On the way to and from the Zoo this weekend, Grandpa Nelson and I built in some time to walk around and see things. Big cities like Portland always have something new going on.
At Pioneer Square, sometimes called Portland’s Living Room, there is this sign, showing distances to notable locations near and far. Nice to see that “Portlandia” is just five blocks away!
Also in the Living Room is this decoration, called The Weather Machine. It opens up at noon, plays a fanfare, and displays a different icon depending on the weather.
New planters are going in along walkable street. They look sturdy and ready to bloom this spring.
As we waited for the bus home in the afternoon, we got to listen to a concert and choir from the Ukraine Association. They are making sure we all remember that Ukraine is still under attack from Russia and needs our support.
It’s nice that spring is coming and we can be out and about again.
I went to the Zoo with Grandpa Nelson this weekend, and I have never seen it so busy! To celebrate the Season Opening, the Zoo was offering half price $12 tickets, and the place was packed with kids and their grown-ups.
Fortunately, the animals were also out, being social and interesting. Nora the Polar Bear was doing whatever this is, every now and then looking out to the crowd.
The new Amur Tiger “cubs” were out and about. They are brothers named Dmitri and Luka, each eighteen months old. They were MUCH bigger than I had imagined, and covered a lot of area stretching out in the sun. Grandpa Nelson would have brought one home if he could have.
Our couch might hold one of them, but there wouldn’t be any room for the rest of us!
The birds in the Aviary were active. This long-tailed What-cha-ma-callit was wandering through the crowd and not getting his feathers ruffled. I would have looked up its proper name, but the signs were covered in KIDS.
This other fellow was having his lunch and telling everyone what he thought of them.
Overall, it was a pleasant visit with our animal buddies. But sometimes, I think, too many people is just too many.
My friend Cynthia has moved to town, and I got to show her some of my favorite things on Friday.
First, she helped me to do some chores, and played with Auntie Katie’s cats while I did some tidying. I didn’t take any pictures, but Cynthia and the cats seemed happy with the situation.
After a good cat-visit, we caught the Orange Line train to downtown. ( I am on a mission to educate Cynthia about our wonderful transit system here in Portland.)
The train got us within a block of our first destination of the day, the Oregon Historical Society. We enjoyed each other’s company and chatted while looking at maps and displays outlining the development of Oregon. We saw some of the same names there that we had seen at Lone Fir Cemetery. In Portland, history doesn’t travel very far.
After a yummy lunch at the Market Street McMenamin’s, we headed up the Park blocks, enjoying some of the new public art. This robot was part of the Winter Lights Festival and has just stuck around. Isn’t he fun?
Further up the park blocks, we found this installation of some metal cats. It was weird, but wonderful… like Portland!
We continued north to the newly-renovated main branch of the Multnomah County Library. The outside hasn’t changed, but the inside has new carpets, new shelves, better bathrooms, and lots of bright sunlight coming through the wonderful arched windows.
Cynthia and I are both nuts about maps, and we discovered the MAP ROOM. There are hundreds of drawers with big flat maps, and a dozen globes set out in top of the cabinets. We were in map-geek heaven.
And on the third floor, this marvelous glass dome just tops off the whole space.
We stepped back out into the street knowing that this renovation was a good idea and might become, as Cynthia said, “a second home.”
After such a cold winter, it’s really not surprising that spring takes a few tries to get going. Last week, after a week or so of very cold and windy weather, we had three days of knock-your-socks-off sunshine. Our Second False Spring.
I got to see a bunch of these lovelies as I walked to fetch cousin Kestrel from school. Here are some daffodils blooming alongside local artist Mike Bennett’s dinosaur.
The crocuses are up, and you see those fat leaves? They are going to be tulips!
I can never remember the name of this bush with tiny urn shaped flowers, but it sure smells good!
I think this is forsythia… tall and gawky, but celebrating spring (even a bit early) deserves my respect.
And finally, the sun shone beautifully in this small neighborhood horse. I don’t think he gets much work, but he looks good.
And now we will be back to rain and snow for a bit. Be patient!
As we have often agreed, learning curves are a good thing. The first of anything that we make is rarely the best… it takes experience and time to get the hang of things.
Languages… Rock Climbing… and crafts.
A few weeks ago I started making decorated boxes with Ruth Inman. I struggled a bit with shiny surfaces and flimsy cardboard. I even took a tea box apart to try and strengthen it.
I trimmed the too-deep, too-fragile Yogi tea box down and gave it some reinforcement with tissue paper and a strip of cardboard around the top edge.
Today was another Art Zoom. Zoe, (who isn’t quite awake yet because she lives in Tasmania and it is 6 A.M. there) , made such a wonderful box that I needed to take a picture. She used Velcro as a closure for her box, and put a nifty ribbon and stick contraption on the outside to look pretty.
I got inspired, so while we were chatting, I pulled out some wire and made a hasp. It wobbled around a bit, so I anchored it with glue and thin paper straps.
I need to let the glue dry before I do the next part, which will be to push the hasp through the hole and slide a tiny twig through to lock it.
I love learning new things! Some things, like languages and geography, make the world more accessible. And others, like crafts, just make it more fun!
As we start to see the end of winter, gardens can need tending to. It is too early for me to start in my vegetable patch at a Blair Community Garden…. I have tried pushing the seasonal limits and been disappointed there before.
But Auntie Katie’s garden at Books with Pictures doesn’t grow vegetables. It is full of hardy perennials like rhododendrons, irises and roses. She uses this lovely spot the other three seasons for story readings, lectures and book signings, performances, and as part of her Books with Pictures Comic Con.
This is me reading to some munchkins a few summers ago.
The garden has been through its second winter now and is well established.
But our week of especially cold weather took its toll on her irises, killing off the tallest leaves and even some early buds. Old weeds have died and need to be dealt with, and the last of the fall leaves have turned to slimy muck on the ground. So I get to go over and get my hands dirty.
Spring doesn’t officially start until next month, but many of the flowers here are ready and willing.
Camellias are always early to the party, and this multi-colored trio at Laurelhurst Park is taller than me and blooming like crazy.
Playing nicely alongside is this amazing striped one. It looks like peppermint!
I do not know the name of this spindly, skinny tree, but it is always one of the earliest to bloom. I love its tiny pink flowers against the dark green of the fir tree, a hundred feet over head.
Warm weather is due this week, and I’ll be out in it. But I love the soggy, as well.
My friend Ruthie Inman is always finding new ways to challenge our little zoom art group. This week she asked us to get a cream cheese box so we could cover it and make it pretty and useful.
The silvery coating on the box was very slippery and needed lots of gesso before it would take any paint. My first idea was to paint the whole thing bright orange and then collage over it. I didn’t take a picture, but trust me, it was awful.
I asked YOU and you said i should paint the whole thing black and figure out what to do next. So I did, and here’s what came next : really beautiful paper cut into teeny tiny bits.
I love mosaics, and black always looks good between bright colors. I got the top covered while Ruthie, Zoe and I chatted.
And to make the inside pretty, I found some gold foil (it came wrapped around pears at Christmas) and cut it to fit the bottom of the box.
This box still isn’t finished…. The black parts aren’t pretty and it needs a clasp to keep it closed.
And speaking of works in progress, I did another experiment with boxes… this time, a Yogi tea box. I was thinking of using it instead of the cream cheese box.
But as I held it, it felt too flimsy to be of any use. maybe I could reinforce it? I pulled apart the glued corners and laid it flat, laid tissue paper over the whole thing, front and back, with Mod Podge medium, then put it back together. It is stronger, but is still in its slightly-lumpy-tissue state.
But fear not. All will be well…and if it isn’t, I am only out a few cents of Mod Podge.
This winter has been very disconnected, and disconnecting. Being sick, or having Grandpa Nelson sick, since early December has made us be more stay-at-homey than usual. So Auntie Bridgett and I have started making an effort, every weekend, to get out and fall in love with Portland’s small businesses again.
This past Sunday we walked south. On Hawthorne, we saw the new Mochinut shop, which sells ‘corn dogs’ made with rice flour and other delicious things.
Continuing south to Division, we stopped in at The Whole Bowl for lunch. It is in the small food truck court between 35th Place and 36th Avenue. You can find it by looking for this mural and walking down the short alley.
This is the look of a woman enjoying the beans, brown rice, avocados, cheese, sauce and cilantro of a delicious Whole Bowl. Yum!
Well fed and ready for a shopping adventure, we headed into Artifact. This curated, funky, affordable secondhand store is always fun.
Bridgett found a tiny metal table that is finding good use in her crowded studio.
Collage art supply was our next stop. I found magenta embroidery floss that will be nice in the crazy quilt. Bridgett noticed that they have changed their inventory a bit, having more kid’s art supplies, fewer art papers and pens. They have also moved their back wall forward, so the main space is smaller.
By now I was starting to flag, so we headed north, stopping to see what’s happening with the Farmhouse Food Carts on SE 35th Place. We were worried that this delightful pod would disband with the departure of Reverend Nat’s Cider, but Migration Brewing has taken a short term lease and is hoping to have a fine summer. Shera Indian Food, Let’s Roll Sushi and Gyro! are all making use of the space, and will have increasing hours as the weather warms up.
We made our last leg home, stopping by Asylum to pay our respects to this cool shop that is closing soon.
As we have learned, small businesses in big cities are always a gamble, and if you like a place, you have to buy their stuff. Your sale may be what boosts that day’s sales over a bar.
Dear Liza 