Walking in Portland

Walking Out for Dinner

Dear Liza,

One of the great joys of a Sunnyside Portland summer is walking out to find lovely places to eat. In any direction from our house, there are at least a dozen places within a mile.

You can walk west through Ladd’s Addition for Central American food at Teote House, north to Helen Bernhardt’s for bakery goods, or east to the Bipartisan Cafe for pie and sandwiches, just to name a few. There are also half a dozen food cart pods.

Last week, on a bright afternoon, we walked down to Division to try the newest, The Farmhouse Carts.

This arrangement of food trucks is in the former parking lot of Reverend Nat’s Hard Cider, a locally made yummy drink based on apples and other fruits. (There is some fermentation involved.)

But aside from being able to buy yummy cold drinks, there are trucks for Thai food, hamburgers and fries, Lebanese Saj, hand-held sushi rolls, and boba tea. There is also a large covered area with family sized tables, which will be much appreciated on our long, warm summer evenings.

We enjoyed the food and drinks, but mostly the theater of humanity that we have missed during the winter (and since the 2020 shutdown)…. Kids finding other kids to play with, moms chatting, dogs nosing around under tables.

It’s good to be out with our species!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Out of One Holiday and Into Another

Dear Liza,

We are still eating some Thanksgiving left overs, but Christmas is definitely on the way! Auntie Bridgett, the patron saint of Christmas decor, has been very busy.

After she made the house pretty and bright with four boxes of gnomes, candles and ribbons, we took her out for a walk in the cold. We managed to time it between rain showers.

The clear weather and bright leaves were so classically Fall! Even at 47 degrees, we were comfortable because we wore lots of layers. We walked down to Hawthorne Street and did some people watching, but didn’t go into the shops. Too crowded!

We saw some relics from Halloween out in yards, meeting their inevitable fate with a smile… sort of.

We made a long two mile loop down Hawthorne, to 43rd, then back past the library and into our nice warm house. Tea and pie all around, please!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Fetching Kestrel

Dear Liza,

When you and I lived in the same city many years ago, I would come pick you up after school and we would hang out together. We made bread, played in the garden, and just got to be silly. We even got to know a Panther at Hartnell College.

Now that Cousin Kestrel and I both live in Portland, I get to pick her up from her school, sometimes. She goes to da Vinci Arts Middle School, so she gets to take dance, textile art, and theater as well as math and social studies. It is a mile walk from my house to the school, so we both get some exercise.

And these bright chilly fall days, we get some sun!

There is a wonderfully weird cement dragon named Leo in the schoolyard, who makes a great place to sit and wait for the bell to ring.

He has benches along both sides, but I prefer to sit on his scaly tail.

I am so happy to be able to get to know both my Grandgirls.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Pretty Planet

Dear Liza,

The weather is getting nicer here, with just sweaters needed most days. I had to get out for a walk.

Everything is blooming! This chestnut tree is about fifteen feet tall, which means it is just a baby. The pink blossoms stand straight up, about six inches tall, and the bees love them.

Banks of rhododendrons planted in the 1920s line the sidewalks of the Sunnyside and Laurelhurst neighborhoods.

Since it is almost June, the roses that Portland is famous for have started blooming, as well. They look particularly nice when growing a bit wildly by a wonderful old house.

And, of course, it rained a bit while we were out. Not enough to be miserable, just enough to decorate the roses and remind us of what makes this part of the country so lush and green.

I got home, a bit damp, but happy to live on such a pretty planet.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Scenes from the Chilly Sunshine

Dear Liza,

Last week we had weird weather, for Portland. It was near freezing most every night and rarely above 40 during the day, but it was blindingly bright. There was, literally, not a cloud in the sky.

Knowing it couldn’t last, we went for walks everyday, soaking up the vitamin D as well as we could through scarves and fluffy hats.

We saw cats out enjoying the sunshine.

New Tiny Free Libraries appeared, with nice messages as well as books.

Shop windows created fun reflections.

And in our favorite tavern The Belmont Station, wonderful murals celebrate the origins of our local beers.

And that’s only on one walk!!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Burgers at Sunset

Dear Liza,

Thursday was a slow day for me. I didn’t have much energy and felt a little sad most of the day.

I had my art class with Ruth Inman, and we worked on our concertina books.
We laid down some more black and white collage, and then added a tree, dabbing on color for the fall leaves.

I am not very happy with my tree at the moment. It looks clunky and wrong, but Auntie Bridgett says I should let it sit for a few days. Sometimes a piece that turns out differently than you expected looks ‘bad’ because it doesn’t match what was in your mind. So I will let it be and figure it out later.

I did language practice in the afternoon and then Bridgett suggested that we all go for a walk to Monster Smash, our favorite burger place. It was just about 5:00 and warm (and dry) for January, so we headed off. The sky was so pretty and the neighborhood so pleasant, it made me forget about not liking the tree for a while.

Maybe I’ll have another look at it tomorrow.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Visiting Ramona

Dear Liza,

We had a few days between rain storms, so Grandpa Nelson and I went for a nice long walk.

Not far from our house is this pair of wonderfully carved trees. The trees grew in this parkway on Glisan Street for many years. When the trees died, instead of taking them out, someone carved them into birds on pedestals. They just make me smile.

We headed northeast over the Banfield freeway and into the Hollywood neighborhood.

This freeway runs through Sullivan’s Gulch, a low spot that divides the east side of town. Since the Gulch isn’t very pretty and is no good for buildings, it also holds passenger rail lines of Trimet and freight train lines. Crossing the freeway when the trains are also running by is extremely noisy!

We got out of the cold with a stop at the Bitter Rose coffee shop and enjoyed coffee, tea and fabulous cardamom brioche bun. A few blocks along, we found this amazing display of hand-turned music boxes, mounted so passers-by can turn the tiny cranks and enjoy them. Again, I smiled.

Finally we arrived at our destination, Grant Park. This park sits between Grant High School and Beverly Cleary Elementary school.

It also is home to these delightful bronze statues of Ramona Quimby, Henry Huggins, and Henry’s dog Ribsy. These characters were creations of our local famous author, Beverly Cleary.

Beverly grew up here in Portland from the 1930s through the 1950s. She used street names, businesses and local landmarks in her stories, which have been beloved by many generations. She passed away last year in Carmel, California, at the age of 104.

The statues were created in 1995 by Portland artist Lee Hunt.

We headed home through the sunny cold afternoon, finishing up our five mile walk just in time to make dinner. Boy, were we ready!

Love,

Grandma Judy

To Modern Times

Dear Liza,

We had walked a few miles towards the river, and there was some sort of disturbance involving lots of Police cars a few blocks north. It seemed like a good time to settle in somewhere.

So we walked into Modern Times, a cafe and restaurant on Belmont Street. We have gone past it hundreds of times on the bus, so I was more than happy to see it from the inside.

We were shown a table by the bar in a high ceilinged, bright room. We were two of only five people in the place. We weren’t hungry, and since this is a brewery, I ordered one if their dark beers which is made on site. Black House coffee stout was sweet and rich and just about perfect.

The decor of Modern Times, as seen through the huge windows, has always intrigued me. It looks as though very clever murals were created out of party decorations!

It was mind bending, actually. Cartoons posters and those puffy paper fans were all over one wall.

On the wall leading up the stairway, dozens of small donkey pinatas were applied right side up and upside down. A sign notified us that touching the art was punishable by death.

And looming over it all was a mural, at least thirty feet high, created out of party streamers. It was bright, bold, and completely unexpected. I stared and stared!

We enjoyed our drinks and learned that Modern Times is actually a chain of eateries and breweries, and employs a staff of artists (much like the McMenamin Brothers do) to create art for their venues as well as beer and cider labels, tee shirts, and other goodies.

We took the elevator up to the roof top patio, and enjoyed more quirky art. These hanging designs, created from plastic kitchen and storage baskets, moved gently in the wind and were just charming.

There were fire pits, as well, and views of downtown across the river. Big Pink, of course, was beautiful seen through the flames.

By the time we had seen everything, the police had managed whatever they needed to manage down on the street, and we walked up to catch the number 15 bus home.

Just another adventure in the city!

Love,

Grandma Judy

A Walk Towards the River

Dear Liza,

Yesterday was chilly, but bright and mostly dry. Grandpa Nelson invited me on a long walk down toward the river, so off we went! There were still plenty of beautifully colored autumn leaves to decorate the sidewalks.

I love walking in new areas of the city, because there is always something new to see. On this walk, there were a lot of new murals on the walls of warehouses and businesses by the river.

Some were cute, like these of Dorothy, Toto and friends heading into Oz.

Even the flying monkeys were adorable!

Others were majestic, like this giant wooly mammoth on the roll-up door of a mechanics shop.

And every now and then, a big piece of truth, twenty feet high, reminding us that we all contribute to the city, for better or worse.

Our last painted mural of the day was this one, inside the Post Office on SE 7th Street, showing the Pony Express.

The post office originally had an earlier version of this mural entitled “Post Ride,” funded by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts and painted in 1936 by Paul Grellert. During renovation of the post office in the 60’s the mural was destroyed. Mr. Grellert fortunately was able to paint a recreation of the original mural. The only difference is that in the original, the horse was white.

After we picked up a bunch of post card stamps for Auntie Bridgett, we headed down to find someplace to rest and refresh. More on that tomorrow!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Pup Tent Flowers and Gifts

Dear Liza,

One thing I love about going for long walks is that you never know what you’re going to learn.

Grandpa Nelson and I headed south the other day, and ”almost accidentally”stopped at Palio Bakery in Ladd’s Addition for snacks and coffee. While we were there, we texted Auntie Katie, who came by and shared our cake. We caught up on news, and then it was time for the Cousins to be coming home from school!

Down at Books with Pictures, I found something new. Amarette Gregor has opened up her new business, Pup Tent Flowers and Gifts, out of Auntie Katie’s garage!

I asked how this came about, and Amarette said that she just walked into Books with Pictures, introduced herself to Katie and said, “How would you like a flower shop?” And she did!

Amarette’s business is mostly pop-up and delivery, but she also has display space in the garage.

After hugs and a chat with Jasper and Kestrel, we walked through the Clinton neighborhood, passing the historic Clinton Theater, where they still show The Rocky Horror Picture Show every Saturday at Midnight.

As the weather is getting colder, these long walks will be on hold until Spring, but I sure love walking around town!

Love,

Grandma Judy