A Trip to Edgefield

I took myself on a short vacation to kick off my spring break.  Here’s where I went and you can see the bus stop where I disembarked.  It takes about 90 minutes door to door to get to Edgefield.  Only one transfer!

Copula as seen through blossoms.

Grape vines ready.

I planned to check in exactly at 3:00, so as to maximize my stay.  Since I was early, I took a little walk.  Of course I headed straight for the vegetable garden.

Potatoes had been planted, and this chard was doing well.

The first asparagus I’ve seen this year!

Mustard.  Bolting;

Edgefiled has many nice cobb benches.

It turns out many people had the same idea to check in exactly at 3:00, so there was a bit of a line.  But just look how big my room was!

Two beds, two chairs and a couch!  I booked late, so all the regular Full-single rooms were taken.  But I was very happy with the couch  and chairs.  There was a lot of sprawling and reading.

On my way to the Power Station for some food I found this pretty plant.

Fulfilling my stamp requirements, I purchased a Beer sampler.  I discovered that 1) I was not a fan of the Termanator Stout (too bitter).  2)Both IPAs did not wow me.  3) I was completely in love with Ruby Ale.  Like I would actually order it of my own volition, not just to get a stamp.  4)I liked the Seasonal Madness, which had the word “red” in the title.  5) I really liked the Brewer’s choice, but alas do not remember what it was.

Also, as a public service announcement, I also did not drink all the sampler on my own.  I drank three of the samples and sipped on the other two enough to confirm I did not like them.  Even with eating  a pizza, three samples were probably my limit.  Which is how I like it.  Being a lightweight is quite cost effective.

Also, I never did read the back of the sheet.  Perhaps when we order another sampler so Matt can get his stamp.

The rest of my Edgefield visit involved reading quietly in my room, doing my usual McMenamins plan of choosing a different bathroom every time, soaking in the soaking pool in the morning when the pool was mostly deserted and it was pouring rain.

It was a lovely visit.

A walk along N. Greenwich Avenue

I usually walk to Laurie and Bert’s house along N. Fenwick Avenue so I can see the Brigadoon House.  But today I ended up on Greenwich Avenue, which could be renamed Infill/Teardown Central.

Here we have a modest-size house, normal for this street. Next to it is an infill 5-unit apartment complex built where a modest-size house used to be.  Next to that is a gargantuan space of many units, built where yet another modest-size house used to be.

From the other direction: two modest-size houses being dwarfed by the new construction next to them and the new construction behind them.  I have less of a problem with the new construction behind them.  It fronts Interstate, is a Head Start combined with affordable apartments and, most importantly HAS PARKING.  Neither of these two new buildings can say that.

Just down the street we see what is replacing a very cute cottage that sold twice since I lived here, the second time to a developer who had bigger plans.

Postcards from Minnesota, Minnesota, and Minnesota

These three are from Sara, whom you might know from the comments section.  She writes me from her Spring Break, which is a week before my Spring Break.  She reports that the boot was a very fun curiosity stop.  Apparently Minnesota has quite a few such stops.

These are two postcards of the Mary, Queen of the Universe Shrine.  Which, even for the Catholics seems like an overstatement.

Sara wonders if I will get all three postcards in one day and I can report that they did arrive all at once.

From my commute.

I’m still waiting for my Poetry Post to appear in front of my house. In the meantime, I enjoy other people’s posts.  I particularly like the style of this one, and the nice bird perched on the edge.  If you would like the full text of the poem, without glare, go here.  This particular post is outside TaborSpace, which is my favorite multi-use space/Presbyterian Church in Portland.

On the way home, my heart sang at the sight of this overly spotty young man being dwarfed by this balloon, clicking through his Rubik’s cube. Just when I’m getting resentful of the time it takes to commute via bus, the universe presents me with something like this and I’m in love with the world again.

Three sentence movie review: The Art of Getting By

Probably the best thing I could say about this movie is that the actors all said their lines very well.  I could say plenty of things that are not at all nice, but I shall not traipse in that direction.  Points for the mom not falling into a domestic violence victim role and choosing instead to protect her son, but sadly, this one redeeming quality does not make any of this movie worth the watch.

Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home (Spring Break double feature!)

Interestingly, this movie is called “Homework” in all but the movie poster title. See how it says Homework_ver3?  When I searched “The Art of Getting By” it gave me a movie titled “Homework.”  Which was the same movie.  
poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2011/homework_ver3.html

Three sentence movie reviews: What’s Up, Doc?

As the poster tells us, this is Bogdanovich’s attempt to bring back the screwball comedy, which, given that I can’t think of any other screwball comedies made in the 1970s, apparently did not start a huge trend.  I found both Streisand and O’Neal off-putting in their roles at first, but they grew on my and the great chase scene at the end won me over.  This is also one of those rare family friendly films, plus Madeline Kahn is fantastic and very much worth watching.

Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home.

A Ruby Oliver Film Festival choice.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/1972/whats_up_doc.html

Dennis Lehane at Powell’s Cedar Hills Crossing

Thanks to Kelly, we rambled out to Cedar Hills Crossing to see Mr. Lehane, author of the Kenzie/Gennaro P.I. murder mysteries, Mystic River, Shutter Island, The Given Day and its two sequels.  I took several photos of Mr. Lehane, none of them great.  He’s a good storyteller, he is and while reading from the first chapter of his new book, you can see how he drew these people in.

I learned that he misses Boston terribly, (he lives in Santa Monica), he’s a Boston Celebrity (Lahane, you’re a treas-ah!), the Wire was only renewed for five seasons because HBO didn’t have anything else, and no, he still hasn’t found his dog.  I hope Portland showed him an okay St. Patrick’s Day.

Coming home the Rose Garden was lit up for the holiday.