Tag: Travel

Rainy Afternoon

Dear Liza,

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.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Downtown to the Sixties

Dear Liza,

My buddy Cynthia and I headed downtown last week to our Portland Art Museum. The remodeling work is still going on, so floor space is limited, but what they have on display is really interesting.

Upstairs, there is a collection called Psychedelic. Mostly, these are posters for rock concerts in San Francisco in the mid to late 1960s, when I was too young to go to rock concerts. Still, I knew the posters were cool even then.

Groups like The Byrds, Moby Grape and The Jefferson Airplane gave concerts at the Filmore Theater, and posters like these made sure everyone knew this was The Happening Place. We enjoyed the incredible colors, and wondered how they would react under black light.

There were also mannequins with fashions from the era standing about. Mini skirts in metallics and wild colors took me right back my days as a wanting-to-be-cool pre-teen.

Downstairs was a collection of photos taken by a very young Paul McCartney when the Beatles were on their first tour of America.

Since I was all of eight years old, I remember the mood of the time very well. Any news about the group was BIG news, and their music was in all of our ears.

Considering the frenzied energy that went wherever the Beatles did, Paul’s photos capture a more playful, relaxed mood.

Cynthia and I chatted about all sorts of things (as we always do), as we looked and remembered our own 60s journeys.

And when our tummies were empty and our feet were tired, we headed past a leafy church for lunch at McMenamin’s.

Days out with friends are good for the soul.

Love,

Grandma Judy

All Souls’ Day

Dear Liza,

After the fun spookiness of Halloween comes the more reflective holiday of All Souls’ Day. In Mexico it is called Dia de Los Muertos, and it is a day for remembering, celebrating, and, weather permitting, even picnicking with those who have passed on.

So today I am thinking of your Great grandma Billie and Great grandpa Lowell, my parents. They were hard working, happy people who could make just about anything fun.

I am thinking of your Great grandma Mona, Grandpa Nelson’s mom, who raised three kids on her own while teaching inner city middle schoolers about literature and history. She introduced me to live theater and political activism.

My brother Jim loved his wife Christy, son Kyle, and having fun whenever he could.

My brother Tim survived several tours in Vietnam and loved his wife Bridget, kids, camping, and fishing.

I don’t like to focus on their deaths, but rather on their lives and all they taught me about how to live. But that’s too deep a pool to swim in right now.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Drizzly, but Spooky

Dear Liza,

Last Thursday, also known as Halloween, was wet and chilly. I expected that we’d be inside for the evening.

Grandpa Nelson was happy to stay inside, but Auntie Bridgett wanted to get out and do some “Reverse Trick or Treating”, where we walk around the neighborhood and hand out candy. It’s always fun seeing kids in costumes and chatting with folks.

We got to see all the houses lit up in their spoooky glory, looking shinier with the rain.

We met Cindy, who had a heating pad under the blanket on her lap, so she could stay warm while handing out candy. She even had a tube on her banister, so folks could catch candy as it rolled down to them!

On the way home, we stopped for a ‘mocktail’ at Eris, our buddy Tony’s bar. We chatted a bit, then headed home to watch some classic horror. For me, Bêla Lugosi in Dracula is a Thumbs Up, but the older, silent “Nosferatu” is a Thumbs Down.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Twilight Tombstones

Dear Liza,

The Friends of Lone Fir is a non-profit, volunteer group who help maintain and educate folks about our wonderful local pioneer cemetery. They put on tours of the Women in Lone Fir, symbolism and architecture of tombstones, and headstone cleaning workshops.

And this year, the Friends hosted a five Saturday series of tours called Twilight Tombstones. On each Saturday in October and one in November, guides lead four groups of twenty through the cemetery, telling stories of the folks buried there.

It was sold out in minutes!


This year, Auntie Bridgett volunteered with me. She greeted folks at the gate and steered them in the right direction.

My job was “tour support”, which means I made sure our group, lead by Peregrine and Paul, stayed together. I also answered extra questions from the folks in the group. It was a delightful, educational, exhausting evening.

The fun began even before the tours started! A friendly group of Zombie Carolers came by after serenading the Dead, and shared their songbook with us. Their songs are not for the squeamish, featuring such delightfully gruesome tunes as “Rudolph the Undead Reindeer” and “Good King Wenceslas Tastes Great.”

Love,

Grandma Judy

The Joy of Mental Floss

Dear Liza,

Years ago, during one of University Park’s magazine drive fundraisers, we subscribed to a magazine called Mental Floss. We loved the smart, funny articles and illustrations, and we kept receiving it until it went out of print in 2017.

Here’s a little history of the magazine, as found via a Google search. Mental Floss was launched as a print magazine in Birmingham, Alabama, in 2001, by then-Duke University students William Pearson and Mangesh Hattikudur. The pair wanted a magazine that was fun, interesting in the way that their favorite professors’ lectures were.

The magazine grew rapidly, becoming enormously popular. Pearson and Hattikudur sold it to other folks in 2012, but have continued their success-via-fun/smart with a podcast called Part Time Genius. Besides the online e-zine, there are also games, t-shirts, and books available.

This past Christmas, Auntie Bridgett gave me a “Fact a Day” Trivia calendar, and I have been enjoying it so much. Sometimes, days will go by when I forget to look at it, and then I get to pull a bunch all at once and have several good chuckles.


Today’s pull included an explanation of how the Unabomber got his name (because he targeted UNiversities and Airlines) and that H.A. Rey and his wife Margaret, authors of the “Curious George” children’s books, escaped occupied Paris in 1940 on bicycles, taking their precious first manuscript with them.

And what will I learn tomorrow?

Love,

Grandma Judy

Stepping Up My Embroidery Game

Dear Liza,

The French quilt was coming along. I mean, I kept putting in more crops row by row… but it was feeling very flat, and not very interesting.

The apple trees were an improvement, for sure. More color, more texture.

Then your Grandpa Nelson looked over my shoulder and said, “Where are the sunflowers?” Hmmm. Sunflowers. Because I was impatient to see the quilt finished, I had designed the symbols for the crops to be one color, simple, and easy to sew.

But I LOVE sunflowers, and I don’t want them to be easy. I want them to be pretty.

And they are! I love how the rows look, bouncy and bright. Trouble is, they made the rest look even flatter by comparison.

It was time to step up my embroidery game. I started with the lavender fields by Angouleme, giving them more color and texture.

So now I have had to re-think every single crop to make it worthy of the sunflowers. So far, the wheat and barley fields are coming out nicely.

I am so glad I did! The artistic process isn’t fast, but it sure is interesting. I’ll keep you posted.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Tidying Up the Dead People

Dear Liza,

On my visits to Lone Fir Cemetery, I admire the lovely headstones. Some are more than 150 years old, others are from just a few years ago, but they all have their own style and beauty.

And many of them, sadly, are victims of time and neglect. Their surfaces have become pitted and worn, and their lettering is obscured by moss and dirt.

On my first trip to help, I took along the Friends of the Lone Fir recommended kit: Lots of water and a variety of plastic scrubbers and scrapers. I even wore gloves!

I poured on a lot of water to soften the crud, then used the plastic scraper to dislodge the heaviest moss encrustations.

More water and gentle scrubbing with a plastic brush revealed most of the lettering.

I used a wooden chopstick to get into the letters and numbers, but was frustrated by the numbers pressed into the concrete surround.

I wish they were clearer, because I’m sure they mean something. Maybe L23 and B21?
When I ran out of oomph after an hour, I was pleased with how Byrd Hanley Andrew looked, and happy that I had done something to preserve this wonderful, fragile old place.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Re-opening a Favorite

Dear Liza,

When we first moved to this neighborhood, we fell in love with the J. C. Havely House, just katty corner across Belmont Street. It is rumored to be haunted and certainly looks the part. At that time it was being run as The Pied Cow.


The Pied Cow served delicious ginger cake, ice cold sangria, baked Brie on fresh bread, and lots of other goodies. It was amazing. But when the pandemic hit, the strain on both the business and the owner was just too much. The Pied Cow closed and the building was sold.

But good news! The house is soon to be opened as The Foxtrot Lounge, and on Saturday we got to see the inside of the house, the garden, and have a short chat with the new owner, Britain Stephens.

Britain (who is extremely camera shy) and his crew have cleaned up the large garden space and installed beautiful structures. Some of these feel like classy cabanas and will be good for shelter from the sun and moderate rain. Others are just for fun.

Lots of folks were looking around and enjoying the space.

The inside of the Havely House has gotten a facelift as well, and now feels like a friendly, high-end Haunted Mansion. Since the Havely House is home to a ghost called Aunt Lydia, this seems fitting.

We didn’t try any of the food on offer, but there was wine, beer, sangria, and a variety of bruschettas. Britain told us he plans on a proper opening come October… Just in time for Halloween!

And you know we will be there.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Another Map Quilt?

Dear Liza,

You know I love maps, and I love quilts. So, over the years, I’ve made a few quilted maps. When you were little, I made this map of our old neighborhood in Salinas. There are a lot of people and places I love on that map!

And now, being slightly obsessed with France, I am planning a hexagonal shaped quilt. It’s an interesting idea, since the shape of that country is sort of hexagonal, and even is nicknamed “L’Hexagone” because of its six-sided outline.

A few years back I made a folding paper map of France, and it was hexagonal. I really liked it, but didn’t know what to do next. Now I’ve figured it out.

But first, I had to make a good sized hexagonal pattern from newspaper. I don’t want this quilt to be bed sized, but maybe lap-sized. It’s mostly an art project.

I got the length ratios from your Daddy David and the proper angles from Auntie Bridgett, and cut my newspaper pattern 92 cm across, about three feet.

Screenshot

I have chosen my color palette from a website called color palettes.net. This photograph was taken by Svitlana. They aren’t typical map colors, and I like that. Now I need to hunt for these colors in suitable fabrics so I can get started.

I will keep you posted as I go along.

Love,

Grandma Judy