Music Millennium – Dear Liza

Busy Saturday

Dear Liza,

After our technically glitchy zoom call, this past Saturday kept being busy.

I started a mosaic to cover the second three dimensional paper sculpture. I think it is going to be very nifty, once it’s done.

We had lunch and walked up to Music Millenium, our local music store, for a concert by a family friendly group called Ants Ants Ants. They are very good! Nice harmonies, good guitar work, and delightfully silly lyrics. We were by far the oldest folks in the place.

Walking home, we saw spring blooms that look like they jumped off an Easter card.

I got more mosaic done, then we headed north to the Mississippi neighborhood. There was a fundraiser for the proposed Northwest Museum of Cartoon Art (NWMOCA) and the opening of a bar themed on our local baseball team, the Portland Pickles.

We stopped in at Gifty Kitty to say hi and see their pretty things. This painting would make a fine quilt!

The fundraiser was at Bridge City Comics, which is decorated as you would expect. It is nice, but I prefer Auntie Katie’s Books with Pictures.

The new Pickles Bar was so packed and noisy we couldn’t get in the door, and barbar, down the street, was way too raucous for us. We like to talk our conversations, not YELL them.

We headed to an old favorite, McMenamin’s Chapel Pub, and had soups, salads, and a nice Black Rabbit Red. We were all pretty wiped out.

We got home, curled up in the sofa like hamsters, and watched an episode of The Repair Shop.

Goodnight!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Rainy Saturday!!

Dear Liza,

It has been so hot here, and yesterday we had a break…it clouded over, the wind blew, and it rained! Well, enough to make everything smell wonderful and the trees glisten.

In the morning, Auntie Bridgett and I walked over to The Music Millennium for their customer appreciation BBQ. It was so delightful. There were free, and very delicious, hot dogs (from The Dog House, on Division Street), potato salad, Voodoo Doughnuts, and soft drinks. The chefs were friendly and funny. There was a “wacky wheel” that you could spin to win things. Auntie Bridgett won a Bob Marley CD and I got a beer cozy.

We enjoyed visiting with people and then went inside to do some shopping. I have never seen the shop so crowded! We found a new jazz cd, two DVDs (Sneakers and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) that we had on VHS until they died, and a CD of the original Broadway cast of Fiddler on the Roof. Score!!

We walked home through the park because it was so nice and wet…everything smelled like life and growth and joy.

During the afternoon we worked on stories and art, and cleaning up for Grandpa Nelson who had been visiting YOU! In the evening, while it was still looking like rain, we packed a picnic and walked to Laurelhurst for the annual end of summer Symphony Concert. A group called the Three Legged Torso, a Klezmer group, played with them, and it was delightfully informal, fun, and Portlandish.

**It’s just water, but she sure was fun to watch!!**

Grandpa Nelson arrived in time for the concert and we enjoyed people watching, cookies, chicken, and wine. The final number was Stars and Stripes Forever, conducted by a lady who had never conducted anything before…fortunately, the symphony knew what to do.

What a nice, rain-ish day!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Music!

Dear Liza,

A few days ago, Grandpa Nelson sent away for a new record turntable. This is a very old-fashioned way to play music, but we enjoy it very much. Our old, old one was given away when we moved.

Needless to say, most of our records went away, as well….you’d think so. No turntable, no records. BUT. Some records are like old friends, and we kept them. Beatles. Smothers Brothers. The important ones.

So yesterday, between chores and rain storms, we walked to Music Millennium, a BIG record, cd, and dvd shop just across Burnside from The Laurelhurst Market, where we had dinner when you and your daddy were visiting. They have new and used, rock, pop, jazz, blues, hiphop, movie soundtracks (no Bull Durham or Blues Brothers, but I’ll keep looking) and classical. There were even comedy records, including a “Happy Birthday, Oregon” record by Stan Freberg.

We left that one there, for now.

**From Auntie Katie’s High School days!**

We did find some lovely old friends and brought them home.

And, in between dinner, shopping, and some exploratory pinball down at the Goodfoote Lounge, we listened. Aunt Bridgett is new to the Smothers Brothers, so we had fun listening with her like it was the first time all over again.

I am pretty new to Manhattan Transfer, so that was new fun for me, as well.

Now humming to myself as we walk down to Cool Cottons, a fabric shop on Hawthorne, to get some fabric for new projects.

Love,

Grandma Judy