Dear Liza

The Art of the Zoo

Dear Liza,

I have showed you a lot about the art AT our zoo. Jim Gion’s lions and statues of Charles Darwin make our visits more fun.

But besides putting art in the zoo, there is also an art to creating a beautiful zoo.

So many of these are missed in a hurried dash from enclosure to enclosure, so this past visit I made a conscious effort to stop and notice these wonderful touches.

In the Africa area, there are these delightful carvings set into the planters. These let you know what animals are coming up, and give a nice rustic feel to the area.

When artfully designing a zoo, it is good to understand the climate. This fabulous moss covered wall leading down into the gorge of the Pacific Northwest area is nice all year round, but positively blooms in the spring! The moss feels like velvet and I love to walk slowly, letting my fingers enjoy the texture.

These wonderful lichens grow by the giraffes, and add to the visual interest of the planters. It is so prehistoric looking and unexpected, it really stands out.

And growing right next to the unusual lichen were these tiny, fuzzy purple flowers. They were as delicate and pretty as the lichen were weird and unworldly.

Chuckles are always good at a zoo, too. Kids want to learn about the animals, but have fun, too. This interactive chart uses funny words to let kids know that red pandas sleep A LOT, all day. Napping, resting, dozing, and dreaming are how these fluffy critters spend their time.

I hope we get to visit the zoo when you come up to visit!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Predatory Beauty

Dear Liza,

It was a nice rainy day Thursday, and Grandpa Nelson and I went to the zoo. On really warm days, or weekends, it can be crowded. We like it better with more animals than people.

On this visit we had some real quality time with the apex predators, the lions and eagles. In the Pacific Northwest Forest zone, the big bald eagle had come right down to the edge of the river where the salmon and sturgeon are, and seemed to be eyeing them for lunch.

I loved the way the forest and eagle were reflected in the calm water.

Over in the Africa section, the whole pride of lions was out on the rocks, enjoying the cool, wet weather. Looking at them through the rain and mist, it was easy to imagine myself watching them on the African savanna, some early morning.

I saw a lot of other lovely things at the zoo, but I will save them for another day.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Staying Healthy

Dear Liza,

On my birthday later this month, I will turn 66 years old. I am healthy, and want to stay that way so I can have more adventures and watch as you and your cousins grow into your own.

At a recent doctor’s visit, I found out my cholesterol is “marginally high” at 137 when it should be closer to 99. My blood glucose (sugar) is also high. My dad, your great-grandpa Lowell, had heart trouble and diabetes, so this runs in the family. But there are lots of things I can do to stay healthy longer.

Cholesterol is a natural compound in people’s blood. Some is necessary and natural, but too much is bad for your heart and blood circulation system. So it’s good to keep it low.

Toward this end, I have made some changes to my diet. Meats like beef and lamb have the type of fats that raise cholesterol, so I am avoiding them even more than before.

To make sure we still get enough protein, we are having fish two or three times a week in the form of canned tuna, poke (from Sea Sweets down on Hawthorne) or salmon. We are also including more beans, tofu and vegetables into our diet.

We have always enjoyed oatmeal for breakfast because it is filling, tasty (with cinnamon and raisins) and warm. Now that we know how good it is for our hearts, we appreciate it with desserts, as well. Crisps and fruit desserts with a dollop of sweetened low-fat yogurt on top are tasty and less likely to kill me. This is a good thing.

I was surprised to learn that our beloved French Press coffee has been working against me. Unfiltered coffee makes cholesterol higher! Who knew?

So I have started pouring mine through a paper filter every morning. It just takes a few minutes and doesn’t change the taste, and I know I’m helping my health.

Speaking of coffee, I have started having a cup of herbal tea during the day when my body wants a snack. This keeps junk food out of my system and keeps me hydrated and full.

And when I want a snack after dinner, I have some of Grandpa Nelson’s popcorn. He makes it in his popper, with just olive oil and a tiny bit of salt. It is whole grain, low fat, and delicious.

And of course, we exercise. When it is too chilly or wet to go out for a walk, Auntie Bridgett and I put on bouncy music and jog or dance like lunatics around the house. It is fun and gets our hearts pumping!

These are the ways I am working to stay healthy and happy.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Portland Oddities

Dear Liza,

After two sunny weeks of very unusual weather, we are back to the usual… rain, wind and cold. This is going to push my garden work back a week or so. But that’s okay, I have lots to keep me busy.

For this blog, I want to share some things I have found around town that are different, quirky, or just plain cool.

This beautiful pathway in a front garden is a combination of climate, pavers, and lots of time. The patterned concrete bricks were laid down flat to give traction on the gentle slope, where it can get slippery with our rains. To me, it looks almost like a green, fuzzy, stained glass window.

Here is another thing that is perfectly Portland. In this tiny free library down on Salmon Street, a box of Corn Flakes rests next to the books, ready to be taken by anyone who needs it. These little libraries are managed by the people who install them, who make sure they are stocked and kept in good condition.

While graffiti can be a nuisance in some places, these added words and letters on an electrical box in Laurelhurst Park made me smile. Delighting in my memories, and making new ones, is how I like to spend my time.

I hope you had a good day, and sleep well to have another one tomorrow.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Another Kind of Art Journal

Dear Liza,

Ruthie Inman has done it again, showing me a new way to make an art journal.

This one starts with an old magazine. Since magazines have really thin, cheap paper, you spread glue (or Mod Podge) and fold each page over on itself to give you a thicker page to work on.

I started with the cover, using a Payne’s Grey craft paint and some silver sparkly paint. Then I slathered craft paint over the pages, making sure to let each one dry before pressing the whole thing flat under a pile of books. This step took a few days.

But what sort of art should be in this journal? At another suggestion from Ruthie, I started using the idea of “The Exquisite Corpse”, a drawing game Cousin Kestrel taught me, to play with a new kind of collage.

Cutting different people, animals and things from magazines, I join them together to make some pretty cool Exquisite Corpse style images.

Is there no end to the nonsense I can get into with art supplies? I sure hope not!

Love,

Grandma Judy

A Visit to Books with Pictures

Dear Liza,

This weekend Auntie Bridgett and I walked down to Auntie Katie’s bookshop, Books with Pictures. Her shop was full of happy, comic-loving, mask-wearing people!

We got to find some books by artists and authors we knew and see the new decor.

We had gone to visit for her a reason, though.

The lovely mural on the side of her store got tagged with graffiti last weekend. Auntie Bridgett wanted to see if she could help repair it.

There are several reasons this is going to be difficult. The mural was painted way back in 1997, so the paint has faded and will be very hard to match. People in the neighborhood LOVE it, so you want to do a really good job. Also, the surface of the wall has cracked in a few places and needs to be mended. More immediately, our weather is predicted to be too wet and cold to paint for the next two weeks.

After Katie and Bridgett figured out what the next steps will be, we headed home. As we walked past the back of the shop, we noticed the new shed Katie has had installed to hold the supplies for the new food trucks, which are hopefully coming in spring.

It was a great visit, and we had a nice piece of carrot cake and cup of tea at Palio, right in the Ladd’s Addition, before catching the number 14 home.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Wallflower Coffee

Dear Liza,

There is a new coffee shop down at 34th and Division, called Wallflower Coffee, and they had their very grand Grand Opening on Sunday. It was a chilly day and rain was predicted, but we tucked the umbrellas in our bags and headed off.

The place was jumping when we got there! Sethy Jones, the pianist-for-hire, was playing a bouncing catalogue of Beatles, Elton John, and other “oldies”, which made the place feel like a party.

The small shop was crowded, but standing people and servers were wearing masks, and they made beautiful lattes.

Still, it felt weird being in a closed space with so many people we don’t know.

Grandpa Nelson especially hates crowds and found a small table in the foyer of the building next door where we could enjoy our coffees and chai out of the crowd, but still hear the music. As is usual for new places in Portland, the coffee was more lightly roasted than we like, but it was well-brewed. Lighter roasted beans give a more caffeinated coffee but also taste a bit sour.

We enjoyed our drinks in the cluttered but nicely decorated foyer and people-watched for quite a while. Feeling refreshed, we headed back home (in the rain)

Wallflower Coffee
New SE Portland coffee shops
Seth Jones
Covid precautions
D. St. Village
Safeway grocery store

by way of Safeway to do the shopping, then dinner, then a ZOOM visit with you.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Beyond the Exquisite Corpse

Dear Liza,

I wanted to tell you again about a game called “Exquisite Corpse”, which is not as gruesome as it sounds. Cousin Kestrel first showed it to me about three years ago.

It is a drawing game. You fold a piece of paper into three sections, one above the other. The first player draws the head of a creature, with the neck lines going just slightly below the fold. This gives the second player a place to start. Without looking at what the first player drew, the second adds to the creature. This continues with the third player, who adds the legs, or bottom part.

Auntie Bridgett, Cousin Kestrel and I played it last Friday when she was visiting.

This game is based on a word game invented in the early 1900s by Andre Breton, a surrealist artist in France. In the word game, you add to a story without knowing what it is about. Here, you do it with pictures.

As always, it was fun to draw and fun to see what we created together. I love this dancing-angel-god-thing.

Kes and I did a critter with just two parts, as well, and then there was this Soot Sprite (from “My Friend Totoro”) she drew. These critters were too adorable to throw away, so I made a piece of art with them.

I found a page in my art journal that was just sweeps of blue acrylic, trimmed the Exquisite Corpse drawings, and put them in a scene together.

Here is the story, as far as I have it : A tentacled merboy has discovered a lost baby bird at sea, and takes it to his friend, a confused Soot Sprite who lives on a teeny tiny island. The Soot Sprite isn’t sure what to do with it, but a ballerina-angel-sun god flies overhead and everything turns out okay.

I love that I took a picture game based on a story game, made pictures with it, and then made up a story about them. It’s like a spiral of word/art/word/art that just makes me happy!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Home-Made Wordle

Dear Liza,

It seems that most of the grown-ups in the country are playing an on-line game called Wordle. It has become so popular that Mr. Wardle, who invented the game, has sold it to the New York Times newspaper for over a million dollars.

When you play Wordle, you have six chances to figure out a five letter word. The game gives you clues as to which of your guessed letters are in the right place, the wrong place, or not in the answer at all. Most days, I can get the answer in four or five tries.

The problem is, there is only ONE official Wordle puzzle a day.

We wanted MORE!! So we started doing Wordles on paper.

This is how we play. One person comes up with a five letter word, which they keep secret. The other person makes their first guess, and is given their clues. A dot means “this letter is in the word, but not in this place”. A letter gone over in heavy writing means “this letter is in the right place.” If the letter has no mark, it isn’t in the word at all.

Sometimes the word comes easily, and other times it feels like there is no way you are ever going to get it. And because you have to remember the word you invented and give accurate clues, it is a good brain exercise for both players.

The on-line game has been a fun way to start our mornings, and we play our on-paper version at lunchtime.

Happy brain-gaming!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Unexpected Pie

Dear Liza,

The weather got beautiful for a few days (we call it Fool’s Spring) so Grandpa Nelson and I headed off for an adventure. Like most adventures, it started with lunch.

We had hot dogs and fries at Zach’s Shack while we watched some Olympic downhill skiing. As we were finishing up, Grandpa asked “Want to go up Mt. Tabor?” Of course, I said YES! We were on the right street, we just needed to go a mile east… and gain about 800 feet of elevation.

I love Mt. Tabor. How many cities have their very own volcano? Well, extinct volcanic cinder cone, actually. We followed the path up past the old reservoir on the west side and through the fir tree forest that covers the mountain. Spring growth is greening up the forest floor nicely.

There were lots of people with their kids, dogs, and strollers out enjoying the day. At the top, we chatted with some little girls, and Grandpa tried to tell them that hawks (we were watching one overhead) eat little girls! The oldest, who was about five, said, “No they don’t, they eat Grandpas!” I guess she showed him!

The view of Downtown from the top of the mountain always knocks me out.

We visited the plinth where the statue of Harvey Scott was the last time you visited. It was pulled down last year by folks who hate what he stood for, (which was rich white men being in charge of everything) and his replacement hasn’t been decided on yet.

By then, it was definitely time for pie! We crossed the top of the park and down the other side, finding this amazingly huge maple tree, and headed towards the Bipartisan Cafe.

We passed this cool sheet metal robot, the mascot for Vinje’s Sheet Metal Supplies.

Inside the Cafe, there were fewer tables than before and no couches, so we could all keep a safe distance. Vaccination cards were required, so we knew we wouldn’t be making people sick. I enjoyed the old campaign posters and the blueberry sour cream pie.

The red rosella tea was hot and sweet and just what was needed.

And when we had eaten every crumb, we stepped out and caught the number 15 back home and slept like dead people. We had walked five miles and felt very accomplished.

Love,

Grandma Judy