Books – Page 2 – Dear Liza

Re-opening a Favorite

Dear Liza,

When we first moved to this neighborhood, we fell in love with the J. C. Havely House, just katty corner across Belmont Street. It is rumored to be haunted and certainly looks the part. At that time it was being run as The Pied Cow.

The Pied Cow served delicious ginger cake, ice cold sangria, baked Brie on fresh bread, and lots of other goodies. It was amazing. But when the pandemic hit, the strain on both the business and the owner was just too much. The Pied Cow closed and the building was sold.

But good news! The house is soon to be opened as The Foxtrot Lounge, and on Saturday we got to see the inside of the house, the garden, and have a short chat with the new owner, Britain Stephens.

Britain (who is extremely camera shy) and his crew have cleaned up the large garden space and installed beautiful structures. Some of these feel like classy cabanas and will be good for shelter from the sun and moderate rain. Others are just for fun.

Lots of folks were looking around and enjoying the space.

The inside of the Havely House has gotten a facelift as well, and now feels like a friendly, high-end Haunted Mansion. Since the Havely House is home to a ghost called Aunt Lydia, this seems fitting.

We didn’t try any of the food on offer, but there was wine, beer, sangria, and a variety of bruschettas. Britain told us he plans on a proper opening come October… Just in time for Halloween!

And you know we will be there.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Auntie Bridgett’s Birthday!!

Dear Liza,

Tuesday was your Auntie Bridgett’s Birthday, and we had a fine time.

After a quiet morning of breakfast and language practice, she opened her presents, including tee shirts, sketchbooks, and a fabulous Snoopy quilt her Momma Donna made for her. Isn’t it amazing?

Once Bridgett had her celebratory red Converse high tops on, we caught the #20 bus downtown to Powell’s City of Books, which we haven’t visited in far too long.

Just being in the space makes me happy!

They have a new café inside, called The Guilder Café (after a country in The Princess Bride). The food was good and not very expensive, and the seating area has regular tables along with some arena type seating and comfy chairs. We spent more than an hour eating, reading, and browsing. It was delightful.

Then, after taking pictures of one of Coraline’s Curious Cats in her lovely urban environment, we caught the #20, connected to the #6, and headed up to the McMenamin’s Coffee Roastery. Considering how many McMenamin’s venues there are, I was amazed at how small the facility was! This one room, one giant roaster, and one guy named Chris.

Chris gave us all the lowdown on coffee… where it’s sourced from, how long you roast it for, and some of the dangers. Did you know that Auntie Bridgett’s favorite dark roast needs to get to 500 F, and will burst into flames at just 700 F? Dangerous work!

After we heard all that Chris had to say, we caught the #6 and then the #15 to get home, where we all had a nice rest. Birthdays are exhausting!

At dinner time, Grandpa Nelson was still pooped, so he stayed home and I walked the Birthday Girl up to Dov Vivi pizza. We love their cornbread based crust and Quattro Fromagio (Four Cheese) pizza.

We ate out on the patio and watched the world go by. Moms with strollers, kids on skateboards, old dudes getting off the bus… busy city life going on all around us.

We needed to bring half the pizza home, but it will make a lovely lunch tomorrow.

Happy Birthday, Bridgett!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Wild Flowers, Rune Stones, and Deer

Dear Jasper and Kestrel,

For our second day in Horsens, we headed out of town to Jelling. Of course, there is always a snag, and David’s Tesla needed charging, so we had a layover.

Liza and I enjoyed the massive wild flower field by the service station, and had a fine time identifying and photographing them. With the rain and long summer days, flowers grow really well here, even when no one takes care of them.

At Jelling, we met Auntie Olga’s friend Dennis. He is from Russia and getting used to life in Denmark, too.

The rune stones are rough, stout stones about seven feet high, carved all over with symbols. They were placed here, between two burial mounds, by the Danish King in the year 965 A.D.

This one, which shows a very stylized Jesus on the cross, was carved to show that King Harold Bluetooth (yes, really) had converted to Christianity. It is called Denmark’s Baptism certificate.

In case you were wondering, Harold’s initials, written in Danish runes (ancient letters) is the symbol we now use for Bluetooth wireless technology. Bluetooth was invented by a Dutch engineer while working in Sweden, so I guess it makes some sort of sense? Cool, anyway.

Scientists have discovered that the stone were originally painted!! Over a thousand years the paint has worn away, but tiny traces remain, and a replica of one of the stones has been created with what they think the original colors were. I was stunned. With the color, they look almost Mayan.

After some delicious ice cream, we said good-bye to Dennis and headed to our last stop of the day, the Deer Park outside of Vejle, south of Horsens. The deer were very gentle, of course, but not always cooperative.

One little girl followed the small group around with a handful of grass and kept offering it. She may have a long term strategy, but while we were there, the deer weren’t having it.

By this time, we were all pooped and drove ‘home’ for a well-deserved lay down.

Love,

Grandma Judy

My Completed SOAK Journal

Dear Liza,

Having spent a few days making the cover of the SOAK Journal, I spent another week filling the whole thing up!

The cover got the year and title, just in case I get to go to another SOAK event.

Since I wanted to record my activities and feelings accurately, many of the pages are all about words. Lots and lots of words.

But SOAK is such a visual treat, it would be a crime to leave the Journal un-illustrated. I did what I could while camping,

And did more detailed work once I was home.

Flaps, fold-out pages and pockets allowed me to include parts of the SOAK booklet and the stickers that were handed out.

Overall, I feel like I captured my experience pretty well.

Now, I can put the SOAK Journal on the shelf to enjoy later.

Meanwhile, I have another adventure to prepare for!!

Love,

Grandma Judy

SOAK Day 4

Dear Liza,

Saturday is a big day at SOAK, the day of the Major Structure burn. I have showed you this structure, that thing that looks like a wooden light house. There are stairs inside, and I actually went up!

The views were wide and high, but the gusting winds encouraged me to head on down.

By the evening, I had figured out that a million pictures weren’t going to capture my experience of SOAK, and I took fewer and fewer. But that evening, with everyone in costume and sitting in The High Meadow waiting for the Burn, I asked Jasper, Kestrel, and their Troupe to sit for a portrait.

Some pictures are worth posing for!

The Burn was delayed several times, as the wind kept gusting, creating a danger of the fire spreading. Firefighters soaked the ground between the structure and the fire line, and people were stationed on the hill to look for sparks.

I was waved down to a seat in the front by a ranger named Leeway, who (like lots of other folks here) is a friend of Katie’s. The fire dancers came out and put on a thrilling, if slightly scary, show.

And then, at 11:28 p.m., the thermite was set off and the Burn began.

You could tell which job people had by which way they were looking. The firefighters never took their eyes off the tower, to make sure the fire didn’t get loose into the area. The Rangers never took their eyes off the crowd, to make sure no one acted in ways that were unsafe around fire.

The tower burned for about a half hour, letting the chilly crowd get warm. We were all warming ourselves in the same fire, becoming, in a way, members of the same tribe.

This felt like all of the Principles coming into play at the same time.

*Radical Self-Reliance, because everything had been brought up by the burners.

*Gifting and Communal Effort from the folks who built and monitored the fire for the rest of us.

*Immediacy, in our total absorption in the moments of the Burn.

*Decommodification, because it was offered to all of us for free. Also, no one was advertising anything with it.

*Consent, because there were those who chose not to be at the Burn, and everyone was free to experience it at their own comfort level.

*Radical Inclusion and Participation, because there was plenty of room for the almost 3,000 people to see. Also, all of our presence made up the experience.

*Radical Self-Expression, in the creation and then destruction of one’s creation.

*Civic Responsibility, in the action as of fire fighters, Rangers, and the whole crowd, keeping everyone safe. Also, the correct local fire permits and such were given, so the Burn is also good citizens to the “outside”.

I will tell you about the last Principle tomorrow, as we move toward out last day at SOAK 2024.

Love,

Grandma Judy

A Few Chores

Dear Liza,

We have had so many fun, busy days lately, there has to be some days to just do the stuff that needs doing.

I made an appointment for my annual “Wellness” check-up. That’s when the doctor makes sure my old brain and old heart are still up to snuff. It’s going to be a busy summer, so it’s good to get a tune up.

We are also predicted to have a solid week of sunny, over 70 degree days, so I spent some time in the garden, pulling out the invasive mint that climbs through the fence and (TAA DAA!!) putting zucchini seeds in the ground! Their packet says they should “emerge” in 5 to 8 days. I will hold them to it!

After I had washed up, I pulled your Daddy David’s oldest stufftie out of the cupboard. VIP TLC, as your daddy called him way back in 1981, was one of the Shirt Tales cartoon characters. I sewed this one from a printed fabric panel back in the days when money was tight. He was very cuddly!

It’s been 40 years or so since VIP TLC has been washed, and I want to bring him with us this summer. So he got unstuffed and put into the wash. While he was getting clean, I fluffed up the old stuffing. When he was dry, I put them back together. Now he is ready for a flight to Denmark!

My last ‘chore’ of the day was to bring my garden journal up to date. The last time I made a picture for it, the day was grey and wet.

But bright, sunny days inspire bright, sunny colors!

Bees and Birthdays

Dear Liza,

This past Friday was busy around here. It was Grandpa Nelson’s birthday AND First Friday at SideStreet Arts, where Auntie Bridgett was having a show.

The first part of the day was for presents and quiet puzzles. Grandpa enjoyed his refurbished clock and a gift card from Donna.

Later, we headed up to the gallery to see Bridgett’s art, along with the four other artists featured in the Love Buzz show. It was a chilly, drizzly evening, so the crowd was small. But the artwork was beautiful (and so was Auntie Bridgett).

She had paintings, moleskin sketchbooks, zines, buttons, and all sorts of adorable bits for sale. Her fellow artists Jackie McIntyre, Lea Barozzi, Michelle Gallagher and Brenda Scott and were showing paintings, ceramics, and collage works.

I think it is impossible to see bees and be sad. The colors and movement in the show even brightened the grey evening outside.

Grandpa Nelson and I visited with the artists for a while, then walked around the corner to Ankeny Tap and Table for his birthday dinner. Yummy sliders (my first actual beef in over a year… amazingly delicious) , French Fries, good conversation and a glass of red wine made for a fine celebration.

We waved at Bridgett as we headed home, walking quickly as the rain had started in earnest.
Love,

Grandma Judy

Yellow Line to Downtown

Dear Liza,

When Auntie Bridgett and I left the Quilt Show, we weren’t ready for our day out to be over. We knew two things… we needed lunch, and we wanted to see some new things. So we headed downtown.

For lunch, we got off the Yellow Line at Pioneer Square and walked up the curvy steps to the food carts. Nine dollars got us lunch at The Whole Bowl, with one bowl being enough for the two of us! We enjoyed listening to the waterfall fountain and watching people and pigeons enjoy the sunshine.

When we were full, we headed to the Main Branch of the Multnomah Library. I had visited with Cynthia a month ago, but Bridgett hadn’t seen it. Besides, there’s always something new.

For example, did you know that the library carries books in Danish? Two different staff librarians hunted for, and eventually Bridgett found, two of Portland native Beverly Cleary’s books translated into Danish, so I can use them to practice this difficult language.

In the map room, I started opening drawers at random and found this magnificent Trimet map of the light rail lines in Portland , shown as a video game! It was huge, accurate, and adorable.

And up on the third floor I found a large display of various interpretations of Shakespeare! T-shirts, comic books, and posters for movie adaptations filled glass cases. This poster is from a movie I had never heard of, (but will watch this evening, if it’s available.) Family friendly” versions, with the bawdy bits removed, were attempted in the 1800s, and have been carefully preserved.

I even had a flash of cross-reference bedazzlement when I saw this quote from Much Ado About Nothing and realized Lin-Manuel Miranda had used it in the flirting scene in Hamilton. (The rhyme is “I’m a trust fund baby, you can trust me.”)

By this time our brains were full and our feet were tired, so we caught the Magic 15 and headed home. What a day!

What a city!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Mail Call!

Dear Liza,

Since we don’t like to drive much, we do quite a bit of shopping online. This means we get packages delivered.

Today we got two packages. The first one, and the one that made us happiest, was our copy of Whose Boat is this Boat? This is a book created by the staff of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

The pictures are by Andro Buneta and John Henry, and the words are by President Donald J. Trump. They are things Mr. Trump said when he was visiting North Carolina after Hurricane Florence did so much damage there.

They are accidentally funny. We like reading the book and looking at the pictures, but mostly we like that all the money from buying the book is being donated to North Carolina to help them rebuild their houses and towns.

The second package was not a book, but was also accidentally funny. Grandpa Nelson had ordered four tiny batteries for some lights we use at Christmas. The card they are on can easily fit inside an envelope for a birthday card, but they were sent in a box big enough for a football!

Surely, a big mailing company like Amazon has smaller boxes, right? Puzzlement.

Love,

Grandma Judy