Fall is on the way. During our last weeks of hot weather, I got into the habit of going for walks early in the day to avoid the shingle-irritating bright sun and heat.
I noticed that Laurelhurst Park is very different early in the day. The cool damp of night is still in the air. Tai chi groups perform their slow dance among the trees.
Firwood Lake is a perfect mirror… until the ducks wake up! Then, somehow, the ripples make the mirror even more beautiful.
And passing the Blair Community Garden, I see the raspberries getting ripe.
I am happily awaiting the day when I will need a second layer to be comfortable. J’aime sweater weather!
I am slowly (way too slowly, if you ask me) getting back to normal after Shingles knocked me flat. I still have some pain most of the day, take medications to sleep, and get tired easily.
But the world is still out there, and I’m getting out in it more. I like walking in the early morning, because the shadows are long and better for my still-light-sensitive eyes. And, as always, Laurelhurst Park is my favorite place.
Early mornings at the park are quiet and delightful. There were the usual dog walkers and baby walkers, but also pickle ball players, tai chi groups, and a maintenance guy power washing the picnic tables. A lady was training her puppy to sit and stay.
And there was the rain. Just a light drizzle, not enough for anyone to mind, but a steady, cooling reminder that time moves on and summer will end.
I was enjoying it so much, I walked until I was very tired. Feeling discouraged on my way out of the park, this piece of serendipitous advice found me, and I made it home.
I went for a walk around Laurelhurst the other day between the rains, and there was a lot going on!
These lovely people were working at the horse shoe pits, cleaning up the edges and digging out the mud to make them beautiful and useable for the next season.
They are, left to right, Kimber, Brian, Taylor and Dylan. They all work for the Portland Parks Department, and Dylan works full time at Laurelhurst.
The horse shoe pits are his “Passion Project”, approved and funded by the City, with work done by he and his friends.
There are about ten sets of horse shoe pits, so this is a big job. I am so glad our park has such enthusiastic support!
On my way out of the park, I ran into this fellow sweating at a giant puddle. He was trying to unclog a storm drain, working with a regular household broom and a pick-up stick, neither of which were doing the job very well.
Every time he got a spot draining, a glob of leaves would wash in and stop it up again.
As we chatted, a City truck came by and checked in, and seeing the need, the driver pulled over. He pulled out a fine strong crowbar and, after just a few strokes, got the blockage cleared.
Now the puddle won’t block traffic or make a mess for dogs and bikes.
With our rainy season just picking up speed, these improvements will keep our park in good shape for years to come. Love,
We have a lot of rainy days in our forecast, so we have decided to just go for walks, knowing we are going to get wet. The grey cloudy light makes the pictures darker than usual, so they look almost magical.
We walked around the park, amazed at the carpet of leaves and the thousands yet to fall. The giant ginkgo tree stays yellow for a week or so, and will drop all its leaves almost overnight.
It was so dark at 1 o’clock in the afternoon that the park lights had come on.
Bridgett got very engrossed in looking at a pair of squirrels chasing each other around the trees. I’m not sure if they were fighting or flirting, but they were so busy they didn’t even notice us.
This tall oak will hold onto its fall leaves for months, until it is ready to spout the green leaves of spring.
Knowing that spring is many long wet months away, I may need to carry the sunshine inside me.
I love the forest in Fall! Besides the beautiful colors, the fermenting leaves give of a sweet, almost beer-like smell. Well, part beer, part bread… and all good.
Auntie Bridgett and I walked out the other day, with jackets on over sweaters, to enjoy the season.
Mushrooms are popping up as the heavy drizzles encourage them, looking like fairy creatures. Getting right down in the ground is bad for my knees, but good for my pictures!
Fallen trees become mountains of moss, with fairy cities of shelf fungus perched on their sides.
We discovered this amazing fungus in someone’s lawn by the park. It sure looks like the Death Star to me!
Even ordinary trees get a soft, starry green upholstery as the dormant moss wakes up in the rain.
I know the grey weather will become commonplace soon. But for now, I will marvel in the changing seasons.
We are expecting our lovely Easter weather to turn to rain overnight, so I headed out to the garden plot to do some spring cleaning.
The camellia tree next door always blooms like a lunatic and drops hundreds of blossoms on my plot! I don’t mind much, because nothing is growing yet. But they need to get picked up or they get slimy and invite the slugs in.
Two years ago, you were here and helped out!
But rather than get melancholy about you being far away, I went to work and got the plot cleaned up.
Back home just in time for lunch, Auntie Bridgett suggested a picnic (two picnics in two days!! I am so spoiled!!)
We packed some leftovers from Easter, found a table by the dog park, and enjoyed just BEING. Smelling the blossoms, hearing the people, watching the dogs, tasting the blueberries.
We walked around the park and talked to all the new trees, giving them encouragement and welcoming them to the neighborhood. And anll the way home, the azaleas are beginning to bloom.
We had fun on Easter, but not much of it shows in pictures. I’ll show what I have and tell the rest.
Easter Day was sunny and warm (almost too warm, for some), and we got everything packed into the wagon and headed for Laurelhurst Park.
We found a table in the sun just above Firwood Lake. Someone had recently drawn a cute cartoon of a bunny jumping over an egg, with the words “In the name of the moon”. Very nice.
We enjoyed the sunshine and people watching until everyone else showed up.
Then the food came out, and we all had good bread Katie brought from Grand Central Bakery, turkey, cheeses, fruits, veggies and cookies.
We met some nice folks who name the ducks at the park, just like we name the trees! We may all get together and make a map of the park with all our silly information….wouldn’t that be fun?
As we were walking home, Jasper and Kestrel taught all the adults about a new kind of music, called “Vocaloid”. It is made with synthetically generated voices and sounds, mostly, like a video game. But I am always happy to learn something new, so we listened and chatted while I worked on the CrazyQuilt.
Having clever grandkids is like having clever kids! Always keeping me on my toes.
Last week was my birthday. The celebration was spread out over a few days, which is always nicer than one, fat, overwhelming day.
Sunday, we headed to the Kennedy School for dinner at the Boiler Room and a St. Patrick’s Day concert of traditional Irish music by Katie Jane. Besides being a fine musician and singer, she is a local music teacher, and many of her students were in the concert. It was raucous and delightful.
On Monday, Grandpa Nelson and I had a long walk to Ladd’s Addition, where I introduced him to Floyd’s Coffee Bar. We had delicious snacks and coffee and enjoyed the people watching. We also took a cookie to Auntie Katie, who gave us a ride home on her way to fetch Kestrel from school.
My actual birthday started off with a text from your Daddy, since Denmark is hours ahead of us. Such a nice surprise!
After breakfast, I opened my presents. Auntie Bridgett and Grandpa gave me books on Sister Corita Kent, an artist and nun whose “Ten Rules” have inspired me to keep doing art. Donna, Auntie Bridgett’s mom, send me a big package of embroidery floss to replace all the floss I’ve used up in the crazy quilt.
Once the sun came up, the weather was so bright that I wanted to be out in it! We had a Nutella and cracker picnic at Laurelhurst Park and played the first badminton game of the year.
Our form wasn’t great, but we sure had fun!
At dinner, it was time for pizza at Straight from New York, down on Belmont. We walked across the street to Belmont’s Inn for pinball. Our new favorite game is Medieval Madness. It is amazing how much fun can be had for six dollars’ worth of quarters.
Turning 68 isn’t so bad when you have the right folks to celebrate with.
The city of Portland has planted over a dozen new trees in Laurelhurst Park, just a few blocks from us. These are to replace trees that have fallen in the last few years, victims of storms, heavy winds, and in some cases, just old age.
As we get to know the new trees, we entertain ourselves by giving them names and backstories.
For example, the three Katsuras along the path by the Pine Street entrance are named for The Three Caballeros; Martin Short, Steve Martin, and Chevy Chase. They lead right up to Ken the oak tree, who is now called Just Ken.
A well-established tree that we have admired for years has been given the name Mama Rose, after the main character in the play “Gypsy”. She is strong, a flamboyant pink, and always the first to bloom.
A new Douglas fir by the Wallosaurus (a stone wall with a spiky top) along Cesar Chavez Boulevard has been given the named Dougasaurus, for obvious reasons.
A new Dove tree, a variety of dogwood, will go by the name Dove, to honor my friend Dove, a strong and wonderful educator, mother, and supporter of the world. Dove is planted overlooking Firwood Lake.
A new Linden tree will go by Hal, for Hal Linden, the actor and star of the old Barney Miller tv series, who is amazingly still with us in his 90’s. His character was always kind in an often unkind world. He made me smile.
Artful Dodger, a new tree by our old friend Oliver, is planted in the Cesar Chavez/Ankeny corner. He was named so that these two Charles Dickens characters will always be together.
So now, when I go to the park, it’s like visiting friends!
Dear Liza 