Tag: Case Study Coffee

Happy Birthday Bridgett!

Dear Liza,

We got to spent Sunday celebrating Auntie Bridgett’s birthday! It was a lovely sunny day, just for her.

To celebrate, we went to some of her favorite places. First, we stopped at The Bake Shop up on Sandy to get some sweets. They carry a figgy buckwheat spiral that she just loves, and I got their croissant au chocolate and a chocolate chip cookie for Grandpa Nelson.

We tucked the sweets in the car for later and went for coffee at Case Study, just next door. They have good coffee and a delightful vibe. High ceilings, huge plants, and lots of people without a lot of noise. And as a surprise, our table was right by a print by Gail Owen, a talented friend from SideStreet Arts.

And just because life is sweet, right next door to Case Study is Cosmic Monkey Comics. We wandered around and found their up-in-the-loft vintage comics section where Bridgett found Le Pain, a compilation of comics in French! She absolutely giggled with delight!

We took our treasures home and enjoyed a brunch of sweets and eggs, then read and rested for a while. Grandpa Nelson enjoyed the Doonesbury collection I had brought for him.

Bridgett and I walked around the park and got a FaceTime call from Cousins Owen and Charlotte, who told us all about their baseball games and upcoming Halloween costumes.

Dinner time came and Grandpa Nelson joined us for yummy pizza at Dov Vivi. Their cornmeal-based crust makes their pizza extra special and crunchy, and the weather was perfect for eating outside. We people watched and giggled with the young family at the next table.

When we were full and exhausted, we headed home for home, where the Birthday Girl had a nice long phone call with her Mom in Ohio. Even when we are quite grown up, it’s nice to hear from our Moms!

Happy Birthday, Auntie Bridgett!

Love,

Grandma Judy

New Year’s Eve

lit courthouse new years .jpg
Old Courthouse all lit up

Dear Liza,

 

Last night was New Year’s Eve and we celebrated in downtown Portland. The weather was very cold, but delightfully dry…no rain, and just a few clouds, so getting around was easy and everything looked bright and festive.

full moon and lit xmas tree new years.jpg
Full Moon over Pioneer Square

We walked around downtown for a while, looking at shop windows and people walking by. We visited Powell’s City of Books and the Apple Store. Around 5, we got hungry so we stopped off at Case Study Coffee, at SW 10th and Yamhill  for snacks. They closed at 6, so we wandered some more, finding the lobby of the Hilton a welcoming place with comfy sofas and friendly people.

raven and rose sign.jpg
Sign at Raven and Rose

By 7 o’clock we were ready for dinner, so we walked over to the Raven and Rose. Located at SE Columbia and Broadway, it is in what used to be the carriage House ( a combination of garage and barn, built in 1883) of William S. Ladd, one of the real movers and shakers of old Portland. The big estate and mansion have been torn down and built over, but this wonderfully restored barn, built in what they call the “Stick” style, has a restaurant downstairs and the Rookery Bar upstairs. It is one hundred and thirty year old, sits in the midst of modern brick and glass towers, and stands out as a jewel from another age.

Our dinner of beet salad, shrimp gnocchi, swede fondant, treacle tart, french fries and ice cream went well with the Pinot Noir and apple cider, and we felt indulged and sated. We chatted about our resolutions for the New Year and our hopes and plans for buying a house in Portland.

WS Ladd portrait rose and raven.jpg
Mr. William S. Ladd

Wandering around some more, we stopped in at the ArtBar of the Antoinette Hatfield Hall and looked at a wonderful Steampunk art show. Steampunk art is a style that uses old industrial things like machinery and combines it in new ways with plants and animals. It is weird and spooky and delightful. After some tea and coffee, we headed across the street to the Arlene Schnitzer Theater at SW Park and Salmon for our main event, a concert by Pink Martini and the Portland Symphony.

portland theater sign new years.jpg
Exterior of The Arlene Schnitzer Theater

“The Schnitz”, as it is called by those who love it, was built as the Paramount vaudeville theater in 1924. It must have been the most elaborate thing in Portland in those days, because it still dazzles the eye. The lobby is enormous and ornate, and every inch of stair banister, ceiling, and wall has been carved, painted, or plastered. We spent 20 minutes just walking around the place!

schnitzer lobby .jpg
Ceiling of the lobby of “The Schnitz”

Once the show started, the fun really began. Pink Martini is a talented four person group that plays a delightful international salad of music. Backed by a hundred member choir and symphony, the vocalists sang dance hall tunes in French, popular American tunes in English, Opera arias in Italian, and frenetic rock songs in Japanese. The audience, which had kids as young as 10 and folks well past their 80s, clapped and sang and, when invited, many women joined the band onstage to sing Helen Reddy’s “I Am Woman”.

At midnight we all stood and sang “Auld Lang Syne”, but the show wasn’t over yet.

Full choir, Symphony, jazz band and four operatic soloists joined forces to perform Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in German. It was powerful and wonderful. But it was after midnight, and during some of the quieter moments, I think I might have…dozed off. Just for a moment.

Once the show was over and thousands of happy people filed out of the theater, we caught our Lyft ride home and I was asleep in two minutes.

Happy New Year!

Love,

Grandma Judy