Category: All (-ish)

Random Song: I’ve got you under my skin. (Sinatra & Bono)

This song (Frank only) came on in my tap class tonight and I was reminded of this version, which came out when I was in high school and got me listening to Sinatra.  

In general, I’m not a huge fan of Mr. Sinatra.  I adore a couple of songs (this, “That’s Life”, “Something Stupid”) but overall I find I’m usually snapping my fingers and yelling at him to, “Speed it up, Frank!”  But this is pretty speedy and I love the way their voices work together.

Letter from Aunt Carol

If the tell-tale sign of Aunt Carol’s handwriting didn’t tip me off the address label (free from some nonprofit) would.

Inside, a note from my aunt and a folded piece of paper.  I recognize the paper.

It’s computer scratch paper.  Growing up we had tons of it.  I’m not really sure why random symbols were printed out, but Dad would bring it home as scratch paper from his job as a principal.  This is actually the good computer scratch paper because you could tear off the dots.  The previous generation had dots that were not perforated and you had to use scissors to remove them.

And inside a picture and a story.

What a fun blast from the past.

Baby blanket (finally) finished!

The baby in question, MaryAnn’s Henry, is now two months old.  This is the same pattern I used for the other three baby blankets I made.  One for Ariel’s Charlie and Matt’s niece Mya.  I’ve also made it for a friend whose child is now in elementary school.  That was the pre-digital-camera era though, so I don’t have a picture of that one. 

I’m such a slow knitter I usually start these before the couple knows the sex of the child, so green is the default color. I would be fine with giving more girly colors to boys and vice versa, but not everyone feels that way and so gender-neutral green it is.

I’ve also got a PDF of the pattern I can send you if you are interested.  Just let me know. It’s very easy, 3 knits 3 pearls in a repeating pattern of 14 rows. 

Starting with this blanket, I kept track of what I was watching while knitting.  Here’s the list:

  • Wolverine
  • Persuasion (BBC)
  • Midsummer Night’s Dream (Portland Actor’s Ensemble)
  • Revenge of the Nerds
  • In a World
  • Repo Man
  • Ruby Sparks
  • Mad Men Season 7 part I
  • Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains
  • Frozen
  • Sherlock Season 1
  • House of Cards Season 1 (episodes 1-3)
  • Stuck in Love
  • Treme Season 1 (episodes 1-3)
  • Downton Abbey, Season 5 (episodes 1-3)

RIP Downtown Post Office

You’ve been bought by St. Mary’s Academy and they are tearing you down until they figure out what they want to put on this block.  This is the post office I used a lot when I lived downtown.  It’s also the one where I once took 20 manila envelopes to mail for work and the postal clerk was aghast.  “Did you sort them by zip code?” she asked.  She was very grumpy when I responded in the negative.  “I have to enter each zip code separately!”   That was a lady who was not at all happy with her job.

Walk up Vancouver Ave.

My Wednesday swim has been usurped by freezing cold shower water.  The swimming water is a good temperature, but the shower before and after is more “alpine lake” than I would want.  So I’m putting off swimming until warmer weather arrives.  In the meantime, I’m taking long walks before my Wednesday volunteer stint.  Here’s my walk up (a.k.a. north on) Vancouver Ave.

Before we even get to Vancouver, here is a building on Russell St.

I love it because it has bits from all different decades.

Possibly original doors, but the plywood covering are much more recent.  Then there’s the wood that trims the bottom.  Most likely not original.

Looking above the front door, we’ve got wavy sheet metal, original ceiling and a busted out light. I also really love the way peeling paint looks.

Original roof detail, asphalt shingles and more plywood.

Really great side detail with original siding peeking through asphalt shingles.

Also, this building is much larger than it looks from the street.  And it’s not abandoned.  On the other side is a garage door (which completely doesn’t fit) so I think this building is used for storage.

The Vancouver/Williams Corridor has exploded in the last few years.  When I first moved here there were many empty lots and even empty blocks thanks to really bad urban development in the mid-20th Century.  Supposedly Legacy Emmanuel Hospital was going to hugely expand, so they moved out the largely black business owners and tenants, razed the buildings and then didn’t do anything.  Things are being done now, decades later.  But it’s not the hospital that is doing things.

Vancouver Ave is the street that runs one way south (towards downtown).  Williams is the street that runs one way north.  I used to get them confused until someone told me that she always found it odd that Vancouver’s traffic pattern took cars in the direction away from the city of Vancouver.

I was happy to see this bank of houses somehow managed to escape the devastation.  Perhaps because they front the lovely Dawson Park.

Just one block north of those houses this is what it looks like.  And that is the Vancouver today.  Houses that still survive, empty lots that are being gobbled up and the building of high rises like crazy.

It wasn’t until I was walking by that I noticed this billboard is the shortest billboard I’ve ever seen.

A good set of compare/contrast houses.

I’m slightly worried for this pretty building because its on an otherwise empty lot and is surrounded by fencing.

Closeup of the mural.

On Killingsworth, I love this huge edifice.

It’s got extend-a-porch.

Someone has a little too much discretionary spending money.

From an Oregonian article about most downtown parking tickets accumulated.  The top winner is a UPS truck.  But also high on the list?  The daughter of a doctor with a little too much spending money.  Who also has a parking space in a garage.  The absurdity of this made me laugh.

Northrup Food Center

I lived downtown from 2002 to 2005.  Back then, a few of my jogging routes would take me through Northwest Portland, so between that and walking around, I had a pretty good lay of the land.  I had to be at 24th and Northrup, so I walked from Union Station through the neighborhood just to see what had changed.

In short: nearly everything.  Huge buildings where there once were none, huge multi-unit places where once there was a house, stores, stores, stores, restaurants, restaurants, restaurants and parking just as horrible as it always was.

So I was thrilled to come upon the Northrup Food Center, which has not been bought, torn down, spiffed up ironically, or anything else.  It looks exactly like it did a decade ago.

I love the incredibly grimy 70’s white rock.

I spied an R2D2 hidden away.  Old promotion maybe?

Whoever takes over this property has a lot of junk to dispose of.

Here’s a link from 2008 about a mural on the other side of the building.  I’m not sure if its still there.
Here’s a link from 2010 about the man who owns the building which also provides insight about why the store hasn’t been redone.