Month: March 2017

Of note in Vanity Fair March 2017

Among the things I learned about the Director of the FBI, James Comey, is that he is very tall.  So much so that this picture of him and Attorney General Loretta Lynch had me very confused.  It turned out they were both standing, but I wasn’t sure on first viewing.

From a very interesting article of interviews about 1967 and the radical change in women’s fashion comes this great quote from Grace Slick about how someone is always standing on the outside of women’s fashion.  In this case, women who didn’t have straight hair. (Also, that’s a not-very-nice comment about Janis Joplin)

And this picture of Judy Collins taken during the photo shoot for her album Wildflowers.  I find her upper lip hair to be very prominent in this picture.  In looking images of the album cover online, that seems not to be as much of the case, but possibly because the images are smaller.

Interesting things to note about two buildings

This is the Pendleton Woolen Mills Corporate Headquarters.  I was interested in the sign over the office door.  “No Alcohol Beyond this Point”  Is there drinking only in this office?

Look at this little house, which has managed to survive all sorts of transformations around it.  It’s currently the Julia West House.

On the Truck-o-Pats at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade

I learned about the Truck-o-Pats from my friend Maureen.  She attended the neighborhood St. Patrick’s Day parade two years ago and was very excited to discover there was a Truck-o-Pats.  As was I. I couldn’t go last year, but this year the stars aligned.  Here are pictures from the day.

Motorcycle cops, a whole line.  I learned that the police that guide this march have double duty. In the morning, they work the Shamrock Run downtown, then head to Northeast for this parade.  This way, the parade gets the police for free.

The arrival of the Truck-o-Pats.  The vetting process to join was not difficult, Maureen asked around, we found the Pat in charge and I introduced myself.

Note my favorite detail on the truck:  green chrysanthemums in the windshield wipers, which were then extended out and turned on so they waved.

Parade participants begin to assemble.

This truck had no sign, so I’m not sure who they were affiliated with.

The parade organizer rallies the parade participants.  He has awesome pants.

The woman I suspect of being his wife also was nicely attired.

Some parade watchers.

The bagpipes are piping.

Footage is being captured.

Thus guy, who I’m a sure is not actually a zombie, stands in front of the Irish Wolfhounds.

The unidentified truck of kids watches the parade begin.

Here was a group of marchers.  I’m also not sure what their affiliation was.  They may have been festively dressed families.

And now the Truck-o-Pats is in the parade.  This is the home of the parade’s organizer, who makes good use of his yard for advertising.  He originally started this parade to lure his father-in-law over from Ireland for a visit.

Festive front porch parade viewing.

There was discussion if this priest was a dude dressed a priest, or an actual priest.  Either way, he was quite tall.

This firefighter walked behind the Truck-o-Pats in the parade.  He was ridiculously good looking in a way the camera did not capture.

Post parade, the Irish Mammies assemble for a photo.
And here I am in the Truck-o-Pats.
What a great parade. I plan to return next year.  And possibly bring my Aunt Pat.

Grand Lodge passport page stamped

It’s Cosmic Tripster Round Two!  We have pledged to take five years to finish this time, getting our final stamp sometime in 2021.

Today’s task was to visit Grand Lodge to get all their stamps.  We’ve stayed at Grand Lodge before (40th Birthday Vacation) and I love it.  They’ve recently renovated the Attic and opened more rooms, which I was excited to see.

Here’s the background of how the new rooms came to be named after books.  The Lavender Lady (the ghost immortalized in paint on the second floor) had a hand in the naming.

I loved these quiet nooks and crannies, perfect for curling up and reading.

The hallways are dark and cavernous, which is fun too.

All the hotel locations give you a clue and then you must go find the McMenamins thing (usually a painting or photograph).  Once found, you take a picture, then show the picture to the front desk and collect your stamp.

This month’s clue stumped us:

A quiet space, no place to go
Softly lit by the mushroom’s glow
No place to sit, not a toad stool in view
Come find me, find me all of you

(This clue is even better when read in a dramatic fashion.)

Most of the clues aren’t terribly hard.  This one was.  We started at the top and worked our way down to the bottom and nothing jumped out as the answer.  I took a second look at the clue and decided it must be on the third floor, because the rooms were new and they wanted people to know about them, hence the “come find me” repetition. So back up we went.

Two more trips the length of the hallway and we hadn’t found what we were looking for.  Thank goodness we overheard a kid say to his dad, “and here’s the other secret room…”

Secret room!!!!!!!!!!

The walls move!  There is a secret stairwell!

The stairwell is Lord of the Rings-themed and lit with blacklight.

In this terrible picture, Matt poses with Gollum, who is painted on the door that comes out on the second floor.

Okay!  That was very cool.  But it didn’t fit our clue.  From the kid’s “other” comment we knew there was a second secret room.  But we had to find it.  It was tough.  We walked up and down the hallway, pushing on the walls.

And we found it!

This was a small closet, painted with mushrooms.   It was very cool.
Having found what we were looking for we collected our last stamp and our prize.  We both chose the grab bags and were rewarded with a growler cozy, a wine glass and two postcards.This was a very fun passport page to complete.  Thanks, Grand Lodge.

A day of things to be grateful about

Things have been tough lately.  I hate keeping up with news (and keeping up with the news is something I love) because I come away informed, yet also angry and frustrated.  I feel powerless to change anything.  It’s March in Portland and it’s cold and rainy and there is no sun and it doesn’t seem like spring will ever come.  Every single thing I do seems like a waste of time.

And today I made myself write down one thing every hour that I was grateful for.

I’ve done gratitude journals before, and they don’t do much for me.  Having to think of five things each night means that I think of the same things every day, more or less, so it gets repetitive and feels like an obligation.

But this worked.  Something about repeatedly finding things to be grateful/thankful about during the day elevated my mood.  You noticed I wrote down the date at the bottom.  I had planned to keep doing this every day until things improved, but one day was exactly what I needed.

Phew!

I hadn’t seen this house for years

This house is on Montana between Lombard and Rosa Parks, also known as the walk to tap dance class.  When I moved to Kenton in 2007, the lot was a little overgrown, but in the 10 years following, blackberry bushes took over and the house disappeared behind the brambles.

The blackberries have been cleared away, giving me my first view of the house in years.

It’s pretty beat up and on a big lot that is very close to the train, the Interstate and two grocery stores.  This house isn’t long for this world.  (Going to that website gave me no information about this particular house.)

Three sentence movie reviews: Before I Fall

It’s like the movie Groundhog Day, but not funny and also about teenage female friendships instead of a sardonic weatherman.  No one is going to watch this movie, and that’s too bad because as Zoey Deutch lives the same day again and again, it’s fascinating to peel back the layers of the relationships in her life.  There are some bits of drag near the end, but overall, a well-crafted and interesting movie.

Cost: $5.35
Where watched: Regal City Center Stadium 12  (I’m in a theater rut lately)

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2017/before_i_fall.html