I had fun yesterday, making an old doll pretty again. Cousin Kestrel got her from a shop, and she needed some love.
My Client
First, I washed her up. Years of living in toy boxes had given her some grime. A soapy wash cloth and Q-tip helped a lot! While she was drying, I headed downstairs to the fabric box. I chose a few pretty prints, but a bright stripe seemed the best bet for a simple summery dress.
I made a pattern out of newspaper, starting big and snipping down, making sure it was symmetrical and had a nice quarter inch seam allowance. Then I laid out the fabric and cut. I was happy with the shape.
Before I sewed the front and back together, I turned and stitched the neckline, armholes, and at the last minute, remembered the slit in the back so the dress could come off over the doll’s head. Then I sewed front to back, and put the dress on.
It was baggy, but a simple fabric belt took care of that. Getting the belt on made her look almost perfect!
But there is no fixing her hair, so I made a nice elasticized head wrap to focus on her pretty face, letting her one earring give her a whimsical charm.
Ready to play!
I had so much fun with this project, I may adopt some more dolls for make overs!
Today I am thinking of a lot of things. My old friends and colleagues at University Park are starting a new school year, and I am thinking about how excited and stressed out they are at the job ahead of them. Teaching, like so much in life, is a long process.
I am also dealing with a process. After researching Portland history for more than a year, I am realizing I STILL don’t know enough to write the history story I want to write. I know the history, but the story is not working.
Fortunately, I have good people in my life to help. Auntie Bridgett and I talk about history, truth, and accuracy, so I can understand how I feel about writing a make believe story inside an historic story as a way to make the history easier to understand. It is a tricky needle to thread.
I have Grandpa Nelson, who reads more than I do, giving me new ways to think about the plot of the story. One day he suggested making my story into a mystery! That sounded interesting, because there is a bit of a mystery in it already. Then I realized I haven’t read enough mysteries to know how to write one. How do I add clues in an interesting way? How do I write a believable young detective for 1903?
Like Hermione Granger, when in doubt, I head for the library. Nancy Drew, here I come! I checked out three of the hundreds of Nancy Drew books, and am taking notes, just as though I were in a class. I am learning the basics of character, clues, plot twists, and making a story interesting and detailed without drowning in description.
But in the midst of all this learning, I was beginning to get discouraged. Maybe I can’t write the story. Maybe I’m not smart enough, or creative enough. Maybe I am fooling myself.
Then my dear sister-in-law Christy sent me a book called The Dalai Lama’s Cat, by David Michie. Feeling pretty unproductive anyway, I sat down and read it. This delightful book is written from the point of view of a stray cat who gets adopted by His Holiness, the Dalai Lama in India. In the stories of the cat’s life, the writer teaches Buddhist precepts in down to earth ways. We see that putting others first is a true cause of happiness and that patience with one’s own failings is necessary. I finished the book and felt rejuvenated.
I had been getting in my own way. First, I stopped trying to write for a few days to sew and cook and do things for the people in my life. Having success, even in making cookies, while focusing on others instead of myself, was a wonderful feeling. I took Auntie Bridgett to a new place for lunch, the Im Jai Thai, on Belmont, and got healthy, delicious food for the body and soul.
I may not be good or smart enough to write the story YET, but I can be, and I will be.
It’s a process. And in the meantime, I will read, take notes, and make clothes for a recently homeless doll.
We are having the second (or maybe the third) heat wave of the summer, with temperatures predicted to be 103 degrees by Thursday afternoon. Needless to say, I will be inside.
But that’s all right! I have lots of projects.
First, I am replacing the bags that our park chairs came in. These are comfortable, lightweight chairs and great for seeing Shakespeare, a parade or a concert in the park, but the ripstop nylon bags are very fragile and two of the three have torn through.
Old bag
So, once I got my old Pfaff sewing machine set up, I found some fabric from previous projects and went to work. They were easy to replicate, and I was able to use all the cord and hardware from the originals.
New bags!
My project for this morning is a “Coffee Cozy” for Auntie Bridgett. We enjoy our french press coffee every morning, but by the second round, the pot gets cool. We have been wrapping it in a towel, but Bridgett has asked for something prettier. She chose some fabrics from the box and I sewed most of the morning. This is what I ended up with, a quilted, reversible coffee cozy for my girl.
Coffee Cozy fabricsOne side!
The other side!
Tomorrow, I have a bigger job. Cousin Kestrel adopted an old doll from a shop, and she is in need of hygiene, care, and wardrobe.
When I was younger, my Camp Fire Girl Troop ran what we called The Doll Hospital, where we would collect old dolls and give them clothes and charm and donate them to children’s shelters. It was very rewarding and taught me about sewing as well as helping. I will use all my skills on this young lady.
I hope you are having a good first week of kindergarten!
Last night we went over to Auntie Katie’s house for dinner! When I asked what we could bring, she asked for ice cream sandwiches, and I knew just the place to go to get them, Ruby Jewel Ice Cream! We first found this lovely shop downtown, but they have a few branches, and the closest is just about a mile from here, in the neighborhood, if not exactly on the way…. so we stopped there.
At Katie’s there was pasta boiling, meatballs coming out of the oven, and delicious sauce bubbling on the stove. There were also artichokes steaming. Ummmmmm.
Family Table
I got to chop garlic for the butter, so I smelled as delicious as everything else. Katie poured wine, we set the table, ate and talked.
We heard about Kestrel’s week at “Back Yard Bird” Camp, where she learned to identify all the local birds, and helped us correctly name a black capped chickadee that we have been struggling with.
Auntie Bridgett and I cleared the table while the rest set up the video game “Rock Band”. This is a complicated but fun and noisy game where we hold ‘instruments’ like guitars, keyboards, or drums that are connected to the game and respond when we push the right buttons. A cartoon rock band played music on the screen and gave us directions, and we struggled to keep up.
Jasper rocking out
The first time I saw Jasper play with this, he was just about eight years old and very easily frustrated. He wanted to be perfect the first time and got angry at himself when he wasn’t. Since then, he has had lots of time to practice playing and getting better at it. He has also had time to practice being frustrated, and getting better at that. This, I have decided, is an important skill…knowing something will be hard, and forgiving yourself for taking time to make mistakes. I am so proud Auntie Katie has helped him with this lesson!
In the other room, Auntie Bridgett and Kestrel were having a doll and stuffties picnic. There was lots of giggling and conversations between a stuffed unicorn who had ‘given himself a haircut’ and two very old, beautiful dolls who have porcelain faces, hands and feet.
Auntie Bridgett and Rosa
When it was dessert time, we got out the ice cream sandwiches and everyone got their pick. Yummy, sweet and cold, just what was needed to wrap up a fun evening. We kissed everyone goodbye and drove home to sadly watch the Giants lose their baseball game, then turned in, happy and exhausted.
Saturday afternoon, after shopping and lunch, we headed off to Laurelhurst Park for… A Comedie of Errors! The afternoon was sunny and hot, and since the stage area was in sun, we sat in the sun, hoping the shade would get to us eventually.
This story of two sets of identical twins, mistaken identities, romantic and financial entanglements was very well done, funny, and surprisingly touching. Two women, (Shakespeare wrote them as men but women work very well), identical twins both named Antipholus, are separated during a shipwreck as infants, one with the mother, one with the father. Their boy servants (also identical twins, both named Dromio) are separated with them.
Antipholus and her Dromio are arrested
The play begins 30 or so years after the shipwreck, with the twins and their servants as adults. I won’t try to explain it all here, but the play is a raucous, well-written romp guaranteed to entertain lowlifes and high brows alike.
The acting was wonderful! Since Original Practice Shakespeare is a repertoire company, we get to see actors play different parts in different plays. It is fun to see a tragic queen become the Prompter, or a person with a small part in a different play take center stage and steal every scene!
It changes your understanding of acting, casting, and life in general….Even if you are really good at what you do, it doesn’t ALWAYS have to be about YOU.
Brian Saville Allard as a slimy merchant…..
Since this weekend is the Grand Finale Weekend of “Will Fest”, the last weekend of the OPS season, Saturday evening was also Shakespeare in Laurelhurst…Hamlet!
And as the evil King Claudius, with Jennifer Lanier as Polonius.
Grandpa Nelson hates the play because the main character is so indecisive, so Grandpa stayed home and Auntie Bridgett and I went over. It was also very good.
Hamlet was cast as a young woman, (played by Lauren Saville Allard) which, in my mind, changed what I expected of her. I had always wanted male Hamlet to get it over with and revenge his father, but of female Hamlet, I wanted more introspection…so I guess I like female Hamlet better!
This year we have gotten to see my favorite actor, Jennifer Lanier, in all the plays. She was Prospero in The Tempest last year, and Polonius in Hamlet, and Sir Toby Belch Twelfth Night. She is delightful.
We have two more plays of this season, if we are Shakespeare strong enough!
First things first, I can’t believe that it is August already and wisterias are still blooming here in Portland!
Wisterias in August
This past Friday there was a new show at Sidestreet Gallery, the gallery in our neighborhood where Auntie Bridgett is showing her art. We started with dinner at Ankeny Tap and Table, which is always tasty. Bridgett had street tacos, and I had macaroni and cheese, which was so good and such a huge serving that I brought a bunch home for leftovers.
My people being silly!
But between dinner and home was the gallery. We got there while they were still setting up, so we got to look around and chat with the artists.
The Relic, by Cathi Newlin
Cathi Newlin was the featured artist of the month. She does delightfully quirky ceramic dogs and other critters, including this wonderful political piece that shows a giant dodo bird perched on an elephant, which is standing on an old fashioned child’s pull toy. It is intelligent and funny and cracks me up.
The other featured artist was Don Hall, a painter who seems to do a lot of self portraits, in various poses.
Don Hall’s Falling
The other resident artists were also showing, like Dawn Pantteja, Alicia Justus, Michael Allan Pratt, and Denise Krueger. The ceramics and paintings were delightful, as was the wine, snacks, and conversation.
And of course, Auntie Bridgett’s cups and collages were on display. I always love seeing her art out in the world, playing nicely with the other art.
In our neighborhood there is a park I haven’t told you about yet. It is called Colonel Summers Park.
Himself
When it was developed as a park in 1921, it was called Belmont Park, because it was on Belmont Street. But in 1938 the name was changed to honor Colonel Owen Summers.
Colonel Summers was a Civil War veteran who, in 1883, combined all the local militias in Oregon (volunteer soldiers) into one group that was The Oregon National Guard. At the beginning of the Spanish American war in 1898, Colonel Summers organized this group into the 2nd Oregon Volunteer Infantry Regiment, with himself in command. They were the first American soldiers to sail to the Philippines in that war. After many engagements, Colonel Summers and his men accepted the surrender of 15,000 Spanish soldiers.
Bioswale and paved area
The soldiers who fought under Colonel Summers’s command remained loyal to him even after the war. In 1903, General Beebe, another famous military man, was chosen to be the Grand Marshall of a parade honoring President Teddy Roosevelt to Portland.
Community Garden
The Spanish American War veterans saw this as an insult to their beloved commander and at first refused to be in the parade if Colonel Summers wasn’t the Grand Marshall. But Colonel Summers refused the post, asking General Beebe to remain. The veterans, following their commander’s order, marched in the parade without him.
The park named after Colonel Summers had been getting a little worn in recent years. The huge boulder from Kelly Butte with a plaque of himself had been spray painted. The grassy area had been flooded and was muddy or dusty, depending on the season. But a new makeover has made it lovely again. The boulder has been cleaned, and the flood-prone grassy area has been outfitted with a bioswale to collect rain and a paved bike and skateboard area. There is a basketball court and a fenced community garden where people can grow flowers, fruits, or vegetables. There is even a public toilet that cleans itself after every use!
I am happy to see that the city is working to make sure all the parks in Portland are safe and welcoming places to play, read, work, and just enjoy this wonderful area.
As you know, I used to be afraid of big dogs. I only had to get within a block of a strange big dog, and I got panicky. This was a leftover from many years ago when I was badly scared by a dog, and it took me a long time to get over it.
In this respect, as in many. others, Portland has been good for me. Most of the dogs here are friendly, well-behaved, and just mellow critters. One of my favorite things about Laurelhurst Park is watching the dogs play in the off-leash area. Early yesterday morning I went for a walk around Laurelhurst, trying to work out some details of the story. The weather has been dry, so the park’s sprinklers had run most of the night, trying to keep the grass green. This made some good sized puddles, which the dogs were enjoying.
One woman with twins toddlers in a stroller and I were chatting. “See that dog that keeps going all the way down into the puddle?” She smiled. “That’s mine.”
Then this evening, we decided that since it was finally cool enough that we would walk over to Sunnyside Park and play badminton. This was our second time playing this summer, and we were so much better! We had fun whacking the birdie around, flailing less and hitting it more.
Across the park were some fellows who sleep in the park most on nights when the weather is good. They and their dogs were hanging out. For a while it was fine, but then they let the dogs all the leashes and it started to get uncomfortable.
While we were sitting on the grass to rest, the dogs came over to see what we were doing. They weren’t mean, but got very close and were not following directions, from us or their owners. I got nervous around dogs for the first time since I’ve lived here.
When we had rested, we thought about playing some more, but the idea of the dogs chasing us spoiled the fun. Sadly, we packed up and headed home
I know that no place is perfect, and one short bit of discomfort won’t ruin a day, but I am sad that for just a few minutes, I had that panicky feeling about dogs again. I will go visit Laurelhurst today and chase the bad away with some good.
So far, I have gotten to be here in the spring (for just a week), and the summer (for two months) and the trees and bushes keep changing and growing.
In the spring it was very wet and cool, with only the blooms of azaleas and rhododendrons making big wads of color amid the dark and damp. It seemed like the wet dirt was napping, just waiting for sunshine.
Laurelhurst in March
And it’s a good thing the ground was so damp, because we haven’t had rain for two months, except for a short, dramatic thunderstorm. The larger trees are doing well without help, but we see a lot of people out watering their gardens to make sure the plants stay healthy. Summers weren’t always this dry, but because of climate change we are seeing more drought conditions here.
Over at Sunnyside Environmental School, there are watering crews that come in once a week. They have even made signs which crack me up!
This part of town also has lots of food growing. There are apple trees weighted down with fruit and even grapes hanging on fences.
Baby Grapes
I love sharing my new city with you. I hope your new year at school goes well.
Last night we went to a really old part of Portland. The buildings here were built in 1888, 1900, 1906… these are old! These buildings are beautiful, built of brick with either cast iron or glazed ceramic tile decorations. They were originally used as offices, warehouses or apartment buildings.
This part of town used to be busy and prosperous, but now it is more run down. Like many neighborhoods that have fallen into disrepair, it is looking toward a rebirth. There are some restaurants and offices being installed in these lovely old buildings.
The 1888 Blagen Block, now being used by Air BnB
But the reason we went was to hear a talk by Joe Streckert on “The Mythical Geography of the Pacific Northwest”at Floyd’s Coffee Shop.
Joe also writes and does a podcast called “Weird History” and, it turns out, is an old friend of Auntie Katie! They went to college together in Eugene and are now both here in Portland. It’s a small world for history geeks, I guess.
Joe’s talk was about how people made maps of this part of the world in the old days. With no satellites or GPS, map making was really hard. People had to sail or walk across the land, making measurements and drawing them very carefully.
Sometimes, they just guessed.
Joe showed us a map drawn by Gerardus Mercator, drawn in 1606 that is supposed to show the North Pole. It includes things labeled “pygmies” and refers to a giant polar vortex where the waters of the ocean are sucked into the Earth to produce currents. Knowing what we know now, this seems silly. But he was a respected cartographer (map maker) and this map was taken seriously for a long time.
Joe Streckert
There were also maps that described what we called the Bering Strait as being a narrow passage, (which he called the Straits of Anian) between North America and Japan, showing the Pacific Ocean as very small so it was just a short hop from North America, to Japan, to China. Ooops.
Another idea that stuck around for a long time was “The Island of California”. Spanish explorers sailing up the Sea of Cortez between Mexico and Baja California decided this peninsula was really an island. This reminded people in Spain of an old story about Queen Califa and her race of Amazon women who lived on an island paradise, so they named that area after her! Califa = California.
After just a few years, it was discovered by more sailors that it wasn’t an island, but the idea was so strong that it kept being on the maps!
There were lots of other mix-ups and historical mistakes about maps, which were very interesting. After the talk, we caught a ride home with Auntie Katie and were grateful for the cooler weather.
Dear Liza 