Believe it or not, your Grandpa Nelson and I started ‘going steady’ fifty years ago!
On the way to the beach in 1971
We met in 1971 at Mira Costa High School. He was in band and I was in choir, and his locker was just across from mine in the music hall. His best friend, Kevin, had a crush on my best friend, Debbie, and they walked around making googly eyes at each other. Nelson and I walked behind them, rolling our eyes. We discovered that we liked each other, too.
In a photo booth somewhere….
I met his family and he met mine, and we started going out. Our regular date spot was the Taco Bell on Sepulveda Boulevard, because it was halfway between our two houses, and it was cheap. We did a certain amount of making googly eyes.
Going out somewhere fancy with my family, 1972
When school was out, we spent most days at the beach. One day when we were laying on the sand, he rolled over and said, “Hey, you want to get married?”
Shirley, us, and Gary, 1974
”Sure,” I said. “But let’s finish high school first, okay?” So we did.
And the rest is history! Two kids, three grandkids, nine houses and many cats later, here we are still together. We added dear Auntie Bridgett to our household, and we make a mighty fine trouple.
We three in Seattle in 2019
Life is good. Life is silly. Life can also be dark, sad, and confusing. But the people we love help us hold on to the light.
It’s spring, which means things are growing and changing. We expect it. We look forward to it. We depend on it! Without new growth in veggies and fruits, we would starve. Without new growth on trees, we would all shrivel up in the hot sun.
But growth can be scary. For something new to grow, something old must die. Leaves fall off trees and are swept away. Old fruit is eaten, or rots, and returns to the soil.
Growth affects people, too. I can’t believe the growth that has happened just this year! Cousin Kestrel has gone from little girl to pre-teen. Cousin Jasper has gone from a precocious boy to a thoughtful young man.
Two years ago Kestrel Now Kestrel
Cities grow and change, too. Delightful but decrepit old houses are torn down to be replaced with newer, more efficient ones.
Away with the old…
Businesses close due to financial disaster, or just a desire for something new. New businesses, maybe smarter or more interesting, replace them.
In with the new….
These cycles of growth and destruction happen on the bigger stage, too. Our country has been run by isolationists and wall builders for a while, people who thought America should be some sort of private club. Now we seem to have realized it must be a more inclusive party. Hopefully, things will get better.
Things keep coming up in our community garden plot. The zucchini sprouts have secondary leaves now, and I’ll need to move them apart a bit so they can have room to spread out.
Looking prosperous!
I’ve moved some parsley that was in our sunny window into the plot, so we could use that window as a nursery for re-starts of pumpkins and cucumbers, the seed of which have apparently died in the ground.
My painting of the Parsley in its mobile home….
Our house faces north, and we only have the one really bright window. New tomato starts have shot up there! I’ve started calling it “la fenetre magique”, which means magic window. When the tomatoes are a few inches tall, I’ll put them out in the plot, too.
On their way up!
I put a few sunflower seeds into the plot, as well, fitting them in between the currently tomato-less tomato cages. I’m keeping them wet and hoping for the best.
Between the Covid lockdown and our cold wet weather, it has been a pretty slothful winter. There have been short walks to the market and out for hot dogs, but no long hikes to Sellwood or the Pearl District, and lots of cookies and potato chips. I was feeling like a bear in hibernation, or a kitten on a lap….Comfy, but a bit overstuffed.
The spring weather, along with jeans that just stopped fitting, has inspired me to get off my Grandma Judy butt and get some exercise. I bought new sneakers (my old ones literally fell apart just after the shut down) and Aunt Bridgett and I headed out.
My big investment… Wooloomooloo shoes!
Years ago, we started running. We’d walk to the Hartnell College track, jog a few miles around, and walk back home. But we went too fast, or twisted a foot, and the joy got lost. We stopped.
When Auntie Bridgett and I decided to start again, we had to dig our old exercise clothes out of the bottom of the drawers. We did lots of stretches so we didn’t break anything, and we set off around the neighborhood. It was fun going down streets, waving at folks out gardening.
Our lovely neighborhood
We stopped (after a paltry ten blocks, but it’s a start!) at our garden plot, to water and check things out. It felt so good to be moving! We ended our day on a healthy note, with a chicken and beet salad with all sorts of greens and nuts for dinner.
And this morning, I woke up feeling… Fabulous! No strains, so sore legs, just clear headed and healthy. So, after our writing time and French lesson on Duolingo, we headed out again. We went a block further and ran a bit faster, and got home with no damage done.
I will keep you posted on our progress. Stay well!
As our spring has moved toward summer (with several bright days interspersed with soaking rains), a whole new batch of flowers are showing themselves. The pinks of early spring, the cherry blossoms and dogwoods, are giving way to oranges and reds.
This clover is over a foot tall and is growing in a parkway near our house. Clover is usually only a few inches tall! The soft, fluffy blooms are about four inches long and very popular with bees.
Thanks to my good friend and French teacher, Shawn Quiane, I found out that this lovely plant is called Helianthemum nummalarium. It is a type of common rock rose.
And the best thing about it is that each individual petal looks like a piece of candy corn!!! Love it!!
So, it is May, and we are still having chilly mornings and some wet days. I’m getting a bit impatient for some solid sunshine. Of course, I know that In July I will complain that it’s “just too hot!” but I guess that’s human nature.
I hadn’t visited our Lone Fir Cemetery in a while, and was missing the sense of perspective that going there always gives me. I was not disappointed.
Mr. And Mrs. Stephens, the original residents, seen just beyond a toppled stone
The dandelions and tiny belladonna daisies are everywhere, bringing a sense of beauty and renewal to the uneven rows of headstones.
The tall willow by the east entrance towers over the graves, as if sheltering them from too much sun.
Odd things caught my eye, as well. This years-old stump has been decorated with crow feathers and flower petals, and seems to bring some older spirits to the place.
And, as part of the newly installed section marking stones, I get to learn the name of the narrow area of graves along the west fence. Am I crazy, or does “Westside Singles” sound more like a dating website than part of a cemetery?
Portland, like any big city, has some problems. Too much traffic, people sometimes stealing cars and things, and sometimes, very loud motorcycles. But Portland is also a lot of fun.
Portland is famous as a bicycling city. We have greenways that have low car traffic and work like highways for bikes. We have bridges that are only for bicycles, people, and trains… no cars! But I’ve lived here almost four years and I’ve never seen this……
One answer to the parking problem!
This is a tiny old house just across the road from the entrance to our Lone Fir Cemetery. It has been fixed up by the young family that just moved in, and I’m guessing they let the kids choose the stickers on the new planter!
And, even as some businesses are closing because of the pandemic, some are opening!!
This is a new shop in Belmont, just down the block. It sells all sorts of ‘spooky’ things…. dolls with scary eyes, jewelry that looks like bats and skulls, and Ouija boards. There are posters of Vincent Price that Auntie Bridgett really likes, because of his spooky movies.
This is someone’s delightful outdoor shelter, down on Market Street. It has seating, a small fireplace and delightful shade, all made of cement, mosaic, tree branches, and old wine bottles. It is a work of art you can sit in! I love coming across these jewels. They are just part of what makes Portland special.
I can’t wait until you can come visit and see all our nifty things!
I am sorry to say, Cousins Jasper and Kestrel have lost their dear cat Pixel. She was sixteen and a half years old and had cancer. She died on Monday. We are all very sad.
Pixel, as a kitten in 2005
Auntie Katie and Uncle Dave found Pixel at an animal shelter outside of Ithaca, New York in 2005. Pixel was so excited about her new owners that she climbed up their jeans! During her first summer, she learned to catch frogs and birds from their older cat, Kink.
She accompanied the family to Portland and over the years became Cousin Kestrel’s best friend.
She made the transition to bookshop cat this past year. At first she was nervous about it, but eventually would go down into the shop late at night to remind Auntie Katie to come upstairs and sleep.
Pixel last year
Pixel developed oral cancer this year. It became inoperable and would eventually kill Pixel by stopping her from eating and breathing. Not wanting to cause her dear kitten such suffering, Auntie Katie decided to have her put to sleep. Dr. Wilson, a very gentle veterinarian, came right to the house. She explained what would happen, and gave Pixel a shot to help her relax.
Auntie Katie held Pixel in her lap on the couch as the heavier sedative was given by IV. Over the next few minutes, Pixel stopped breathing and her heart stopped. Katie held her for a long time as I saw Doctor Wilson out.
My last picture of Pixel, as we waited for the doctor
When Katie was ready, we wrapped Pixel’s body in a pillow case and placed her in a box, putting her in the fridge until her funeral can be planned.
Auntie Katie and I walked around the small garden behind the shop and found a good spot to bury her dear friend. It is between two logs against the far fence. Easy to find, but private enough that one can have a quiet graveside visit. I hope the cousins can help make a nice ceremony to say goodbye. Maybe they will say this poem, by Sarah Henderson Hay.
To a Dead Kitten
Put the rubber mouse away, Pick the spools up from the floor, What was velvet shod, and gay, Will not want them, any more.
What was warm, is strangely cold. Whence dissolved the little breath? How could this small body hold So immense a thing as Death?
Sunday was Mother’s Day, and it just about wore me out! It started with a huge box of wines delivered from our weirdest local wine shop, “Pairings”. Your Daddy David had asked Jeff, the owner, to send us some wines. His directions were “light-ish reds, and interesting labels are a bonus”. And boy, did Jeff deliver!
A delightful collection
We set the wines aside for the moment, and did FaceTime with Auntie Bridgett’s family. Her niece Madilyn had had her first communion, and between that, moving into their new house, and Mother’s Day, there was a lot of happy energy on that call!
For lunch, Auntie Bridgett and I walked to Suzette, just down on Belmont. We thought we’d get take out, but there was only one other customer in the cafe, so we took a table by the door and enjoyed wonderful, interesting, Nicoise Salads.
Ahi tuna, eggs, asparagus, potatoes, arugula, and teeny tiny cornichons!
The salad was a surprising balance of flavors and textures, and so filling, we saved the other half for dinner. The owner, Jen, has done a good job of redecorating during the Covid shutdown, and we enjoyed looking at walls that were not our own.
We watched the Giants lose to the Padres, did some drawing, and then Auntie Katie came! She had taken the afternoon off from her bookshop and walked up to bring me my Mother’s Day present, a wonderful mug by Michael Grubar at Stark Street Studios.
And then it was time to head to the Jazz concert.
Gordon Lee and his small jazz band were putting on one of their free Front Porch concerts down at Alder and 32nd. About fifty folks brought folding chairs, wine, and snacks to enjoy fellas on piano, drums, a stand up bass, and both an alto and a tenor saxophone play music. Jazz Standards, like “Nature Boy”, as well as new pieces like Gordon’s ode to the former President, “Sulking on the Golf Course”, were delightful, as was the parade of kids, dogs, bikes and regular folks. It was pure Portland.
We enjoyed some of the wine your daddy had sent, a light red wine called “Syrahcha”, a combination of Syrah and Shiraz grapes, found right near here in the Columbia River Gorge. It was tasty and went well with the cheese, apple, and blue corns chips we had for snacks.
We were pretty worn out by the time we got home, and there was still Art with Liza time! I am glad we mostly just chatted, and I hope you got your werewolf drawn. Mine is still just a twinkle in my eye. We got to visit with your Momma Olga and Daddy David and hear their plans for summer trips to Denmark and Russia.
As the last entertainment of the day, we snuggled down in the couch to watch Escape to the Chateau, with Dick and Angel Strawbridge building their business at Chateau Le Motte Husson.
This morning I used Auntie Katie’s gift for my morning cuppa, and it is perfect!
I stopped by the garden plot yesterday, to pull tiny weeds and remove the camellia blossoms. I noticed that some of the radishes were looking weird… the soil around the leaves was lumpy and tilted.
Harvest!!
And then I saw why!! Some of them have actual radishes below the leaves. Taking a clue from my friend Shawn Quione in Salinas, I chose the biggest ones to thin out, so the others would have more room. Each one was about the size of the end of my thumb.
Once I got them home, I washed them gently and put them away like fine jewelry, to have with supper. And while I was waiting for Auntie Bridgett to get home, I celebrated with a portrait of the harvest. It is my favorite page in my garden journal so far.
The latest page in my garden journal
I know it is only May, and summer goes until September, but I don’t know if I will be as excited about anything I pull from my dirt as I am about these four radishes. The newness of this sort of creation is just wonderful.
Dear Liza 