Judy – Page 38 – Dear Liza

My Own Repair Shop

Dear Liza,

When we moved to Portland six years ago, we moved a lot of things that we don’t use. Family heirlooms and sentimental items fill boxes and boxes, and that’s okay. We are not just Day-to-day creatures. We carry bits of our past with us.

One of these historical bits is this embroidered clock from the early 1960s. Here is a picture of what it looked like when it was brand new, in a photo from eBay where you can buy it for $125 !! But we’re going to try and keep the original.

Grandpa Nelson’s mother Mona made it from a Good Housekeeping kit when he was little, so it is about 60 years old. It has been dirty and is getting worse as the years go by.

I asked him if it was okay for me to try and salvage it, and he was willing. So I am giving it a go. I took the glass door off and unscrewed the case so I could get to the fabric. It was glued to a piece of masonite. Ugh.

I pulled out an Xacto knife and started gently peeling back the very old, frail fabric. I focused on keeping the knots attached so the embroidery would stay intact. This caused some tears, sadly, both around the edges and near the clock face. I’m not sure what how to repair them, but I will figure it out.

Now that it is free of the Masonite, I need to figure out how to stabilize the delicate fabric so I can wash it without damaging it. I am doing lots of looking on YouTube and crafty sites to figure this out.

I will let you know how this all works out, and show you too!

Love,

GrandmaJudy

Autumn for the Bonsai

Dear Liza,

This last May, I added a tiny new transplant to my bonsai, which I call The Hundred Acre Wood. I had carefully uprooted it, brought it home, and tucked it in.

Mr. Naito, so named because ( I believe) it is a Japanese Maple and Mr. Naito was an important Japanese American here in Portland, has had a successful summer. He has stayed green and gotten stronger. He has even bent the way I encouraged him to, to give him some style.

And now it is Autumn and Mr. Naito and the newly-shaped Larch are changing, getting ready to lose their leaves and rest for the winter. The bunchy juniper is an evergreen.

I will keep an eye on the Wood during the winter, making sure it is covered during freezing weather and kept damp, and hope for new green leaves come spring!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Portland Teachers On Strike!

Dear Liza,

I heard the protest before I saw it. A line of about thirty elementary school teachers and their allies, using an upturned bucket as a drum, marched around the Sunnyside neighborhood to support and draw attention to the difficulties our local schools are having.

The problems are familiar to anyone who has been a teacher: Low pay, high class size, and lack of support from Administration. My SETC colleagues and I marched to fight these in Salinas, winning some, losing some, but always working together as a Union.

I offered cookies to the marchers, then asked where I might leave some to be enjoyed later. (Picketing is hungry work!) I was directed to the support tent, set up on the play yard of Sunnyside.

It was staffed by PTSA President Steph and Library Clerk Becca, who had a collection of pastries and fruit, hot coffee and conversation, to keep morale high.

This picket line was familiar, but also uniquely Portland. Some teachers carried litter grabbers and buckets, making the route more tidy as they went.

There were also more dogs than usual. Kids came along, of course. Schools will be closed until the strike is settled. Wish the teachers luck!

Love,

Grandma Judy

This Year’s Halloween Movies

Dear Liza,

This year, Auntie Bridgett gave herself a challenge. She would watch a Halloween movie every evening of October and draw a cartoon of it. Lucky for me, we like the same kinds of movies!

Here is our list so far, and a few of her delightful drawings.

Bell, Book and Candle
Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (with Frederick March… we couldn’t finish it. Ick.)
Boxtrolls
Young Frankenstein
Ghost and Mr. Chicken
Hotel Transylvania 1,2,3 and 4 (First is the best!)
Arsenic and Old Lace
Nightmare before Christmas (My first time, and I didn’t care for it.)

The Blob (with Steve McQueen)
Hocus Pocus 1 and 2
Paranorman
Dracula (the original)
Haunted mansion (NOT Eddie Murphy’s)
Skeleton dance (old Disney short)
Haunting in Venice
Frankenweenie
Blithe Spirit (with Rex Harrison and Margaret Rutherford!)
Ichabod and Mr. Toad
It’s the Great pumpkin, Charlie Brown

The animated Addams Family (2019)

Room on the Broom

Monster House

Oh no!! We have run out of October before we ran out of movies!!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Living the Tour of Untimely Departures

Dear Liza,

Well, I survived! Being a volunteer for the Friends of Lone FiR Cemetery’s Tour of Untimely Departures was the longest, most exhausting, and most rewarding days I have spent since my retirement from teaching.

During the set-up, my new-found friend volunteer Jennifer and I raked leaves from the ‘off-road’ routes for the North and South tours. Each tour is about a mile… so two miles for raking.

Here is Jennifer later, in her Tour Guide regalia. Isn’t she beautiful?

Then we set out the solar powered tiki torches that mark and illuminate each actor’s position. Two more miles. Then it was time to walk home for lunch, a change into costume, and a rest. Half a mile each way.

When I checked in for the Tour, J Swofford met the actors, tour guides and assorted helpers with pizzas, making sure we knew where to be and what to do. Folks practiced their lines and prepared for the long evening.

During the evening, I was a ghoul. This role calls for walking among the tours at a distance, keeping an eye out for stragglers and making sure actors have what they need. It allowed me to see the beautiful Line Fir Cemetery at sunset and twilight.

Part of my evening was spent at the Exit gate, directing people to the Entrance, answering questions, and stopping folks from sneaking in. Luckily, I had found a lovely stick, about six feet long, which became a handy, authority-lending staff.

At 10:00, when the last of the visitors had left and the exhausted actors headed off, I helped gather the luminaries and Auntie Bridgett and Grandpa Nelson came to walk me home.

Total miles walked: about 7

Hours worked: 8

Satisfaction level : 100%

Love,

Grandma Judy

Dressing for the Dead

Dear Liza,

I know you’ve always asked yourself, “What does one wear to spent a freezing Halloween night in a cemetery? Well, I will show you.

This weekend I volunteered at the Tour of Untimely Departures in Portland’s Lone Fir Cemetery. The skies were clear, but it was forecast to be in the low 40s…. So I knew I needed layers. Remember, these are not three separate outfits.
This was all on me at the same time.

Layer #1. Long underwear and wooly socks.

Layer #2. Turtleneck sweater and jeans over the underwear.

Layer #3. Victorian blouse, vest, and skirt. This is the ‘costume’ part. The watch cap will save my ears!

Final ghoulish layer #4. Shroud-ish scarf and heavy black gloves. The little shoulder bag held energy bars to keep me fed for the six hour shift! My heavy Portland boots finished things off and kept my twinkle-toes warm.

And doesn’t Bridgett’s artwork make my face scary?

See you in the cemetery!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Halloween Spooks in the Neighborhood

Dear Liza,

Our weather has gotten very wet and very cold this week, and the spooks just keep popping up! Every time we head out we see something new.

This house down the street that has always had cutesy-pie goblins must have a new tenant, because the vibe has changed quite a bit.

Or maybe it is the semi-nervous-breakdown our country seems to be having that is showing itself in the ghouls.

You know, like this guy trying to get out of his rut, or these poor souls who can’t find a place to get comfortable.

It is just a few days to Halloween, and I am sure enjoying the season…. Even if the decorations look….um… half dead…

Love,

Grandma Judy

Finishing the Dictionary

Dear Liza,

I have had a fun few months hunting up pictures and looking up words in my new Danish-English dictionary, and your illustrated Danish dictionary will soon be on its way to you.

The book is called “More than 140 words in Danish” and I made it using a sketchbook that Auntie Bridgett started but couldn’t use for her art, because the pages were too thin for watercolor. They were perfect, however, for my collage (that is, cut and paste) and colored pencil silliness.

There are sections for animals, foods, clothes, family, buildings, numbers, and lots of others. They aren’t perfectly organized, because this was an on-the-fly, make is as you go sort of project. If I had tried to keep all the pictures separate and glue them in later, it never would have gotten done.

Still, thanks to the J. Peterman catalogue, I got some cohesive pages on clothes and accessories.

And thanks to desktop printing, family photos become part of the lesson. Even the silly ones!

And, of course, some art from Cousin Kestrel.

Which looks remarkably like this PHOTO of Cousin Kestrel! Art imitates life, all the lifelong Day.

And today, I head off on the number 14 to the Post Office and send this off to you!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Going a Little Crazy (Quilt)

Dear Liza,

I started my first crazy quilt just about ten days ago, thinking I would work at it a little here and there. I should have known better!

Once I get started on a project, I find it impossible to let it just ‘sit there’. Unless pulled away, I work on it…. Not constantly, but consistently. At least until something more interesting else comes along.

I am experimenting with how much embroidery is ‘too much’. So far, I haven’t hit that point. I piece the blocks on the sewing machine in the afternoon, and embroider on the couch in the evenings. I use simple, non-floral stitches, because I like the geometry of them. Blanket stitch, French knots, and running stitches go quickly and are very satisfying.

In the last ten days I’ve gotten 36 , 7 inch blocks pieced and 20 of them embroidered, on my way to about 120 total. Each block will be 6 inches square, so the quilt should be 5 feet by 6 feet, good for snuggling on the couch.

I worked out the math, and if I piece three blocks a day, I can have that bit done in just under a month. But don’t hold your breath. This is a ‘just for me’, long term, do-when-I-want project. It might be done by New Years’, or not until 2025.

I’ll keep you posted!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Needing Some Peace

Dear Liza,

The world seems to have gotten more stressed-out lately. Wars in Ukraine and Israel, along with American politics getting more ego-driven than ever, made me set out for a long walk yesterday, to see some beauty and find some peace.

I walked through the lovely Laurelhurst neighborhood, ran smack against busy, noisy, Sandy Boulevard and wondered where to go next. The number 12 bus zoomed by and my problem was solved. The 12 goes to The Grotto! I waited just a few minutes and caught the next one.

After stopping at the Cameo Cafe for a quick lunch, I walked a few blocks to The Grotto and inhaled the peace and acceptance of the forest and gardens. I bought my senior-discounted token for the elevator to the gardens at the top of the bluff and said hello to some old friends.

Mt. St. Helens in the distance.

St. Francis, chatting with his animal friends.

Sunlight glowing through the changing leaves.

I must have sat on half a dozen benches, soaking up the autumn sunshine and the beauty of the gardens. And when I felt filled to the brim and ready to face the cockeyed world again, I came back down.

I can’t fix the whole world, but as my Dad said, I can help what I can reach. And today, that was me.

Love,

Grandma Judy