My First Time at Gracie’s Apizza

I heard about this place while editing a blog post for my job. At Gracie’s Apizza, Craig Melillo makes 70 pies per night and when they are gone, he’s done. There are no more pies to be had.

This has always struck me as a very sane business model. Figure out what makes you enough money and just do that. Then stop.

I got the ricotta pie. Ricotta, provolone, mozz, young onions, heavy on the black pepper. Plus I opted into the greens. It was a little too heavy on the black pepper for me, but I’m willing to overlook that because the crust was so very good.

Sadly, one of the 70 pizzas fell on the ground as Craig was delivering mine. Poor pizza.

It took a bit to figure out the trick to actually getting to eat one of the pizzas. If you order on Wednesday, that’s when the orders open for the entire week. Choose your date and time, but be sure to show up because if you don’t show, you don’t get your money back.

In the category of what I did while waiting for my pizza, I read my newest letter from Sara, and texted her the good news that while the letter was marked postage due, no one made me pay any extra postage.

Sara pointed out that she weighed the letter and put on an extra stamp. There did seem to be enough postage. Perhaps they stamped it in errors and that’s why I didn’t have to pay.

The Importance of Centering When Transferring

Why? Why did I make the top of the circle so close to the top of the material, especially when I had so much more room below? Because this sampler isn’t really a circle—the big wagon wheel flower knocks this into more of a square—the size of hoop that fits the design leaves a gap at the top. This size hoop would have worked, if only I’d paid more attention when centering the design on the material..

This one would have worked too, but again, gap.

This one does fit all the way around, but it makes everything look too squished.

Well, time to switch shapes. And now I have three sizes of hoops waiting in the wings.

Kiriki Press Sampler: Floral Bun

This one was a big win from the Kiriki Pess sampler club. When it came in the mail, I thought, “If this one looks good when I’m done, it’s going on the wall. And thanks to the excellent instructions, it did turn out and it is going on the wall.

I think Kiriki Press’s talent is teaching cool skills with her samplers. In this one, I learned about blending strands to show different shades of hair. Plus I learned Turkey Work stitch. I’m not going to lie. I had to set aside the half-done Turkey Work for a few weeks because I was scared. But I eventually picked it back up and finished making all those strands into a tidy bun. Matt had to hold sections while I worked.

I also liked this section. This is actually much simper than it looks. Two diagonal crossed strands (purple going to the right and alternating pink and green going to the left) and then the circle part is woven around the grid.

Here’s the back, for people who like to look at backs.

I wish the lettering and outlines were in a darker color, but I think she must have had to choose one color and needed the light purple for the shawl background. Overall, still a big win.

Postcard from Great Britain

Jennifer sent me this trio of pictures celebrating William Barnes, the Dorset Poet. The are: the church at Winterbourne Came,  “a small dispersed settlement and civil parish in the county of Dorset” (so says Wikipedia). Whitcombe church, scene of his early services. And Winterborne Came rectory, his home until his death in 1886.

Here’s more about William Barnes, including some of his poetry.

I enjoyed that this postcard was made in 1991. Getting a 31-year-old postcard in the mail is one of the reasons I enjoy Postcrossing. Also, Jennifer let me know that her daughter popped in for a surprise visit from Australia and that she hadn’t seen her for years. So that was fun.

As were the stamps!

Miniature Golf at Oaks Park

Matt and I tried out the mini golf at Portland’s only amusement park.

I like that all the holes had these flags. They made it easier to get the ball in.

In fact, I was on fire during this golf game. “On fire,” in this case, is defined as mostly only being one over par and sometimes making par but still losing. Usually it takes me six or seven tries, hand-eye coordination not being a thing with me. But for whatever reason today, I could really get that golf ball where I needed it to be.

The course itself was very basic. But it was also deserted, which was nice. I hate to feel hurried during mini golf.

Caricoa Bowls and Waihua Shave Ice

Unfortunately we had to cancel In-Portland Vacation Restaurant Experience No. 2. I was very ill for about three hours on Sunday afternoon, and so we were not able to attend our tasting meal. I think the illness was probably food poisoning, but from food I made, not food the Firehouse Restaurant made. Matt ate the exact same thing as me at the Firehouse Restaurant and he was fine.

We also missed out on the Everett House, so no soaking for us during this vacation. But now we are back on track.

Matt wanted to introduce me to Carioca Bowls and so we got some before our movie. It was my first açaí bowl. My experience wasn’t great as I requested no bananas on the Ultra bowl I ordered. The clerk confirmed no bananas, then went in the back and made my bowl with bananas. When I reminded her no banana, she offered to remake the bowl. I suggested she just take off the bananas and she did, but there was also banana in the Ipa blend that was part of that bowl. She told me about it, and offered to remake the bowl, but we were headed off to pick up shave ice and I felt we didn’t have time. Also that maybe she should have thought of that and mentioned it when I ordered. I ate around the glop with the banana in it and Matt finished off my bowl.

His order was a very big bowl and he quite enjoyed it.

Having experienced shave ice in Hawaii, we opted to make Waihua Shave Ice part of our day. We ordered online ahead of time and stopped by to pick up our shave ice.

While waiting, we discovered that I’m just the right height to wait in this particular spot.

I got the Almond Joy and it was delicious! Matt got Da Mango One and liked it. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to each much due to eating 1.5 açaí bowls.

From there we headed to the Laurelhurst to see Vengance, which was the kind of film that we had things to discuss on the way home and the next day.

Books Read in July 2022

Picture Books

The Every Baby Book
Frann Preston-Gannon
Read for Librarian Book Group

A day in the life of babies and the the families they live in. Provides a wide example of many types of families.

Because of You, John Lewis
Andrea Davis Pinkney and Keith Henry Brown
Read for Librarian Book Group

A short picture book that shows the connection between Martin Luther King, John Lewis, and Tybre, who is growing up in the time of Black Lives Matter

My Parents Won’t Stop Talking
Emma Hunsinger , Tillie Walden
Read for Librarian Book Group

I was initially put off by the faces, but the story of the many stages of waiting won me over in the end. Great representation including two moms, a mixed-race family, and hippie pants.

Every Dog in the Neighborhood
Stead and Cordell
Read for Librarian Book Group

There’s a turn at the end that elevates this from a charming census of neighborhood dogs to a more poignant story. The background story with grandma was also fun.

Luli and the Language of Tea
Wang and Yum
Read for Librarian Book Group

Tea is the unifier in a childcare setting with children from many nationalities. This book includes pronunciation guides both for what tea is called in various languages and also pronunciation guides for the children’s names. As someone who wants to pronounce things correctly, this was important.

The World Belonged to Us
Jacqueline Woodson, Leo Espinosa
Read for Librarian Book Group 

This isn’t the first time Woodson has written eloquently about her childhood neighborhood (and hopefully it won’t be the last). This captures the freedom of summer in a universal way. I didn’t grow up with summers like Woodson, but I could certainly relate.

The spiritual twin of this book is the opening to Spike Lee’s Crooklyn. It contains a montage of most of the same things we see in this book. The movie is also good, but that opening is summer gold.

Middle Grade

Swim Team
Johnnie Christmas
Read for Librarian Book Group

When Bree moves from New York City to Florida, her neighborhood middle school is named after the first Black woman to win an Olympic medal. Bree isn’t a swimmer. This is the story of how she becomes one. It also talks about the systemic racism that contributed to the reasons Bree was late coming to swimming.

As someone who started swimming before I could walk, I love a good swimming story, especially one that highlights why People of Color don’t have the same experience I did.

Bluffton: My Summers with Buster
Matt Phelan

A reread after watching a bunch of Buster Keaton films. I would have liked Keaton’s story to be the center, but this is a nice side way into Keaton and his style.

Little Monarchs
Jonathan Case
Read for Librarian Book Group

A hopeful dystopian story of a younger girl and her found-family aunt trying to find a vaccine for the sun poisoning that killed most mammals and drove the handful of remaining humans underground for fifty years. It’s fascinating on many levels—beginning with the Pacific City, Oregon, setting and including monarchs and world building. Weighty, but not depressing.

Young Adult

I Kissed Shara Wheeler
Casey McQuiston
Read for Librarian Book Group

For most of the book, this very long book is a cross between Paper Towns, 13 Little Blue Envelopes, and that YA book set in DC where the girl uncovers a particular kind of scandal. It does forge a good path examining how a K-12 evangelical-based education can wreck havoc on sexual identity. It’s too bad it had to borrow from so many other stories in order to do so.

Button Pusher
Tyler Page
Read for Librarian Book Group

This graphic novel explores Perry’s experiences growing up with ADHD. It takes some graphically illustrated brain science tangents, too. I would have liked those tangents to not be so squished onto a two-page spreads.

Mostly, I came away astounded at what a jerk Perry’s dad was. It was well established that his father was living the ramifications of untreated ADHD, but when his rages affect three other people, my sympathy wanes.

Rivals
Katharine McGee

So very well plotted! It’s hard to juggle four characters (even in a third book in a series) and keep things moving along. Great development of Daphne and Nina and an ending that had me wishing the next book was already here.

A Year to the Day
Robin Benway

A very interesting concept that ultimately didn’t work for me. Telling the story in reverse order meant that I hadn’t built the emotional connection to the events that I was reading about and thus was left puzzling things together. This turned into an exercise of me guessing what the next chapter would focus on. I also spent a lot of time trying to figure out why the movie Memento (essentially the same concept, but with a mystery, not a dead sister) totally works with this device. I came to the conclusion that in the movie, we are learning along with the character, who can’t remember things for more than a few minutes. This story feels like hearing the end of the story before the stage has really been set.

While I found this to be a swing and a miss, I appreciate the swing. And it would have been a great dead sister story if presented in chronological order. So maybe read it backwards?

No One Is Alone
Rachel Vincent

Michaela loses her mother abruptly and also learns that her father isn’t a perpetual bachelor, but that she is his love child who has been hidden from how family that includes a wife and three children. Integrating with her new family is hard, but in a way that no one is actually the villain. Great family dynamics, plus a spring musical performance of Into the Woods.

Spin
Lamar Giles

Both a mystery with an up-and-coming DJ found dead and a slow burn friendship of the two young women who try to find the murderer. Very nicely done, Mr. Giles!

My Name is Jason. Mine too.: Our Story. Our Way.
Jason Reynolds and Jason Griffin

Art (written and visual) made by the two Jasons who were roommates in New York City when they were younger. I enjoyed reading this and am glad they have found recognition for their work. It’s not super memorable otherwise.

Private Label
Kelly Yang

A solid duel narrator story of two kids finding their way in a rich California beach community. One is an American-born daughter of an up-and-coming designer mother born in China, the other is a recent immigrant. Yang has really great child/parent scenes and what seems to me a very optimistic view of stage 4 cancer.

Grownup Fiction

The Tangleroot Palace
Marjorie Liu

Eight short stories by Liu that demonstrate her creative imagination, strength with word choice, and expose her deep distrust of forests.

Young Nonfiction

Call Me Miss Hamilton
Carole Boston Weatherford and Jeffrey Boston Weatherford
Read for Librarian Book Group

It took a Supreme Court case to affirm that all people in court should be addressed by their honorifics. Thanks systemic racism. Here’s the woman behind that story.

I enjoyed the scratchboard illustrations backed with photos. The story itself left me wondering about Miss Hamilton’s life. The text mentions that she went to collage, but that information doesn’t appear on the time line. It may be that they don’t have that information, but even adding that a fact is unknown is helpful.

Sandor Katz and the Tiny Wild
Jacqueline Briggs Martin, June Jo Lee, and Julie Wilson
Read for Librarian Book Group

An intro to the man who brought fermentation into US mainstream in the early aughts.

Solitary Animals: Introverts of the Wild
Joshua David Stein and Dominique Ramsey
Read for Librarian Book Group

I feel a bit iffy about applying a human label, introvert, to animals. Also, the illustrations depict an eagle looking at an octopus, a panther, and a sloth at the same time and I don’t think that’s possible. I found myself wondering if this was a complete list of solitary animals. I suspect not.

The Tide Pool Waits
Candace Fleming and Amy Hevron
Read for Librarian Book Group

Detailed information in picture book form about life in tidepools. I wish the words had been matched with an illustrator who painted clear pictures.

How to Build a Human: In Seven Evolutionary Steps
Pamela S. Turner, John Gurche
Read for Librarian Book Group

Turner clearly maps out seven evolutionary steps to get us to humans. This is backed with a solid array of photos and illustrations.

Murder Among Friends
Candace Fleming
Read for Librarian Book Group

Fleming takes us along with Leopold and Loeb as they plot to murder and collect a ransom on a boy in their neighborhood. The book covers the sentencing phase and contains the many details Fleming is famous for.

I was interested to note that Fleming regularly used the term “teenagers” to describe Leopold and Lobe given that we know that white males who are 18 and 19 are often called “teenagers” while male people of color the same age are routinely characterized as “men.” I’m curious if Fleming put thought into using this word. Leopold and Lobe were still teenagers, but did that change the way readers saw them? If Leopold and Lobe were Black, would we still be calling them teenagers.

Out of the Shadows: How Lotte Reiniger Made the First Animated Fairytale Movie
Fiona Robinson
Read for Librarian Book Group

Illustrations and text work together seamlessly to show the creation of one of the first animated films and the woman who created it.

The Whale Who Swam Through Time
Alex Boersma and Nick Pyenson
Read for Librarian Book Group

I find most stories about whales are a complete bummer because there’s either the whaling industry to contend with or climate change. This one was no different. But I did learned about this long-lived species of whale.

Grownup Nonfiction

Radically Content: Being Satisfied in an Endlessly Dissatisfied World
Jamie Varon

Varon makes the case that being happy is a revolutionary act. Most of the advice consists of making your own way, rather than measuring yourself against others.

In-Portland Vacation Meal No. 1: Firehouse Restaurant

Because we had a big and very fancy vacation in March, we opted to stay in Portland for our August vacation and go out to eat at the restaurants we’ve been wanting to try. First up: The Firehouse Restaurant.

I’d heard good things, but even with that background info, the quality of the vegetable sides blew me away. We ordered roasted carrots, fried cauliflower, and a beet salad and all were some of the best sides I’d eaten in a very long time. We ate them right up, as you can see by the empty dishes. The mushroom pizza was also delicious.

It was also a very hot day, but sitting on the patio, we had a very nice breeze.

Thanks, Fireside, for getting our vacation off to a great start.

Year of Stitch Sampler No. 5: Cleave Ever

I loved this #Yearofstitch sampler. The stitches this time: raised fishbone, lazy daisy, triple lazy daisy, figure eight knot, buttonhole wheel, woven wheel. Figure eight knots and fishbone stitch were new to me. I’m quite pleased at how things turned out. This one is getting framed!

I chose to use a quote from my stack of 3×5 cards of quotes I’ve collected over the years. When I went to write up an Instagram post, I googled to find out who said it and found that I had written it down wrong. Alfred, Lord Tennyson actually said, Cleave every to the sunnIER side of doubt. I was so very close.

I was glad the padded fishbone stitch worked. Shannon had a few tips that kept me on track. And I love figure eight knots. I think they look better than French knots.

This wasn’t my first woven wheel, but it was the biggest. That’s two skiens of black floss you are looking at there, just in that woven wheel. And I stopped a little earlier than I should have. I added one of those leaves to cover up that a few bits of the woven wheel framework that was still showing.

As with the other four #Yearofstitch samplers from Badass Cross stitch, this was incredibly fun.