Photos from home

I like having a few roses in the house during rose season.  And there were some calendula plants crowding other things so I cut the flowers and brought them in for the bouquet.  Look how rich the colors are.

The hydrangeas are starting to bloom.  They look nice with the pink begonias.

Love those yellow greens in the shade with all the other foliage.  If you notice any light specs in the photos, those are the tree flowers which are raining down on the garden.  I have to sweep and "dust" every day to keep up with them.  The photos were after the cleaning but the flowers fall constantly.

Still want to move to Portland?

So a guy goes out hunting with his buddies though it is not hunting season.  They get drunk and sit around shooting squirrels.  The guy's gun is not working very well and keeps jamming.  He accidentally shoots his friend in the back.  Then he covers up the shooting.  Then the mayor helps him cover up the shooting because this guy is the Portland Police chief.

And our Multnomah County Sheriff is retiring because of his own scandals.

The hunting trip and shooting accident happened in Harney County which is where the Malheur Wildlife Refuge was occupied this past winter.  Boy, I feel bad for the sheriff of Harney County.  He's had more than his share of yahoo behavior this year.

Still want to move to Portland?

Today at our house

It was a great day to be outside.  It's been too cool and drippy for gardening but today was perfect.  Then we are moving into a hot spell.

Pippin having a bath on top of the cat scratching post.

Sun drops and salvia outside my work room window.

Quilting Wanda's quilt

I enjoy hand quilting more than any other aspect of quilting.   My friend Wanda had this quilt for sale on her shop site.

I decided I wanted to big stitch quilt it, getting me right to my favorite part.  I've only just started but I already like it a lot.

Walking to Burrasca for lunch

Yesterday we walked to Burrasca for lunch.  They used to have a food cart that was about a mile away but they moved to Clinton Street and now they are about 2.5 miles away.    That is further afield than most of our walks.  I can't always walk that far on concrete but I knew we could take a bus part way home if it was too much.  I am happy to report that I walked the whole way there and back (more than five miles).  I couldn't have managed that last year so, Yippee!

Lunch was delicious and the walk was very nice.  I love walking in old Portland neighborhoods, seeing the great houses and the gardens.  It was quiet there yesterday.  Our neighborhood is filled with construction noise and the quiet was a balm.  We saw some houses on hormones but not as many as I feared.  Not as many as in other sections of Southeast Portland.

Isn't the bowed out window nice?  There was a little sign that said "Vintage Woodworks".  I've never heard of them but the name and the state of the house both seem promising.

Community garden plots

What a big old tree

Looking toward the river and the West Hills of Portland.

This house sits on a huge lot (almost its own block)  and is quite huge itself.  This is the main wing.  It had multiple wings with lots of windows, probably to catch the light.

We liked this fence.

John noted that the decorative sliver is cut from the top piece, which is pretty cool.

The siding on this house seemed like it was wiggling.

 We ate in the back courtyard of Burrasca.  The roof drains through this sort of industrial waterfall thing.

There was a pod cart on Division that included not only places to eat, but also other businesses such as a place selling plants and a hair salon.... that's new to me in pod carts.

This is the plant seller, working out of an Airstream trailer.

This is a note on the for sale sign.  It says "This is always good for a laugh.  Are you people out of your minds?"  The house is a brand new house on hormones aka McMansion for sale for almost a million dollars.

This is your fairly standard style for a house on hormones being built today in Portland.  They usually call it Craftsman style but it doesn't look very Craftsman to me.  Craftsman houses have more overhang, more porch.   Houses on hormones are taller and bigger than their neighbors, filling up the whole lot with house.  Most of them are an unappealing shade of gray.  This one is trimmed with a bad trim color.  You can see how it towers above it's neighbors on both sides.  There isn't any room or light for much to grow.

Portland homeless

This is a video I ran across in the Portland Mercury about the Hazelnut Grove homeless camp.  The beginning shows homeless on the streets of Portland.  Notice how young most of them are.  That is the age group I mostly see on the street.  The people in the camp are older.  These days I see mostly young homeless people when I am out and about, like they show in the beginning of the film.


Hazelnut Grove from Kevin Neidorf on Vimeo.

I like this one

Wanda pieced this and I quilted it.  I really like it.  I don't know what I will do next with it.  I pinned it to a door for the time being.  Thanks, Wanda!

A Portland Treasure

The Central East Side Industrial District is a treasure land for those who make things or work on their houses or need something special made that you can't buy.  Some of the businesses are well known,  even outside Portland.  Pratt and Larson tile.  Bullseye Glass. Rejuvenation.  Some other well known ones started there such as Schoolhouse Electric.

Source

We have used many businesses there for our projects.  You can get tools sharpened or repaired.  We got our marmoleum there.  John had wood milled at Creative Woodworking.  I got upholstery supplies for my tuffet.  There are many stone suppliers (we visited many for our granite counter top).  More than 17,000 people work there.  And they are not working for big corporations.    These are the places where both tradition and innovation thrive.  This is a place worth preserving.  This is the lifeblood of what makes Portland Portland.

Here is a pretty cool history of the area by the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability.   However, I am highly suspicious of their plans to integrate new businesses in (I think they mean coffee shops and swanky stuff aka trendy new neighborhood).

"Construction and renovation of buildings are frequent sights throughout the Central Eastside, including this project at the corner of Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard and Southeast Water Ave. City planners are trying to strike a balance between the development of the area into a trendy new neighborhood while maintaining the district's manufacturing and industrial base. (Kristyna Wentz-Graff / The Oregonian)"  Source

This area has been an industrial sanctuary.  We need it to stay that way. And it is under threat from unbridled growth.

Walking in the neighborhood again

These photos are from today's walk.  We walked to Umai and had chicken karage where I explained to a young woman why she shouldn't move to Portland.  I was sitting next to a woman from Denver who was nodding her head... Denver is also suffering from unbridled growth.   Not so long ago I was welcoming everyone to Portland.   Now I fear for the very life of Portland.

By the way, strangers talk to each other in Portland.  You share a table, you talk to the people.  You stand in line.  You talk to the person next to you.  It's very Portland.

My favorite tree in the park.

Mock orange blooming in the park and smelling divine.

I always love it when someone looks this special.  Isn't she fun and lovely?