Garden Update October 2024

Dear Liza,

Well, this summer’s growing season is over. I went to the garden yesterday and took out the mass of green that were my three tomato plants. They had overwhelmed my upright supports weeks ago, and were sort of leaning on each other.

They still had a few pounds of cherry tomatoes, especially the orange Isis Candy, but none of them were getting riper or sweeter. I picked a bunch as I cut through the tangled stems.

I took down the dahlia plants that were finished blooming and laid them on the trellis to dry. I’ll fetch them on our next dry day.

My busted wheel wagon did a good job of corralling most of the cuttings, including a fine, tall dahlia.

I covered the tomato and lettuce beds with burlap sacks to rest for the winter, and stopped before I was completely worn out.

I even got home with enough energy to put the tomatoes in to simmer for a sauce and put the dahlia in some water. Then it was time for a crossword with Grandpa Nelson.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Crayon Box Season, Again

Dear Liza,

When we first moved to Portland in 2017, I was stunned by the intensity of the fall colors. My amazement hasn’t gone away.

Just walking home from the market is a joy when you pass these lovelies. And I love walking down sidewalks when they become tunnels of ever-changing color.

Doing clean-up at the Blair Community garden is hard work, but I get to visit these zinnias… higher than my head, orange as the sun and very popular with the bees.

Yep, Portland is mighty pretty in the fall… a good way for the trees to let us know they are going to take a nice long nap.

But me, I’m not going anywhere.

Love,

Grandma Judy

The A-Maize-ing Corn Maze

Dear Liza,

We had some bright sunny Fall days this past week, so we got out to see what we could see.

We headed up to Sauvie Island, which celebrates Fall with corn, pumpkins, and all sorts of harvest goodies. This year, their corn maze (the Maize Maze) is all about the Peanuts comic strip, which Auntie Bridgett loves.

Here is the map of the maze. It was huge!

Of course, once we were inside the maze, we couldn’t see what it looked like. But we did see tall, beautiful corn stalks still growing. We smelled the sawdust mulch and heard the wind rustling through the leaves. It was a lovely walk out on a farm.

We made lots of wrong turns, and the whole maze took about 45 minutes to walk through. According to Auntie Bridgett’s Apple Watch, we walked almost two miles.

Being a “corny” maze, there were puns, such as this Cash Cow.

There were also lots of photo opportunities.

We really enjoyed our walk through the maze, but were happy to find shade and benches and snacks when we were done!

At the farm market, we got sodas and caramel corn, then drove through rush-hour traffic clear across town.

Another perfect adventure in Portland.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Ruthie Project Update

Dear Liza,

Our small ZOOm art group got together again this week, and I made some good progress on the fabric and paint thingee.

This almost-square piece of grey-and-silver fabric got painted with swirls, and then stitched with blue, white and oranges to follow the swirls.

Once I felt there were enough swirls, I found some quilt batting and some nice patterned fabric for the lining. This fabric, which I am very fond of, is up-cycled from a pair of pajamas.

I decided to use the same embroidery thread and quilt along the painted and embroidered lines, just enough to hold all the layers together. I love how textured and nubbly it is!

Now I just need to sew the side seams and put in a zipper to make a useful, beautiful padded sack.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Political Season in Portland

Dear Liza,

With just under a month until our Presidential election, politics is all over the TV, the newspaper, and even folks’ front yards.

And, since Portland tends to be mostly Democrats, there are lots of signs up for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.

I’m sure there are Trump supporters who live here, but they are not putting out signs.

The lawn signs are the most interesting bunch I’ve seen, and I’ve been watching election signs since 1970 . I enjoy the artistic feel, the variety, and the frequent use of cat pictures in this year’s batch.

I know this election is important for our country. But I look forward to a little peace and quiet afterwards (but I’m not holding my breath)

Love,

Grandma Judy

Fall in the Hundred Acre Wood

Dear Liza,

My little bonsai forest, which I call The Hundred Acre Wood, is always changing. This last spring I removed my first transplant, Mr. Naito, after I realized he was not a Japanese Maple. I found a seedling that IS, named it Toranaga-sama, and planted it.

Here is the Wood on October 6, 2024.

Toranaga’s three layers of leaves show good health, and come spring, I will begin what is called Scissor Training. This involves lopping the top third of the tiny tree off, so as to encourage the growth of side branches and give it a more horizontal growth habit. This also encourages a thicker trunk, which gives the pleasantly aged effect of a bonsai.

The juniper, an evergreen, is getting taller all the time. I trim it often, dividing and shaping it into two uneven crowns.

I’m not sure what to do with the larch. Its natural habit is tall and straight, which is not what I am wanting for this forest. Two springs ago I wired it into a curvy shape, and now I have hung a weight (several coins in a mesh bag) from the top to give it a real bend, and we will see how it develops over the next few years.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Stepping Up My Embroidery Game

Dear Liza,

The French quilt was coming along. I mean, I kept putting in more crops row by row… but it was feeling very flat, and not very interesting.

The apple trees were an improvement, for sure. More color, more texture.

Then your Grandpa Nelson looked over my shoulder and said, “Where are the sunflowers?” Hmmm. Sunflowers. Because I was impatient to see the quilt finished, I had designed the symbols for the crops to be one color, simple, and easy to sew.

But I LOVE sunflowers, and I don’t want them to be easy. I want them to be pretty.

And they are! I love how the rows look, bouncy and bright. Trouble is, they made the rest look even flatter by comparison.

It was time to step up my embroidery game. I started with the lavender fields by Angouleme, giving them more color and texture.

So now I have had to re-think every single crop to make it worthy of the sunflowers. So far, the wheat and barley fields are coming out nicely.

I am so glad I did! The artistic process isn’t fast, but it sure is interesting. I’ll keep you posted.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Tidying Up the Dead People

Dear Liza,

On my visits to Lone Fir Cemetery, I admire the lovely headstones. Some are more than 150 years old, others are from just a few years ago, but they all have their own style and beauty.

And many of them, sadly, are victims of time and neglect. Their surfaces have become pitted and worn, and their lettering is obscured by moss and dirt.

On my first trip to help, I took along the Friends of the Lone Fir recommended kit: Lots of water and a variety of plastic scrubbers and scrapers. I even wore gloves!

I poured on a lot of water to soften the crud, then used the plastic scraper to dislodge the heaviest moss encrustations.

More water and gentle scrubbing with a plastic brush revealed most of the lettering.

I used a wooden chopstick to get into the letters and numbers, but was frustrated by the numbers pressed into the concrete surround.

I wish they were clearer, because I’m sure they mean something. Maybe L23 and B21?
When I ran out of oomph after an hour, I was pleased with how Byrd Hanley Andrew looked, and happy that I had done something to preserve this wonderful, fragile old place.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Keeping Up With the Lavender

Dear Liza,

A few summers ago, Auntie Bridgett sold her art at the Quatorze Juillet Fête put on by the Alliance Français at Jamison Square.


When we were packing up, one of the organizers gave Bridgett two big bunches of lavender.

It was a lovely gesture, and the car smelled great on the way home.

That lavender has been sitting in two large vases in the front room ever since.

And with Halloween decorations going up, we decided it was time to process all that lavender goodness. It’s not a difficult process, but a bit fiddly.

The bits of stems and dried blossoms tend to fly everywhere. I plucked and rubbed with both hands over the biggest pan I have and still got seeds on the floor, the stovetop, and on the counter top across the way.

But after twenty minutes or so, those two huge bunches were scooped up and stored into three pretty jars to await their future in sachets for Christmas presents.

Now, I just need to decide what the sachets should look like. Crazy Patchwork? Embroidered? Painted? Maybe all three?

Love,

Grandma Judy

Fabric and Paint, For a Start…

Dear Liza,

Ruthie Inman keeps getting my brain off on tangents! I’d complain, but I love it, and I always learn something.

Our latest wild goose chase started with telling her us to collect a zipper and some sturdy fabric, a hot glue gun and some acrylic paint. Easy enough.

The zipper came from a pillow that has been upcycled into a few other items already. The fabric was purchased years ago for a map quilt that didn’t need it. And the acrylics ( and the textile medium to make them work on fabric) were sitting in a box.

When I showed the fabric to Ruthie and Vimi (our parter in all things goofy and artsy), they said it reminded them of Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”. I didn’t want to copy, but I held the image in my head as I painted and we chatted.

I liked the swirly lines I set up, and kept going as I got more confident.

By the time our session ended, the fabric was wet and sticky, and I needed to figure out my next step.

The next day, that next step was realized with more contrast. The short brush strokes remind me of Van Gough’s.

And then, because I’m a crazy woman with a needle and thread, I laid in a bunch of running stitches, sort of stringing the short stitches together and following the swirls.


And then, remembering about complementary colors, I started putting in some orange stitches.

What do you think?


Love,

Grandma Judy