.

I am remembering the shining wheat fields and castle gardens in the countryside, where our GPS stopped working and we got delightfully lost.

I am remembering the awe of walking along the Seine and seeing history standing before me.

And, looking at maps and train lines, I am planning our next journey, from Paris to Lyon, then winding around to Orléans and up to Rouen. What will we see on our way? How will it let me see the country differently?

Honestly, I never thought embroidery could make me philosophical. But here we are.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Finishing Ruthie’s Dragonfly

Dear Liza,

A few weeks ago I started a new mixed media project with Ruthie Inman’s Zoom Art group. This week, I finished it up.

We were all aiming for a dragonfly of some sort, but we were using different materials. Ruthie debated between rickrack and an old bracelet, Vimi used paper and napkins, and I went with buttons. A hot glue gun did the trick.

For the wings, I went with plain paper painted with yellow acrylic and lines drawn in dark blue. I realized too late that I had used a water soluble pencil for the lines, which meant I risked smudging with any dampness.

I was very sparing with the Mod Podge and got the wings attached with no damage. Here it is in front of my monitor, with Ruthie’s hands working on hers.

I wanted a bit more depth to the wings because they seemed flat compared to the textures of the background and body. Thin shreds of tissue paper did the trick!

Not a masterpiece, perhaps, but very nice, and better than I thought I could do. Thanks, Ruthie!

Love,

Grandma Judy