Max Trains – Dear Liza

September 29, 2026

Dear Liza,

Yesterday was a sunny, cool day here in Portland, and Grandpa Nelson and I headed off to the Zoo. Being a school day, there were only a few people there, which is my favorite number of people at the Zoo!

The animals were all out and about, though. This North American River Otter was enjoying his new toy. The hanging bucket had toys that the otter wanted, and the raft he needed to use to get them kept floating….

It was a testament to persistance!

These giraffes were in separate enclosures, but still found a way to chat over the wall. I couldn’t hear anything, but they had a nice time, anyway.

What kept catching my eye was the early afternoon light. Through the trees or bouncing off surfaces, it was bright and magical.

Shadows were everywhere! This one is me with some of the decorations for ZooLights that are being installed for the winter.

One the way home, I noticed this sign in the train station for the first time. The train station is WAAAAY deep under the Zoo, and this sign shows why, except in an emergency, you should take the elevator.

Yep.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Dear Liza,

Yesterday I took the #20 bus into town, then the yellow Max train north until the end of the line. There, near (but not near enough to see) the joining of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers, is the Portland Expo Center. It is a huge convention center surrounded by a huge parking lot. It felt very much like California, where every building has its requisite slab of asphalt.

Inside, there were hundreds of quilts, and hundreds of people who make, love, and even sell them. I was amazed at the level of workmanship…every corner met exactly, every seam lay flat, every stitch was tiny.

Many of the quilts were traditional motifs like Log Cabin and Texas Star, executed in traditional fabrics. Perfect, but to me, they shared the flaw of a Flemish painting: perfection of technique over …ooomph.

I value ooomph.

For example, there is a whole new (to me) school of applique, where the edges of appliqued fabric aren’t turned under, but very closely machine sewn. This gives the piece an easy, watercolored feel that is delightfully informal. Not exactly high art, but fun and energetic.

**Each color on each dog is layered on and sewn…oomph**

What I hadn’t expected was the degree of artistry. Not just great precision, but having something to say and saying it. A point of view, a political statement, a cry for love or peace or justice…these aren’t common in quilts. But here they were.

I found the most beautiful, sad political statement of all. This quilt of death dancing with his bride, money falling o of her gown, and this quote:

“Only when the last tree is cut, the last fish is caught, and the last river is polluted, will we realize we can’t eat money and we can’t drink oil”.

Then there were some with both oomph and joy and precision….. which I will share at the bottom of this post.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Tag: Max Trains

The Oregon Zoo in Fall

Quilts!