Unpacking the Box of Music Stuff

While doing the final things at 7611 before the estate sale company took over, we discovered a box of my old music books in the basement. I had no idea it was down there. Among the music books was the notebook I brought along to my piano lessons.

This is an apt notebook, as I was incredibly imperfect while learning piano. Also, I forgot that there used to be all kinds of fun notebooks. They seem to have receded with the tide of stationary.

Mrs. Peterson was my piano teacher. I would walk to her house where she had a room for her piano pupils. It probably was a family or living room originally, it had a sliding glass door to the backyard. Her children were grown up, but she wasn’t overly old. Somewhere between my mom and my grandmother.

Under Mrs. Peterson’s guidance, I worked through several piano books. She used the notepad to write my weekly assignments. On the first page she explained the treble and bass clef, along with FACE and All Cows Eat Grass mnemonics. I don’t think we got into Every Good Boy Does Fine and Good Boys Do Fine Always—I think those might have come later.

Flipping through the book provided evidence that my memory of myself as a piano student was correct. There were a lot of reminders to practice stated in various ways. I also needed to curve my fingers when I played. I’m not sure what was going on with me and not curving fingers, but it was a thing.

I took piano for three years, and in that time learned cursive, so Mrs. Peterson could switch from printing my lesson assignments to writing them.

I remember the recitals clearly. I even remember that “Mist” was “Mist Over a Japanese Garden” which is for sale on Amazon at this very minute for $7.99. I do not, however, have any memory of what those piano parties were. They happened twice a year, according to the notebook.

After my third year of having to continually be strongly encouraged to practice, I stopped taking lessons. I did not appear Thursday September 6 at 3:30 p.m. Instead, I took a year or two off and began not-practicing a series of instruments through late elementary, junior high, and high school.

I next took piano lessons my first year in college, and at that time, I did practice every day (or six days a week?) for an hour. I supposedly made good progress. The piano instructor quite liked me, and I even got a small music scholarship (of the kind for spirit rather than talent) but my second year I took too many credits and something had to go and so it was the one-credit piano that I dropped.

Kah-Nee-Ta

We drove to Kah-Nee-Ta for the day. It gave us a chance to read from the books, an activity that has fallen by the wayside as the number of our streaming services have increased.

It was a good day for Kah-Nee-Ta as it was gray and rainy in Portland, but sun-sun-sunny on the other side of the mountain.

At the turnoff, there was a sign that we were on open range, and indeed, three horses were hanging out in the road. Matt took this picture.

We checked in, grabbed lockers in our respective dressing rooms (lockers were spendy, and also my locker rental kiosk charged me twice) and explored the various water offerings. We made brief visits to the children’s spa and walked through the children’s play area (there were no children playing at the time.) We checked out all three wellness pools, from the nicely warm to the very hot.

We then rested a bit, before trying out the lazy river. This was my first lazy river. It was super fun. We both had pool noodles, and when we stepped into the “river” (actually a pool about 4.5 feet deep with an inner pool that was not part of the river), the current pushed us around in an undulating circular path. It was quite relaxing and fun.

The middle pool had both a volleyball and a basketball net, so we played some ball. We also ate lunch (it was fine, but also I didn’t choose the Indian Taco option, which was probably really good) and then soaked/rested/lazy rivered again before taking a walk.

We played miniature golf, and checked out the lodging and teepees., then went back for one more soak before showing and heading back. I took this self portrait outside the entrance.

And then Matt joined me so we could do a time photo. (Such a classic timer photo!)

On the way back there were more horses.

Overall, this was a good trip. Because lodging is rather spendy, I think this trip would be a great to stop when coming back from Bend. It would break up the drive nicely.

When we visited, there were not many people, but I’m not sure how things go in the summer. There is an option to rent a cabana, or various permutations of deck chairs. We did not opt for that. The free chairs are not padded, but they were nice, and there were a ton of them.

On the way home we stopped at DQ for dinner and a Blizzzard.

Staycation 2024: Portland Spirit

We’re having a small summer vacation, as opposed to our extravagant Disneyland trip in March. Our first stop: The Portland Spirit, the boat that runs regular cruises on the Willamette River

After having our picture taken while boarding (regulation, according to them, but also so they could try to sell us the photo for $15) we climbed to the third deck and grabbed chairs near the railings.

We opted for the Happy Hour Cruise which was the shortest in duration and had no food included. It was a good choice.

While you cruise, there is guided narration. Here we pull away from the dock.

Here is the Tilikum Crossing Bridge, the South Waterfront, and the OHSU Tram.

Looking back at the Sellwood Bridge.

We turned around and came back a little earlier than I thought we would, but I guess that’s what you get when opt for the least expensive cruise that is shortest in length. Back at the dock, Matt could touch the dock as we pulled up to it.

One last self portrait.

And one last look at the Hawthorne Bridge.

7611: Before the Estate Sale

We finished up the last things we needed to do before Thea’s Estate Sale took possession. I wandered around the house feeling sad about all the things that will no longer be part of my family and will soon find their way to new homes.

I took one last picture of the hallway. For my entire life (nearly 50 years) I’ve watched myself walk down this hallway in the mirror that sits over the phone desk where my grandmother always removed her clip-on earrings before talking on the phone.

When I was younger, I would run and leap, and as I got older and more earthbound, the pace was slower. If the mirror could montage, you’d see me from a baby to mid-century.

I took the mirror home with me. But I will no longer have the long hallway to reflect me to me.

US Bank: A Midcentury Building

US Bank isn’t my bank, but my unemployment benefits went to a card with their logo on it. I needed to close that account, and so headed into the location on Interstate.

As I entered, I admired the handsome door handles. Such great metal with grids. The overall look of the bank is a nice midcentury, but it’s obscured on the outside by a boring paint job, and on the inside by many renovations. But that door handle is out and proud.

While I was working with the teller, another customer came in and said she had been banking at the location since 1952! She probably remembered it in its midcentury glory.

7611: New Life for Bankie

In unpacking the trunk, I brought home my baby blanket, known as Bankie. As you can tell, Bankie was much used in my younger years.

But what to do with it?

After sitting around on my folding desk for a few weeks, the solution presented itself. The embroidery piece I’ve been working on for years was finally done enough to be made into its final form.

The plan, when I worked for MFA, was to have a place to set my water and tea when I went into the office. We had a hot desk situation, and I thought it would be nice to have something to catch the drips. I don’t work at MFA anymore, so I’m not sure if this will get used as it was originally intended.

But no matter, it needed filler. And Bankie became the filler.

I went with three layers, and that might have been one too many, but they tend to compact after a time. I saved the rest for use as filler for my next round of coasters.

I’ll post a picture when I’ve sewn up the gap I left for turning.

Unemployment Task Done

Back in May, I tackled the second task on my unemployment to-do list: painting the front of the house.

Something went wrong with the previous paint job, and the paint bubbled on the right side of the door. This was fine (I mean, not really, but it looked fine) until pressure washing peeled off the paint on some lower bubbles, leaving the cement siding exposed.

Matt had previously had the paint matched, and in May I sanded things down. Sometime in July, I borrowed my neighbor’s extension ladder and used Krud Kutter in lieu of pressure washing to clean the surface. That undid my sanding efforts.

And now, in September, I have sanded again and painted! I’m pleased with the results. I didn’t paint all the way up, and used the porch shelter as a demarcation point. But the colors look fine and point where the paint changes is blocked by the bush on one side and the upper porch on the other.

Most all of the bubbles flattened out and while you can see the outline, they blend pretty well.

This is one exception, but we will put back the mailbox and it will cover that right up. You can also see where the wood has rotted. It was very spongy when I did the initial work in May.

Rather than try to replace the wood, I’m thinking of this as a stop-gap measure. the house is up for repainting in the next few years, and the painters replace the boards that need it when they paint.