Summer –
time of perfect days,
long and joyous,
sun high over the horizon,
heady scents on the breeze,
a smile of contentment on my lips.
Colleen Sohn
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Tags: Poetry
When I taught English at the high schools in Lake Oswego, the kids referred to their lives there as being “inside the bubble.” I came to believe this as well, as Lake Oswego is an interesting place of money, privilege, power, and very little crime. Unlike our neighborhood, the homes are all nice, with manicured gardens and expensive cars in the garage (not on the lawn as a select few do around here, sigh). My kids, so accustomed to life “inside” were often quite worried about my safety as I lived in Portland where the terrible things happened. “Oh Ms. Sohn, isn’t that a bad neighborhood? Aren’t you afraid?” In response, I would thank them for caring and assure them that I was rather fearless by nature (I did teach high school, after all) and felt safe, too.
Though they had many things I could only dream about at that age, my students were typical young people. They were sweet, smart (though sometimes altogether stupid), hilarious, sassy, sometimes unruly, and exhibited all of the behaviors associated with teenagers: trying to find their place in the world, the drama of relationships, and getting into all manner of trouble. In spite of or despite this, I’m not sure which, I loved them all, and did my best to teach them everything I knew.
Anyhoo, we ventured to the bubble for the 46th annual Festival of the Arts on Saturday afternoon. It was a perfect day – warm and sunny. As for the festival itself, it is quite nice, not too big, but big enough not to have Mama’s weird homemade junk, though I did see some rather creepy looking sculptures (to each their own). Our friend Jamee was one of the many talented artists there and had her usual display of beautiful paintings. I hope she did well. The highlight, however, had to be the incredible showcase of mosaics with many unique interpretations of the ancient art. I said “Wow!” a lot.
After perusing the art and buying a neat vase from the Yoga Goat, we completed Portland City Walk No. 18. It led us through a tour of the town, wandering down roads I had never taken when I taught there. It is a beautiful place with homes classic to modern and small to gigantic (I should say small for Lake Oswego because what looks little there is pretty normal, even slightly big, in our neighborhood), lots of mature trees, lovely views of the lake, the surrounding hills, Mount Hood, and many, many birds, like the Song Sparrow above, singing happily.
Ahh, another perfect Saturday – hope yours was too!
Happy Monday Gentle Readers!
As I am having some technical difficulties (me being not as tech savvy as the hubster), the post I originally intended to publish today got put on the back burner, so here are the highlights from our first Portland City Walks adventure. It really showcases some of the marvelous diversity in landscape and architecture here in the City of Roses.
These wonderful sherbet colored Victorian row houses are not actually on the walking tour, but I have been wanting to photograph them for a long time. They’re on Everett, just west of I-405. Don’t you want a bowl of ice cream now or maybe a handful of Easter candies? Yum!
A rather stately home with a perfectly manicured front garden. Back when I was taking ages to decide on paint colors for our house, I considered this combination. Though I chose differently, I think it is quite handsome.
As I mentioned in this post, it is such a treat to learn something new about the city that is our home. We were delighted to walk through the densely packed residences without an actual street to separate them, just a fantastic collection of of shaded and sunny pathways.
This timber bamboo, probably fifty feet tall, is a wonderfully modern surprise, especially among all the grand 100 year old houses. It makes a subtle gonging in the breeze.
This is on the front door of a house with scarcely a sidewalk in front of it. With the close proximity, I can see how tempting it would be for a passerby to want to peek in and the reason for such an elaborate “peep hole” to discourage it. I think they may have used an old heat register, which is quite clever, don’t you think?
The Vista Avenue Bridge – lovely streetlamps illuminate it, ancient spikes decorate it, and grand trees shade the entrances.
Oh goodness, isn’t this straight out of The Secret Garden? One of my favorite books of childhood, I read it over and over again, along with Charlie and The Chocolate Factory. I loved imagining the beautiful worlds, their flower filled and candy coated goodness.
Can you imagine having such a grand entrance to your home? I think I’d want to dress up all the time and answer the door in gloves up to my elbows – so fancy!
Wires, wires, and more wires, along with the Fremont Bridge and the snowy glow of Mount Saint Helen’s. A great view!
That’s all folks, time to ride home…
Hello friends!
I hope everyone has had as wonderful a weekend as I have. Goodness gracious the weather is lovely, especially for this time of year. Normally, we’d be experiencing a bit of rain with occasional sunny days, but it looks like we’re being spoiled and quite royally – sun is expected through next weekend.
As we are no fools, we’ve done all we can to take full advantage. The first photo is of yesterday’s adventure, biking and walking our fair city. After seeing Portland City Walks recommended on one of my favorite blogs, Posie Gets Cosy, we thought we’d try it, too. We’ve ventured out on two of the twenty walks (I’ll post photos of the first one later) and have really enjoyed them. Normally this would not be our thing, as it seems silly to walk around like a tourist in our own city, but the author, Laura O. Foster, writes a lot about local history and has interesting little tidbits and “secrets” unknown to us, even though we’ve lived here for eleven years. The book also inspires us to venture outside our usual zone of influence, taking the bikes, parking them, and walking less traveled destinations, all good.
These first two photos are of the Rose City Golf Course. Now I am not a golfer by any stretch of the imagination, but it looks like a nice place to play. The hill in the second photo is Mount Tabor. It is nice to have a different perspective of it.
A neat garden structure we encountered along the way.
The view from the stairs descending Alameda Ridge. We actually stumbled upon these last summer. “Buddy, look! It seems like this is a public path between the houses. Let’s see where it goes!” It is a marvelous treat to discover.
We’re back on the home turf now. These are two of the peonies I planted last summer. I am over the moon at how pretty they are. This first photo is Coral Charm opening on Sunday.
How she looks today…
Buckeye Belle – apparently she is a bit more shy, as she hasn’t opened all the way. No matter, she’s still quite lovely!
Another little project out of the way. Greg put this bench together yesterday evening. I bought the backless variety so we can have the option of lying prostrate, looking at the little vegetable plot (tomatoes and cucumbers, and a volunteer rose), or the cutting garden. I love variety!
I’m sitting on the bench looking toward where I sat for the photos on this post. I know I’ve said this before, but I just love to see clothes hanging on the line. This peony is doing quite well, too. I don’t know what its name is, however, as it was inherited from someone else’s garden.
Looking from the bench to the cutting garden. I love having a new perspective on the yard.
If you’re wondering what the funny looking structure against the house is – here is a close up. Still funny looking, isn’t it? This was our final project of the weekend, a house for our bee friends. I’ve learned that most bees are quite solitary and make their homes either in the ground or in holes made by borers or woodpeckers. We’ve done the job for them and included our old license plate from Colorado as the roof. It’s good I kept it in the garage for the last eleven years. Hey Bridget, sometimes I do hold on to things!
As soon as I’m finished with this post, I’m joining the cats. They’ve got the right idea…
A couple of weeks ago, I made my first trip to the Goodwill bins. For those of you who don’t know about “the bins,” it is pretty much the last stop before recycling or the dump for the Goodwill. I had wanted to go for a while, but was seriously turned off by a former neat-freak neighbor who made me think everything was covered in slime and dust, and I would be lucky to get out alive. Thankfully, my friend Maria had been many times and survived, and was happy to take me along on her last trip. I learned, quite thankfully, that it is neither slimy nor dusty, well, not that dusty, anyway, but a little cold.
It is a pretty well organized place considering the nature of it – and like your typical Goodwill store, has the usual hodge-podge of items – furniture, housewares, odds and ends, clothing, linens, fabric, etc. As the name infers, most of the items are in bins on wheeled tables. There is great excitement and crowding when a new set of bins makes its way to the floor – fresh goodies! Unlike a typical Goodwill store, with the exception of furniture and some housewares, items are purchased by the pound. $1.39 for up to 50 pounds, and $.89 a pound for purchases over 50 pounds (don’t quote me on the prices, I’m not positive).
Pooled together, Maria and I had over 50 pounds, so we paid the bargain price. It is astonishing how quickly it adds up! This is what I got:
the lamp above, with the shade ($3 + $10 at Home Depot for a repair kit)
a pair of perfect fitting black leather pants (is this a midlife crisis?)
a nightgown
two vintage sweaters (one fisherman knit, the other beautifully beaded)
an apron
a crazy flowered housecoat (Oy, definitely a midlife crisis)
a tablecloth
a nutcracker – like the ballet
a cache pot
a small silver tray
a piece of Hawaiian fabric
Not bad for $25, including fixing the lamp (thanks for that Buddy). The perfect adventure for tough economic times!
