Uncategorized – Page 153

Jiggs Parrot

Dear Liza,

Because I am writing a story about Portland kids in 1903, I need to learn about things that kids liked back then. Auntie Bridgett found a magazine article that gave me a wonderful insight: Baseball!

It turns out that the first Oregonian who played Major League Baseball was born right here in Portland in 1871. His given name was Walter Edward Parrot, but his nickname was ‘Jiggs’, though no one seems to know why.

His father Thomas and mother Anneliza were pioneers, coming across the plains in covered wagons. Thomas was a good musician, lead a brass band, and opened up a music store here in Portland. They had seven sons and one daughter. The whole family loved baseball, but Jiggs and his brother Thomas Jr., called ‘Tack’, were the best. They both played for the amateur East Portland Willamettes, which later became the Webfeet. Major League scouts came by and hired Jiggs to play second and third base for the Chicago Colts, and the next year, returned to hire Tack as a pitcher.

**The Parrott Family (and their mustaches!)**

Jiggs had four good seasons in Chicago, but he started having health troubles and had to return to the minor leagues, and after a few more years he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. He moved to Phoenix, Arizona, hoping that the warm climate would be better for his lungs. He lived there only a year before dying in 1898, at the age of 26. His brother brought his body back home to be buried at our Lone Fir Cemetery.

Knowing that this interesting, sort-of-famous baseball player is so close, Auntie Bridgett and I walked over to see if we could find him. Fortunately, there is a website called “Find a Grave”, which tells you what plot of the cemetery a person is in, and the Lone Fir Cemetery site that gives a map of the cemetery. Putting those together, we walked straight to the Parrott family,

There is a beautiful tall obelisk with the family name on it, surrounded by smaller markers for the kids, Thomas, and Anneliza. Jiggs was the first to pass away, followed by his father Thomas in 1899. The whole family, as far as Mom, Dad, and the boys, are buried near each other beneath a magnificent elm tree. Their daughter, Jennie Parrott Green, is buried at Rose City Cemetery with her husband’s family.

It felt good to celebrate and appreciate the life of this young man. He had so much promise and wasn’t allowed to live his life as he wanted. I am glad to be able to remember him.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Curiosities at the Cemetery

Dear Liza,

People say that if you can laugh at yourself, you will never cease to be amused. That being said, most people don’t expect to get laughs at a cemetery. But Lone Fir is different.

Yesterday, after visiting the graves of the Parrott family, we found this: A handmade Ouija Board, complete with the little pointer for reading the “messages”, all made out of typing paper with a ballpoint pen. There are some scratch-outs, but mostly, it was a good job, considering the people who made it were probably kids. Both pieces were laying right by the grave of Elizabeth and William Saturley, who died in the 1870s.

This find took a slightly darker turn when I learned that “Zozo”and “Pazuzu” are the names of spirits or ancient gods. The two have nothing in common except for both being mentioned in the 1972 movie “The Exorcist” (which scared me senseless in high school). I wonder if the Saturleys were relatives of the kids, or chosen at random.

And speaking of random, we ran into this stone that says, in neat lettering, “Random Person.”. We can’t figure out if it was made as charity for an unknown person in an unmarked grave, or for someone with a sense of humor who wanted to remain anonymous.

Dale Jones and his wife Helen, who died in the 1990s, had several stones marking their graves. One, a highly polished bench, revealed their busy lives and senses of humor. “This wasn’t in my schedule book,” says a bench by Dale’s grave.

Like I have said before, cemeteries give perspective. It’s nice to know that even when facing our own ends, we can have this perspective and lighten everyone’s load a bit.

I hope this post was more funny than spooky. People are weird.

Love,

Grandma Judy

**Bench at the graves of Dale and Helen Jones**

Mail Call!

Dear Liza,

Since we don’t like to drive much, we do quite a bit of shopping online. This means we get packages delivered.

Today we got two packages. The first one, and the one that made us happiest, was our copy of Whose Boat is this Boat? This is a book created by the staff of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

The pictures are by Andro Buneta and John Henry, and the words are by President Donald J. Trump. They are things Mr. Trump said when he was visiting North Carolina after Hurricane Florence did so much damage there.

They are accidentally funny. We like reading the book and looking at the pictures, but mostly we like that all the money from buying the book is being donated to North Carolina to help them rebuild their houses and towns.

The second package was not a book, but was also accidentally funny. Grandpa Nelson had ordered four tiny batteries for some lights we use at Christmas. The card they are on can easily fit inside an envelope for a birthday card, but they were sent in a box big enough for a football!

Surely, a big mailing company like Amazon has smaller boxes, right? Puzzlement.

Love,

Grandma Judy

A Bittersweet Goodbye to Max Jacob

Dear Liza,

You know that Auntie Bridgett Spicer is an artist. You know she can paint, draw, and make beautiful collages and cartoons. Did you know that she sells her art?

Well, she does! Last night just before First Friday’s New Artist Reception at The SideStreet Arts Gallery, she sold her first piece of art since we moved to Portland. Her beautiful collage portrait of Max Jacob sold to a nice lady who bought it as a gift for her husband.

We are all so happy and proud of Auntie Bridgett! She works hard on her art and makes such lovely pictures, and it makes me smile to know they will go out into the world and make people happy.

How did she make this beautiful piece? She has given me permission to show you.

Step 1: She drew a pencil portrait of Max Jacob, using photographs for reference. Max was an artist and friend of Picasso in the 1920s and 1930 in France, so there are lots of pictures of him.

Step 2: She cut out all the different parts of the drawing to use as templates for the collage pieces.

Step 3: From her huge collection of papers, she found just the right ones to create his face and suit, then carefully cut them out and glued them down. She rolled each bit so it was smooth. She used paints to give the portrait wonderful depth and humanity. When it was perfect, she matted and framed it.

Step 4: Listening to me when I told her she HAD to take it to the Gallery for her show!

This was a long process where a stray sigh could blow all the bits away, but she stuck with it and made a wonderful piece of art.

Farewell Max!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Wet Fall Beauty

Dear Liza,

As we say slide towards winter, we are remembering the beauty of bright leaves on shiny roads and all the mysteries of the forest coming to the surface.

Laurelhurst Park is, of course, my favorite place in Portland. As cool and busy a playroom as it is in summer, it is a place of small life in fall.

Last year, around this time, we saw a fellow raking leaves into heart shapes and appreciated his art for art’s sake. Yesterday I may have seen his work again, as this wonderful “Yellow Brick Road” leaf installation greeted us uphill from the lake.

Walking today, I saw a plaque near the Pine Street entrance to the Park. It commemorates the planting of this huge oak tree in 1932 by the Wakeenah Chapter of the DAR (The Daughters of the American Revolution) to celebrate the 200th birthday of George Washington.

In a funny way, all the leaves falling reminds me of a speech from The Merchant of Venice, where Portia talks about mercy “blessing both he who gives and he who receives”.

Having given up their leaves, the trees show their beautiful branch structure, allowing us to see beauty that is hidden in summer. It also makes the ground more beautiful, blessing both the tree and the ground.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Halloween at OMSI

Dear Liza,

**Abigail Clarke, first female school teacher in Portland, and a ghoul**

We have had a few weeks of Halloween celebrations, but Wednesday was ACTUALLY Halloween, so we went out for some fun. We got into costumes and walked around the corner to Suzette, a lovely restaurant and crepe place. French onion soup and goat cheese crepes, along with some lovely wine and cider, filled us up for our adventure.

Then, on to OMSI! The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, down by the river, was having a party which included an exhibit of replicas of the treasures from King Tut’s tomb. The originals were discovered in 1922 by Howard Cater.

We played a game called Haunters, where you needed to find people in ghost costumes who gave you clues for places inside the museum. Then you took pictures of yourself with the ghosts and at the place the clues lead you, to win a prize. After several false starts, we got our prize, which was three tickets to come back to OMSI for free!

There were all sorts of science activities, and I was happy to see that the adults were having just as much fun as the kids do during the daytime. Upstairs we even found a 3-D land form simulator table, like you got to play with at Hartnell College! It was amazing. I will spent lots of happy afternoons there.

**King Tut’s finger and toe sleeves, and his sandals**

When we had seen just about everything and were worn out, we called for a Lyft and headed home. The Halloween season is now officially over and we get to start thinking about Thanksgiving!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Another Kidlet Evening

Dear Liza,

Happy Halloween again!!

I loved living in Salinas because I got to spend time with you, and, not surprisingly, one of the best parts about Portland is being able to see the Cousins as often as I want.

Last night I gathered chicken and Brussels Sprouts for dinner, Jasper’s costume, cookies to decorate AND the frosting, and walked down to Ladd’s Addition. The rain had stopped and I had a nice sun-in-my-eyes walk through wet neighborhoods and bright leaves.

I laid out the cookies and colored the frosting, then got dinner started. Things were well underway when Auntie Katie, Jasper and Kestrel got home from Books with Pictures and Abernethy Elementary School. Everyone picked a cookie and started in, being careful and artful in their work. Auntie Katie’s witch cookie cracked me up, and Kestrel’s appreciation of the phases of the moon was lovely to see.

Once we had eaten dinner and finished decorating (and eating!) the cookies, it was time to try on costumes. Jasper seemed very happy with his Stealth Ninja, and the costume wasn’t nearly as too-big as I had expected. He is growing so fast! He looked very fierce.

Kestrel’s costume for Halloween is a pirate, and she has it all together except the eye patch.

As the evening wound down, I texted Grandpa Nelson to come fetch me, and got home in time to watch a scary 1935 movie, Mad Love, starring Peter Lorre in his first American movie. He was so creepy!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Halloween and Crafts

Dear Liza,

Today was predicted to be stormy and wet, with possible thunder storms. And that’s okay, because I was inside helping make Jasper’s Halloween costume.

There were several detours along the way, however. Grandpa Nelson wanted to stop by Fleur de Lis Bakery for brunch. Yummy pastries and coffee? Not a problem!

Another errand took us to Home Depot, where we saw Halloween AND Christmas decorations! Holiday overlap…weird….

Finally, we got home and I got started. Each piece only took a little while….the light grey scarf and the dark grey bandanna needed an edge, the arm wraps needed to be torn and safety pins located to attach them.

Auntie Bridgett also worked her magic on the piece. Jasper is being a Stealth Armor ninja, and Auntie Katie provided the dark grey body suit.

I also made cookies to decorate with Katie and the Cousins. I will try and remember to take pictures of the costumes and the cookies to show you!

I think this was a productive day. Happy Halloween!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Tanya Lyn March, Historian

Dear Liza,

Last night, we walked to the Belmont Library to listen to local historian Tanya March, Ph.D, talk about “Ghosts, Criminals and Murders in Slabtown”. It being the Halloween season, the subject matter seemed fitting, and I am always looking for more Portland history.

The meeting room for the talk was decorated with a wonderful quilt made in 1988 to celebrate the centennial of the Sunnyside neighborhood, with embroidered squares showing local landmarks like the library itself and The Avalon, the neighborhood theater. It was a work of love, friendship, and considerable skill.

We were early for the talk, so got to visit with Tanya. She is a very energetic young woman who digs into history and ties it to current projects, like protecting old buildings or neighborhoods because of their history. I love that she uses her academia for social good.

Her rapid-fire talk, which included very helpful slides, ranged from stories of murders and hauntings in northwest Portland (called “Slabtown” because of the early use of slabwood for stoves) to the KKK, to reputing the tales of Shanghai Tunnels. She covered so much ground that I thought I would trip over my brain trying to take notes fast enough!

Most interesting to me, however, was her mention of Mrs. Nina Larowe, who I had just learned about that morning while researching activities for the kids in my story. Born in 1838, Mrs. Larowe had been a well-to-do lady and actress in New York, and had traveled to The Holy Land on the ship that Mark Twain wrote about in his book “The Innocents Abroad”.

According to Tanya, Twain wrote about Mrs. Larowe as one of the Pilgrims who would break into tombs and take ancient religious relics, then carelessly throw the precious artifacts overboard when their suitcases got full. This damaged her reputation in New York, she got divorced, and moved to Portland for a fresh start. Mrs. Larowe came to Portland in 1888 at the age of 50. She used her knowledge of the theater to open a dance hall called The Esquire, where she taught dancing, gymnastics, and elocution (public speaking).

Tanya included Mrs. Larowe in her talk because of her “criminal” status for defacing ancient tombs, but the lady was successful here in Portland, dying at the age of 83 and remembered in her obituary as a cultural icon and trainer of several generations of young men and women in the social graces.

My brain felt like one of Mrs. Larowe’s overstuffed suitcases, full of wonderful new things that will take some sorting out. Exhausted but happy, we walked home through the dark neighborhood, realizing it is time to break out my well-lit winter coat again!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Real and Make Believe

Dear Liza,

Death gives us perspective.

You and I have talked about Mr. John Steinbeck, how he was born in Salinas, lived a long and busy life, and then died, and is buried in the Garden of Memories. Knowing that there was a big part of the world that happened before us, and will be a long time after us, lets us see ourselves as a piece of the world.

This month at Barbara Kadden’s funeral, Death was right there with us, by her grave under the bright maple trees. It wasn’t dressed in a long black cloak, but silently standing up from its usual crouch in the dark corners of our minds, letting us see it clearly for a few hours.

And now it is Halloween, and pretend-Death is all around. Bony hands reach up from make believe graves in flower beds and grim reapers swing on sunny porches. They seem to say “See? It’s really okay. It’s all in fun.”

But the peaceful dead at Lone Fir, Home of Peace, Garden of Memories, and River View Cemeteries disagree. “Not in fun,” they say. “We really lived. Some of us for only a few months, some for over a hundred years, and then we died. Those we loved mourned us. It is not fun, but what is.”

I think people love Halloween because it lets us toy with Death. The Great Mystery becomes a costume to wear or a movie to watch, to make it small enough so it can be thought about safely. It is a way of thinking about the unthinkable.

And I’m okay with that.

Love,

Grandma Judy