Uncategorized – Page 164

Dr. C. Gee Wo

Dear Liza,

I love researching history! Since my story takes place in 1903 Portland, I am getting to know about people who lived here then, and how things were for them. One thing that was really different was that there were laws against some people living here. These were called Exclusion Laws.

But life usually finds a way, as in the case of Dr. C. Gee Wo, a real Chinese person I have learned about and put into my story. Dr. Wo was from China and was an herbal doctor, using teas and herbal medicines to help make people better. He studied for many years, in China and America, to be good at his profession. He moved to Omaha, Nebraska, where he had a popular practice for eleven years, from 1889 to 1900.

**Dr. Wo’s ad in Portland newspapers, 1900 to 1910**

During that time, he married a white lady name C. DeWitt (I can’t find her first name anywhere, just her first initial. Maybe Caroline? Celestine? Charlotte?) In 1900, they moved to Portland, Oregon, and Dr. Wo opened his herbal medicine practice.

At that time, the Exclusion Laws said Chinese people couldn’t own property, so Chinese needed to rent apartments, mostly in the neighborhood on the west side of the river. But Dr. Wo’s wife was white, so she could buy property where they wanted. They bought a small house, and, when business was better, built a bigger house next door.

As the years went on, Dr. Wo became a respected member of not just the Chinese community, but of the city of Portland. He donated to victims of the San Francisco Earthquake in 1906. He contributed to local causes and invested in businesses. He helped the city grow.

Dr. Wo retired about 1915, but stayed active in the community at least until 1921, when he made a large contribution to the local Community Chest fund. I haven’t found any information about him after that time, but I will keep looking. Being a history detective is exciting!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Inspiration from Everywhere

Dear Liza,

Welcome home! You just got back from your long visit with Grandpa Victor and Baba Alla in Moscow. I enjoyed all the photos you sent. I imagine you are speaking very good Russian by now.

I have been doing several projects here, dividing my time between them. The first is finishing Ruth’s quilt, which I got done, folded, and sent off yesterday. It should be arriving in Salinas this week.

The second project is making Cousin Kestrel’s birthday present. She is turning seven this week, and is celebrating with a Princess Kitten themed party. I am working on a pillow (or maybe it will be a wall hanging) of a princess kitten. Here it is, as of now. There will be lots more curlicues.

I have also been walking around the neighborhood. The hydrangeas are all coming out so blue!! That may be a usual thing here, but it is sure a surprise to my California eyes! Also, the lilac bushes here smell like lilac….in California, you were never quite sure.

Working on my story is taking up some time, too. It is getting better, but since it is a history story, I want to have all the facts right. I am reading about the Chinese Exclusion Laws, which said that Chinese people weren’t allowed to live in Oregon. Remember last week we visited the Lan Su Chinese Garden? So you can see how that turned out. Studying history lets me see how foolish it is to try and keep people out because they are different.

My last ongoing project is studying French. We hope to travel in Europe some more, and it’s just good to keep my brain busy, so I spend half an hour a day on Duolingo or reading in French. Duolingo is FREE online and goes at my own pace, so I can keep trying until I get it right. C’est tres amusant!

Have fun at your next summer adventure, sweetie.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Dinner at Sunnyside

Dear Liza,

Friday is usually our night to go out to eat, but this Friday the weather was so beautiful we decided to eat OUT, like outside, instead!

I roasted some vegetables and chicken during the day, and made a nice salad. We packed up food, a nice red wine, and the badminton set, and walked the three blocks to Sunnyside School. I like a lot of things about Sunnyside. The two story brick building from 1925 is beautiful. It houses both an elementary school and an environmental middle school. And the playground becomes a public park when school is not is session.

We picked our “table”, a flat spot under a sycamore tree, and spread out the blanket. The tickets are free to this human theater. While we ate we watched dads play catch with kids, teenagers shoot hoops, girls giggle on the steps, and toddlers chase pigeons.

After food and wine, it was probably silly to try the first game of badminton of the season, but we did it anyway. We were just as awful as we were last September, when the set was new, but we improved as the wine wore off and we remembered how long the rackets made our arms. Our longest volley of the evening was 11 hits without a drop.

It wasn’t pretty, but it sure was fun!

When we had thwacked our last birdie, we packed up and walked home in the evening light. Fluffy clouds floated by and. trees rustled. We got into pajamas, watched the Giants win, and fell asleep on the couch.

I woke up this morning painfully remembering that I am not 20 anymore, but happy for the adventure. More badminton…..soon.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Rally for Families

Dear Liza,

Saturday morning, Auntie Bridgett and I took the number 20 downtown to the North Park Blocks to join several thousand other people for a political rally. A rally is a demonstration to show your support of something. I have been to sport rallies in high school, and political rallies for candidates for Mayor, Governor, and President.

But this was a rally for families. Our President, Mr. Trump, has decided that people who want to come to America are committing a crime, and that this crime is so bad that parents are arrested and sent to jail, and separated from their children, who are also sent to jail. Yes, children, in jail.

So all over the country, people planned big get togethers to show their support for these families that have been pulled apart, and against Mr. Trump’s policy of separating families. People made signs, made up chants, and even wore some costumes. There was a brass band called TheUnPresidentedBrassBand, playing to keep everyone entertained. There were speeches by our Senator, Ron Wyden, a minister, a social worker, and many people who had come to America from different countries.

This is a very sad thing, breaking up families. The children aren’t told where their parents are or when they will see them. The parents are not told how to find their children, not told where they are. Lawyers can’t always get in to see or help these people and they are not told that they have any rights. No other crime in the country is dealt with like this. This is cruelty.

Now Mr. Trump is saying these people are “invaders” and “an infestation”, as though they were soldiers or, worse, rats or bugs. He equates them with dangerous gangs and criminals, saying that we have to lock them up to protect our country.

sometimes laws are wrong. Slavery was legal. Forbidding women from voting was legal. We have to pay attention to history so we can see what is happening from a longer perspective, and not always believe what people tell us. Laws can be wrong, and when they are, we need to say so and act on what we believe to change them.

This wasn’t as fun a post as many, but I wanted to let you know what I, along with about five thousand other people in Portland, were up to today.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Giving Back

Dear Liza,

While we were living in Salinas, I got to be friends with a wonderful lady named Ruth Andresen. Ruth is the mother of Pete, one of the most involved parents University Park ever had, and grandmother of four of our students. Ruth was born in 1921, so she is exactly the age your great grandma Billie would be.

I met Ruth because we were both active at The First Mayor’s House, also called The Harvey Baker House, the oldest building in Salinas. Ruth has lived in Salinas since the 1940’s and actually knew some of the people who lived in this historic house, Florence Baker and her sister Helen. They were little old ladies when she was a young wife and mother in the 1950s, and she used to go visit them. They would tell her stories of their childhood in 1890s Salinas. She heard history, as they say, from the horse’s mouth!

When I was learning about Salinas history to write stories and curriculum for the House, I started visiting Ruth. We talked about history, but she also told me about her life. She was a geology student at Stanford University when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, which started the western end of World War II. As a graduate, she worked in Washington to help create maps that helped with the Normandy Invasion! “It was such an exciting time to be a young woman in the world”, she said. “There was important work to be done and we got to do it.”

Ruth is still helping people learn about history. She does spinning demonstrations to show people how pioneers turned wool into yarn, and gives lectures about the “Old Days”.

She also helped organize the very first Founder’s Day Celebration in Salinas. The first one was so small, even the newspaper didn’t say much about it, but by the second in 2017, there were hundreds of people! In 2018, thousands of people came to visit the Harvey House, attend lectures, play carnival games, listen to music, and have pony rides. It took dozens of people to make it happen, including my dear friend and former Principal, Mary Randall, but at the center of it was Ruth. In my carelessness, I do not have a photo this wonderful woman! (I was probably enjoying our conversations so much I hated to interrupt for a photo.) Silly Grandma Judy.

Anyway, for the second Founder’s Day, there was going to be a quilting booth, showing folks how to quilt and displaying old and new quilts. I was going to make a small one during the day as a demonstration. But so many other groups wanted booths, the quilting booth didn’t happen.

**Almost done quilt, and Mouse the cat**

And now, with the extra time that comes from not preparing lessons and teaching every day, I have gotten it out and am almost done. It will be wrapped up and returning to Salinas very soon. Thanks for all the stories, Ruth!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Back to Downtown

Dear Liza,

**Plaza outside Student Services Building**

Well, since I wasn’t able to find what I needed Downtown Tuesday, I needed another trip. But that is absolutely okay with me, because I love it! The day was sunny and breezy. There were people out walking their dogs, summer camps on walking trips, and even a small farmer’s market on the Park Blocks.

First, I visited the Oregon Historical Society Research Library. I have a part in my story where the school children are walking on a field trip, and I wanted to know what they would be walking past. I found the City Directory for 1903 to see what was there. As it turns out, the neighborhood I am interested in, the northwest, was mostly houses, with about ten churches, at the time. Businesses and city services were closer to downtown.

One of the fun things about research is that you do a lot of looking at other things before you find the ones you are really looking for. I found a book of detailed maps of downtown Portland from the big re-development in 1985. Loving maps like I do, I fell into that one for quite a while.

Then it was time to return to the City Archives. Walking down towards Portland State University is always interesting. There are young people, music, fountains, and always something new to see. This fellow, washing windows 5 stories up on a 14 story building, looked very at ease in his work.

Since thousands of students come to the University everyday, there is great public transit to this area. Street cars, light rail, and buses are all over the place.

I found interesting information on the parade that the city of Portland had to honor President Theodore Roosevelt on his visit in 1903, and then it was time to head home. Walking back, I noticed that The Portland Building is under a huge construction project. The giant statue “Portlandia” is still attached to the front of the building, but completely draped to protect her from the work. I miss her.

After dinner, we all walked up the The Laurelhurst Theater to see “Ocean’s Eight”. It was a fun movie and the walk home, under the lovely pink sunset, was the highlight of a very good day.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Into Summer

Dear Liza,

**Hollyhocks and day lilies, living together, mass hysteria!**

Now that is is officially summer, our evening walks have moved from six o’clock to more like 7:30. It stays light until nine and it feels silly to waste all that lovely sunlight!

Yesterday evening Auntie Bridgett and I walked around the neighborhood and noticed that the flowers are really exploding. Sweet peas, roses, day lilies and hollyhocks are shooting up out of the ground like the police are after them.

Even the sunflowers are getting tall and majestic. The bees all seem to be prosperous and busy.

We met a new cat, a very friendly young lady with beautiful markings and a tag that declares her to be “The Princess.” She not just allowed, but demanded, that we pet her, squeaking in a very royal voice.

On the way home we passed The Belmont Inn, and stopped in for a few games of Monster Bash, our favorite pinball game. We played together for a few, then went head-to-head. My score of six million made me very proud until Auntie Bridgett whupped me with forty-four million!!! Holy smokes, I need more practice!

Aw, shucks. More pinball….

Love,

Grandma Judy

A Day Downtown

Dear Liza,

I needed to do some more research for my story yesterday, which means a trip downtown. Auntie Bridgett had a morning free and came with me. We caught the number 15 and off we went. My first stop was supposed to be the Oregon Historical Research Library, but it turns out they don’t open until 1:00 on Tuesdays.

So, Plan B, I walked back across the Park Blocks to the Portland Art Museum, where Auntie Bridgett was enjoying the Richard Diebenkorn exhibit. I enjoyed the sketches he did early in his career, when he was in the Marine Corps, as well as the abstract paintings he did later.

While I was looking at art, I got a text from Grandpa Nelson. He told me about the City of Portland Archives, which are right downtown, that had (he had discovered) a whole file on the 1903 parade Portland held for President Theodore Roosevelt when he came to visit. I figured since the OHS library was still closed, I’d head to the archives. They were about 15 minutes away. This became Plan C.

But it took me longer. I saw a young family walking down the Park Blocks wearing matching T-shirts that said Free Ice Cream. They looked so friendly, I mentioned their shirts and we had a nice conversation. They were helping a friend advertise a new church downtown, and this was their fun way of getting to talk to people. I met some nice folks AND got a coupon for a Ben and Jerry’s ice cream cone! Score!

At the City Archives, I found that once again, timing wasn’t on my side. They were closing in 20 minutes! But the lady was very nice, brought me the thick folder, and left me alone. It had lots of information, but not what I was really looking for. But she took down my contact information and said she would have another look when she had time, and I promised to come back tomorrow to see what she had. I would come back to the OHS, anyway, because by this time I was brain dead and ready to go home.

So we had a snack and caught the bus. Auntie Bridgett suggested we get off a little early and walk through Lone Fir Cemetery, since it had been a long time since we saw the dead people. Does this become Plan D? It was peaceful and beautiful as always, and we saw this lovely carved headstone for Elenor Springer. There were smaller stones from her three sons that outlived her, but no marker for Mr. Springer, to whom she was “beloved wife.” Another mystery!

More downtown time tomorrow, and hopefully, fewer Plans and more results!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Magic All Around

Dear Liza,

I know I have said it many times, but I love our neighborhood! There are so many delightfully odd, silly, adorable things just all over the place. This sad and lovely painting, for example, hung from a local tree. The lady looks so sad!

While out walking in the warm evening yesterday, we came across the tree with the “dinosaur infestation”, only to see that there are more! Now there is one in the birdhouse and even in the bird bath!

Not far away was this tiny fairy door, just there at the base of a tree.Other evidence of fairies were seen nearby. Small branches used to make fairy fences and pretty collections of pebbles are sure signs of fairies. Lucky us, to have magic so close by!

Then we ran into things that sort of fit the theme of magic, as well. A lovely black kitten came up and wanted some attention.

We saw a sign on a fig tree that said “Keep off the dirigible plums”, a reference to Xenophilius Lovegood’s house in the Harry Potter books.

And finally, at the teeny tiny library that is also a poll taking blackboard (this week the poll was “koalas or pandas?), we found a tinier library, holding tiny kid-made books! They were astonishingly cute and inspirational…. if I was going to write books for fairies, what would I write about?

I will ask Cousin Kestrel. She is my local expert.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Shakespeare on the Mountain

Dear Liza,

On Friday night, we tried a new pub for dinner, The Thirsty Monk, on SE 32nd just off Hawthorne. Actually, we had been there last summer, but only for a beer on a hot day while the Hawthorne Street fair was going on. We had tacos, french fries, and yummy chips. We have now added it to our list of favorite places!

Friday night was also the first play of the season for the Original Practice Shakespeare Company. As I told you last summer, this is a group of people who put on free Shakespeare plays in the city parks, and they don’t rehearse! Each actor has his or her own lines on a scroll in their hand, but they don’t practice together and don’t know what the other actor’s lines are.

As you can imagine, this leads to a different sort of play. The lines don’t flow smoothly and sometimes the actors get lost. There is a prompter, like a referee, who gets them (and us) back on track. It feels very improvisational, and is sometimes disjointed. Last summer, we saw some good plays and some that were hard to follow.

The play was performed at the top of Mt. Tabor, just a few miles east of our house. It has lovely views west to the city and east to Mt. Hood, trails for hiking, roads for driving, and stairs to the top. The stairs were a challenge, but it felt good to earn our way into the free play. I took pictures and enjoyed the views, as well as watching the people who came to see the show.

But the play was hard to follow, even though it was one we all knew, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In addition to the un-rehearsed quality, all the lovers were played by women. The “he” and “she” pronouns that usually helped keep track of players were gone, and at Intermission many people, including us, decided it was too chilly to try to follow the play, and we all headed back down the mountain and drove home.

Still and all, a lovely evening!

Love,

Grandma Judy