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!
Now that I am back in Portland, I will address my letters to you. This past Saturday was the biggest street fair in the city, The Mississippi Street Fair. I helped Auntie Bridgett get her table set up in front of Gifty Kitty.
Gifty Kitty is a delightfully artsy, quirky shop run by Clody Cates, who is very artsy herself. She is also a powerhouse of energy!
The other tables in front of the store were run by Amelia Opie, who paints cats, and Rowen, who creates all sorts of cute characters.
Rowen really likes pink!
As the crowds started showing up, Bridgett started drawing, and several folks came by to ask about hiring her to draw their cats! She said yes, of course!
As it turned out, the heat of the day was too much for me, and Grandpa Nelson came and fetched me home. While I was grateful for the cool lay down, I was sorry to have missed seeing this: Clody in her beautiful cat costume! (Bridgett took this picture!)
Wouldn’t you know it, just as I am coming to visit you for a few weeks, my garden is getting into high gear! Fortunately, Auntie Bridgett will be staying in town, so she can water and harvest.
The 24 lettuce starts I out in have all done well, giving us enough lettuce to have big salads every day. I only pick a few leaves from each plant every few days, so they just keep making more!
The Black Beauty zucchini plants are coming up, and may be bearing baby Zukes by the time I get back.
Our three cherry tomato plants, (Chocolate Cherry, Sweet Millions and Isis Candy) have doubled in size, and the Chocolate Cherry has three blossoms!
Laverne and Shirley, our dahlias, are two feet high and very fat and bunchy. They are going to give us some big blooms later in the summer.
And, of course, the lavender is big and blooming, smelling fabulous, and trying to take over the joint.
I hope Auntie Bridgett will enjoy watching the garden grow as much as I do, and share our harvest with our lovely neighbors!
Here we are in almost- August. Summer has been full of big events, most of which I have written about. But it’s also been full of smaller things that make life delicious and serendipitous.
The variety of summer squash I planted this year is called Early Yellow Prolific. I chose its bright yellow color so I could see them ripening more easily, but the real benefit is the sweet flavor and how wonderfully they pan fry with garlic and olive oil.
With all our summer salad eating, Auntie Bridgett and I were wishing for a salad spinner, but were too cheap to pay for one. This week, one magically appeared as a gift of the sidewalk when lady down the block was cleaning out her kitchen. We gave it a good wash and now use it whenever I harvest lettuce from the garden, about four times a week.
Going for long walks has always been one of Grandpa Nelson’s and my favorite things. When we were dating we would walk for miles along the beach in Southern California, talking about our future. Now that our future is here, we are more aware of how far from home we are and what spaces are available for rest and re-hydration.
Summer is Shakespeare season here in Portland, and last week Laurelhurst Park got a few. First, Original Practice Shakespeare performed The Tempest, Shakespeare’s last play. Grandpa Nelson and I headed over.
In this production, Mikki Lipsey played Prospero the Wizard. Prospero has been stranded on a desert island for twelve years with her daughter Miranda. She has enslaved two magical creatures, the lovely Ariel and the monstrous Caliban, to do her bidding.
Prospero conjures up a tempest which causes a ship carrying her old rivals from Milan, including the Duke’s son, young Ferdinand, to crash on the reef. Of course, Ferdinand falls in love with Miranda !
As the play goes on, two different sets of underlings decide to kill their masters and take over, but drunkenness and foolishness get in the way. By the end of the play all is well, and Prospero casts aside her staff and her magic books. This was Shakespeare’s way of saying farewell to his own magic of playwriting and retiring to Stratford.
Watching plays in the park is always interesting. Since the actors are dealing with airplane noise, dogs and other distractions, the audience has to work harder to suspend our disbelief and get into the story.
But we also enjoy the parade of happy humanity as it passes through the park. Cyclists, dog walkers, families and skateboarders keep things lively!
And as the sun went down and the play came to a close, we packed up our chairs and popcorn and head home. Another summer evening well spent!
Thursday evening, we had a picnic. This isn’t unusual in Portland summers, as the weather can be delightful and the sunshine lasts much longer than we do. But this was a special musical picnic.
We settled into a part of Laurelhurst Park that we call The Ravine, right by the 33rd street entrance. We knew that Johnny Franco (our new favorite local musician) would be setting up soon.
While we waited, we enjoyed a dinner of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, veggies, and wine in Auntie Esther’s picnic-safe wine cups. Very handy!
Lots of folks knew that Johnny would be here, and it was fun to see each group come in, find their perfect spot, and set up their picnic. Happy dogs and kids told me it was going to be a fun evening.
The show started with Johnny and his brother Don singing. They played about three songs, joking with the audience and each other, and then passed the show along to another group. And this was where the evening got weird and extra-delightful.
This group called itself Chonk, and Johnny gave it the nickname of The Intergalactic Curbside Band, which I really liked. Their band includes two guitars, a keyboard, and a fiddle! They opened their part of the show with Tex Beneke’s “Smoke, Smoke, Smoke that Cigarette,” which I LOVE and is rarely heard outside a Dr. Demento tribute show. I was hooked.
A bunch of folks got up and started dancing…. And the group grew, jumping around and having a ball. It was a joyous scene.
Chonk performed until about 8:00, when the sun went behind the trees and the air got cooler. We started packing up just as Spencer Sprocket the juggler came out.
It was time to head home, and I wondered…. Where can I hear Chonk some more?
This past weekend was so warm and sunny, we just needed to get out for a bike ride! Grandpa Nelson didn’t feel like going, but Auntie Bridgett and I picked out a destination, put some air in the tires, and headed out.
We followed a route that was on streets designated as PortlandGreenways. These are neighborhood streets with low speed limits and less car traffic, so they are safer and less stressful for nervous bicyclists like me. There was a lot of bike traffic, but it’s not scary!
We rode along in the dappled shade of trees that can be a hundred years old, enjoying the sight and smell of roses as we zipped along.
And in just two and a half miles, we found ourselves at Rain or Shine Coffee, on the shoulder of our local volcano, Mt. Tabor. We weren’t even out of breath!
I knew right away we would like the place… their bike racks are made out of old bike frames! Thematic recycling is very cool, quirky and welcoming.
Inside, we found art that had so many pop culture references that my head was dancing. Beetlejuice, He-man, Star Trek, they were all there, like old friends.
And the treats were yummy.
Bridgett had a gluten free bagel with cream cheese and coffee. I enjoyed a Marionberry empanada and a cold Kambucha.
While we were eating, we enjoyed watching folks, their dogs, and their skateboards come and go. It was busy, but not crowded. A perfect spot to enjoy some Portland spirit.
We rode back on a different set of quiet streets and got home in time to watch the Giants game. (They can’t always win…)
My veggie garden got a late start this year because of a cold, wet spring, including a snowfall on April 11. But now that it has gotten started, I am having trouble keeping up! This week’s heat wave has been upping the ante.
I planted my pumpkins by a ladder so they can climb up instead of spreading out and taking up a lot of space. They are now almost up to the second rung, and I have tied them to encourage their progress.
The oak leaf lettuce starts I planted in March have given us dozens of salads over the months, but are starting to bolt and go to seed in the hot weather. I pulled them up and managed to harvest several days worth of lettuce before tossing the stalks out. I even used some of it in a batch of pesto, since I was short on basil.
My five cherry tomato plants have gotten almost as tall as me, and have formed a lacy vertical screen that gives my garden some dappled afternoon shade during these hot days.
I have stopped watering the tomatoes, since there is a lot of fruit set, and today I was rewarded two tiny, perfect, ripening tomatoes! Stay tuned for lots more!
Auntie Bridgett’s sunflowers are short, as we planned, but are still making neat blooms! These are called Pompoms.
I have sewn a few more rows of peppery arugula lettuce and some Danvers carrots, making sure to go over every morning and give them water.
I will be chasing summer until fall. Should be a fun ride.
For months this past winter, we stayed inside. We did art, read mysteries, watched movies and cooking shows, baked cookies, and petted the cat. Rain and cold and remaining Covid concerns kept us home. It’s like hibernation, but for humans. Auntie Bridgett calls it Hermitting.
Blue skies and Mount Hood from Portland’s Tilikum Crossing
Now we have the opposite situation! Summer in Portland is an absolute avalanche of activities, and there is no way to attend all of them.
jasper and Kestrel at the Chinese Garden
There are Jazz and Blues Concerts, street festivals, Shakespeare in the parks, and art shows in every gallery.
Jenn Lanier stars in The Merry Wives of Windsor at Laurelhurst Park
There are Baseball and soccer games, boat races and floats on the Willamette River.
April’s giant bubbles bring fun to Books with Pictures Comic Con
Picnics in public gardens and parks make the most of summer sunshine, and evening walks extend the fun to after dinner.
It can be exhausting. But we do try to do our part.
Dear Liza 