Thanksgiving Dinner, Nov. 22, 2007

Just as we left the building to go over to the young folks for Thanksgiving dinner--deviled eggs in hand, well in our plastic deviled-egg-carrier--we met some of our building buddies on the front steps. Left to right, that's Aster with Duke, and Hilary with Tucker. We exchanged Happy Thanksgiving wishes right after I snapped the photo.



Our first view of turkey no. 1 as Lamont bastes it with melted real butter.



There's turkey no. 2, in the oven, and the dressing. Lamont had to carefully shift things around so that he could get that second turkey out for its basting. They both went back into the oven to finishing baking.



Leland's getting the cornbread for dinner ready to go into that busy oven. Most of the cornbread made before we got there went into the dressing which also included pancetta and onions. According to Chow dot com, "Pancetta is cured pork belly, the Italian equivalent of bacon. Unlike American bacon, however, pancetta is cured with a variety of herbs, spices, and garlic, and is left unsmoked. Pancetta is usually rolled and tied in a cylindrical shape, then hung to dry. Some versions, such as the variety made in Florence, are left flat." I don't know which shape the guys started with--it's the flavor that counts.





All five burners were in business, too!



Cornbread's done--looks good and smells good, too.



Turkey's done--looks good and smells good, too.



Side dishes are done--look good and smell good, too. Left front is the dressing, then fresh cranberry sauce (dried cranberries, sugar, water, orange zest), with gravy last. On the right is the big red pot of lima beans (okra, pancetta, onions), then mustard and collard greens with hamhock, and our cornbread--the plate sitting on top of it with the stick of real butter is keeping it warm!



Lamont carves the turkey.



Lindsay's centerpiece looks very pretty, don't you think?

Now for a photo of everyone and their plates!



Mama



Lamont and Lindsay



Leland



My plate. You can tell by looking that we were hungry. I can tell you that we got full, enjoying every bite.



Friends Alaina and Philip live two doors up the street from the young folks. They invited us to their apartment for dessert, her homemade pumpkin pie and fruit cobblers. My photos of the cobblers turned out blurry--I believe it was dessert-anticipatory-excitement that caused my hands to shake! I should point out that we ate dessert well over two hours after we'd finished dinner.

Now for the rest of the Thanksgiving dinner story.



Flat Stanley meets Scooner, the great big cat who likes to spend time on top of the warm cable box.



Zach, Lindsay's original cat, enjoys a nap in his new favorite spot, on top of the laudry waiting to be done.



Leslie stopped by for a bite after she dropped off Chris--poor guy had to work! (They're fellow Mississippians turned Portlanders.) Their baby is Brixx, a 10-month old rottweiler. She's a great big, energetic doll!



Lindsay loves on Nari, the smaller of their two black cats.



Scooner mental telepathy: You didn't really mean it when you tried to change the channel, did you?



How fashionable! A black fur collar, brought to you by Scooner.



Scooner's finished being Lindsay's fur collar. Bye-bye, big kitty.

Thanks to all of you for sharing our blessings of the day. There's no way to number them--or the blessings of our lives--when you get right down to it, is there?

Pioneer Courthouse Square: Christmas Tree Lighting on Nov. 23

After work I made my way by bus across the Willamette, getting off at SW 2nd and Taylor, like always. But this evening was different, clear and cold and filled with people walking as far as I could see. I joined them, and we walked toward Pioneer Courthouse Square, situtated between SW Broadway on the west, SW 6th Avenue on the east, SW Yamhill on the south, and SW Morrison on the north. The MAX runs to the east on Yamhill and to the west on Morrison. Lots of people ride the MAX or a TriMet bus to the Christmas tree lighting ceremony, always held on the Friday evening after Thanksgiving. The 75-foot Douglas fir, donated ty Stimson Lumber in Gaston, Oregon, waited patiently as the crowd gathered.

Once I found a place to stand, almost at the southeast corner of the square, I got Flat Stanley out of my rolling bag and tucked him into the front of my coat. Standing at the top of a short flight of steps, beside a brick wall which meant at least one side of me would be protected from the jostling of the crowd, I was also excited at the view I had of the tree just past the ride side of a woman sitting on the wall. Not five minutes later a man scooted up onto the waist-high brick wall and sat right beside her, blocking my view of the tree by at least 85 percent. Oh, well, I knew that I could count on having a clear view at some point before I walked off to catch a #15 home, over at the corner of SW Washington and Broadway.





You can see by the difference in these two photos that the crowd soon overflowed the square, filling SW 6th Avenue in front of the Pioneer Courthouse, the oldest federal building in the Pacific Northwest and the second oldest west of the Mississippi River. I got to my spot about 5:15 p.m., so I imagine that I took the first photo by 5:25 p.m. The street is SW Yamhill, looking southeast. About 20 minutes later the same corner looked like the second photo. Multiply that scene on all four corners plus the entire block which the square occupies--lots and lots of people, just like last year. Marvelous.

While we waited the Portland Jazz Orchestra, resident ensemble of the Portland Jazz Festival, and vocalist Valerie Day entertained with Christmas music. It was obvious that the crowd liked best their New Orleans-style version of one song--I swore I'd remember which one and now I can't, doggone it--maybe it was "I'll Be Home for Christmas." Anyway, it got a roaring response as the last note wafted away above our heads. Before long, we started to sing Christmas carols with Day and the musicians. I lucked out this year and managed to get a copy of the "Winter at the Square," an event guide and songbook. Neat!



KGW Channel 8, the NBC affiliate, covered the event live by helicopter, so the flipping of the switch had to happen precisely at 6:11 p.m. We joined the 5-4-3-2-1 countdown and I clicked this photo just as the lights blazed.



A few minutes later the man moved out of the way, the man whose side you can see in the photo of the lit tree, and I set Flat Stanley on the waist-high brick wall for this shot. Look how happy he is to be there! I felt the same way, despite the cold.



Once I thought I could get close enough for a photo of the bandstand for you, I walked down the steps and inched my way through the crowd diagonally across the square. Another flight of steps afforded me the chance to get this photo. Every step of the way, I sang along. It was wonderful because no one could hear me since there were so many voices raised in song. I let got and had fun!



Parallel with the north side of the square, folks boarded the westbound MAX.





I hope you like this photo of the MAX heading west on the street decorated with lights. I do.

Happy Thanksgiving to One and All

I took the little guy to Zupan's after work today. My goal--cheesecake. See the third shelf down from the top? The small round disc with the cherries on top? From the front of the case to the back, those are all small cheesecakes. I got a plain one this time--if it's as good as it looks, I'll go back at some point for a marionberry one.

Flat Stanley agreed to pose for you in front of the case filled with delicacies. The bakery sales associate said it would be OK for me to take his photo there. I think he looks pretty good there, don't you?

What's your favorite holiday dessert?

Flat Stanley visits the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum, Oct. 14

Miss Edna, Flat Stanley and I headed for McMinnville because I figured that the little guy would love visiting the airplanes and helicopters. I know I've been wanting to see that huge wooden airplane, the Spruce Goose, the one that Howard Hughes designed and had built. McMinnville is only an hour from Portland by Buick.



Flat Stanley had heard Miss Edna and me talking about the Dairy Queen in Newberg where we've enjoyed a milkshake or two. As we neared it he asked, "Could we stop for an ice cream cone, please?" I like a young man with good manners! All he wanted was that ice cream cone--it's big enough to satisfy a crowd of people! Mama and I got the four chicken stips meal to share.





"Look! Look!" Flat Stanley hollered, excited at what he could see from the highway as we approached the turn off for the the museum. Colorful hot air balloons! As we got closer, I realized they were teathered and that a small crowd had gathered no doubt waiting for their turn in the basket.

We were thrilled to see this kind of aircraft, so to speak, which made us even more excited about touring the museum. Unfortunately, the museum was closed for a private party, preventing our entering it. We did have fun outside, though.



First we spent a moment of silence at this memorial, right out front of the museum. I was happy that Flat Stanley wanted his photo beside it so that everyone could read what it says.



Flat Stanley decided this was close enough to get to the camo-jet on display outside the museum building that houses the Spruce Goose.



On the opposite side of the entrance to the museum, Flat Stanley poses in front of a plane that sports a pin-up girl on its nose. When we visited the museum's Web site later on, we found out that soldiers sometimes called planes like this one Gooney Birds or Goonies. "That's funny!" Flat Stanley said. I asked him if he'd seen that movie "Goonies," and he told me that he liked it a lot. (Maybe we'll get to go over to the Cannon Beach so we can show him that great big rock that's in the movie. Folks affectionately call it the Gooney Rock; it's official name is Haystack Rock. We'll see how it goes with time and the weather--sometimes the roads can be bad between here and the coast in the winter. The possibility of a visit is a secret, so don't tell the little guy if you see him, OK?)



We found this sign in the ground beside plane.



Out in front on the plane, there's a small sitting area with this sign in it. Flat Stanley wondered about having the benches and the picnic table there in the little garden. I explained that many of the visitors to the museum would be veterans of different wars, some of them getting on up their in years. Those folks would appreciate having a bench to sit on while thinking back to their days in uniform. "I bet families with kids would like that picnic table," he told me, "because they could sit down and eat something before they go inside the museum." He's a smart kid, isn't he?





Around to the side of the parking lot between this building and a new one being built, there's a fenced area. Flat Stanley decided to stay in the car to take a look at this Navy helicopter. Miss Edna made sure he didn't fall out onto the pavement.



At the back of the main museum building, Flat Stanley spied this plane. We didn't know what it was, but he wanted his photo beside it anyway.



Then we walked to the front of the plane for a photo and found out that the plane is a MIG. Can you see it in the orange circle? "I like the paint on this plane," Flat Stanley said. "I bet it's blue on the bottom and camo of the top to make it hard to see from anywhere at all. What do you think?" he asked me. I had to agree with him. "I'm proud of you for noticing that," I told him as we drove away from the museum. "We'll come back for another visit soon," I promised.

You can see that Oct. 28 visit at Portland (OR) Daily Photo. You won't want to miss it because the little guy had a blast--got to meet some "movie star" types even!

Fall Fun, Flat Stanley Style! Part Three at Sweet Oregon Berry Company

For over a year, I've wondered and wondered about this school bus in a field, at the intersection of Hwy 99W South and Hwy 18W, about 40 minutes west of Portland. Its unique appendages--a VW van and a VW Bug--visible from the highway, always attracted a glance. With the addition of a fall carnival at the Sweet Oregon Berry Company, Mama and I knew we had to take Flat Stanley there, so we visited it on Oct. 27. Here's Mama, "Miss Edna" to Flat Stanley, with the little guy standing outside the fence with the bus in the background. Those inflatables are not usually there--they appear to be a couple of tombstones and some sort of growling dog--Halloween horror/fun. The bus door, standing open, invited folks in for a short scary tour.



Above and below, you see three photos of Flat Stanley and a Ford backhoe. Heavy equipment and boys go together like hamburgers and French fries.







Lots of kids got their photos taken in front of these scary creatures. Flat Stanley stood very close; he's brave.



You can see just how brave in this close-up. Thank goodness the keyboard player seemed more interested in making music than in grabbing a guy on a Vespa!



Flat Stanley thought everyone in Mississippi (and elsewhere) ought to see this great big tomato!



I think that this is just about my favorite photo of Flat Stanley so far--he looks splendid among these Japanese lanterns.

Fall Fun, Flat Stanley Style! Part Two at Pearl's Place

The Sunday before Halloween, we four climbed into the Buick, picked up our friend Marsha and headed east on I-84, into the Gorge. The sun shone brightly, the leaves glowed brilliantly, and we had a destination--the Hood River Fruit Loop Tour. Here's a colorful clue for you about the tour.



I found this on the Internet: "Looking for some family fun? Take this 35-mile, scenic drive through the valley's orchards, forests, farmlands, and friendly communities. Sample delicious fruits and take your favorites home, visit a winery, experience fields of fragrant lavender, meet adorable alpacas, savor delicious baked goods, and create memories by participating in family activities hosted at Fruit Loop locations throughout the year.

The Fruit Loop is just an hour away from Oregon's largest city, Portland. Located in the national scenic area called the Columbia River Gorge, and the nation's largest pear-growing region, this is one of the few places that offers the complete experience of growing, producing, and then enjoying fruit and wine."

First we stopped at Pearl's Place. We bought three golden delicious apples, one pear, and a couple of pear bars which turned out to be extremely chewy.



We also encountered an impressive wood-burning stove. Flat Stanley enjoyed getting up close and personal with it.







Now for some super fall fun at Rasmussen Farms, please go to Portland (OR) Daily Photo. I took a whole lot of photos--can't surprise you with that one, can I?--so you'll find some of them there on Monday and some of them there on Wednesday!

Fall Fun, Flat Stanley Style! Part One

Flat Stanley wanted me to tell you right off that he wishes you'd take a look at Portland (OR) Daily Photo so you can see and read about his encounter with a Benson Bubbler!



The Saturday before Halloween, Flat Stanley, Mama and I headed out of Portland to Tualatin, a nearby town. We'd been told the fresh-pressed apple cider at Lee Farms, as well as the cider doughnuts, were worth the short drive.



On the porch of the store, stacked hay bales made the perfect spot to snap a quick photo.



Here's that apple cider, so delicious that we bought a half gallon to take on home with us. Sorry, the doughnuts didn't pause long enough between the counter and our lips for a photo. Suffice it to say, their reputation is well deserved.



Here's another place we'll need to go back, Flat Stanley says. Wonder if they'll have hot apple cider for sale in the store?

Meet our new friend, Flat Stanley, come to Oregon from Mississippi for a visit.

Here's a close up photo of Flat Stanley. Christopher, a first grader in Mrs. Adams' Achievers at Steen's Creek Elementary in Florence, Mississippi, sent him to Portland, with a note dated Sept. 14, 2007:

Dear "Miss" Edna, Lynette and Duncan,

In school we read a book about a boy who got flattened by a bulletin board. His name is Stanley, now it is Flat Stanley. He wanted to go on a trip, so his family folded him up and mailed him to California.

I am mailing my Flat Stanley to you. Please take him somewhere and write me back telling me about his adventures. If you have pictures, postcards, or brochures, please send them back with him. I will share his adventures with my classmates and this will help my classmates and I learn more about other places in the world.

Thank you for helping me with this project. I wish I could fold myself up and visit you.

Love, Christopher

P. S. Please try to send Flat Stanley back to my school, Steen's Creek Elementary, by March 1.

Since Flat Stanley arrived in Portland, he has been here, there, and everywhere, sometimes with just me--Lynette. Sometime "Miss Edna" and Duncan go, too. My plan is for you to get to tour Portland and its surroundings along with Flat Stanley and us, through this blog and my other blog, Portland (OR) Daily Photo.

Before we got started on the tour, I decided that Flat Stanley needed a bit of help to remain upright. And I had the perfect solution, packed away somewhere in the closet. Miracle of miracles, I went to the exact box and found the blue scooter you will see at every stop on the tour.

Let's get started, with Stop #1.

From across the street this blue statue of a man standing in a big, lighted window caught my eye. I pointed it out to Flat Stanley who said, "Cool." So the two of us crossed the street to the Mark Woolley Gallery at 817 SW 2nd Avenue.

Cool was right! Not only was the statue blue, but it was James Brown! The mosaic ceramic statue, by Anthony Tovell, was at the gallery as part of the then current show: BE BLUE (SKY). The gallery's Web site says "Be Blue (Sky) is a multimedia group show intending to explore and celebrate the color BLUE. Not as in “BLUE” (depressed) but as in “BLUE SKY” (i.e. “He’s so ‘blue sky’: open, vibrant, true, contagiously enthusiastic)." That's cool, too.



Here's a photo of Flat Stanley standing in the window with "James Brown as Blue Buddha"--that's the name the artist gave the statue.



To get everyone off on the good foot, I've introduced Flat Stanley in the same way over at Portland (OR) Daily Photo. After this, though, things might/could/may be different at each blog. I'll let you know so that you won't miss a single bit of thing Flat Stanley sees or learns about while he's in Portland.

Early Morning Singing Song

How many times have you walked into where you work and been blinded for a second by light from an entirely unknown source? My first thought Oct. 26, just before 8 a.m., "Is that the sun?" Yep. I took these photos Oct. 26, just before 8 a.m. In the forefront you see the lit silhouettes of pampas grass growing on the rooftop garden. Above the brilliant reflection you see the moon which set behind the buildings moments after I took these photos.



To paraphrase "Good Morning, Starshine" from "Hair" --

Good morning sunshine.
Portland says hello.
You shine above us.
We shine below.

Good morning moonset.
You're saying so long,
Even though you're not gone yet.
Our early morning singing song.

I've put the same photos and text on Portland (OR) Daily Photo today, too--I like them too much not to send them to all of our particular buds!

Autumn in one of Portland's downtown parks

Portland is a city of parks, with quite a few right downtown. I catch the bus that takes me over the Hawthorne Bridge on the way to work every morning here, beside Lownsdale Square Park. Look closely at the tree trunk on the left. See the statue of the elk peaking out? You'll never believe where it is, in relation to Lownsdale Square and its twin to the south, Chapman Square. You can see two more photos I've posted of the elk and its surroundings at Portland (OR) Daily Photo, here and here. To see the photos, click on the first here, take a look, close the window and come on back to there so that you can click on the second here to see the October 27 post. Before you go over to Portland (OR) Daily Photo, why not read some information about this particular park, from Portland Online:

Lownsdale is one of two courthouse squares that comprise the Plaza Blocks which are bounded by Third and Fourth Avenues and Salmon and Madison Streets. The north square is named for Kentuckian Daniel H. Lownsdale, who settled in Portland in 1845 when there were fewer than 800 people living in the city. The south square is named for former Iowa territorial legislator and native Virginian William Williams Chapman (1808-1892) who arrived in Portland in 1850.

The Plaza was a lively place where orators held forth and citizens assembled. They are characterized in part by several large old elms and gingko trees. Chapman Square, originally designed for the exclusive use of women and children, features all female gingko trees. Lownsdale Square was to be the "gentlemen's gathering place." Today the Plaza Blocks are still a busy gathering place, although men and women can now safely coexist in either of them.

In the center of Lownsdale Square stands the Soldiers' Monument, Douglas Tilden’s monument to the Oregonians killed in the Spanish-American War. Dedicated on May 31, 1906, the tall granite obelisk is topped with a bronze replica of an infantryman of the Second Oregon U.S. Volunteer Infantry, part of the first large American fighting force ever sent overseas. At the base of this monument are two small cannons from Fort Sumter (misspelled on the plaque) brought here by Colonel Henry E. Dosch. Because the cannons were used by both Union and Confederate troops, it was Dosch's idea to face one north and one south.

Between the two Plaza Blocks, Main Street curves around a huge elk fountain given to the city by David P. Thompson. Thompson arrived in Portland driving sheep over the Oregon Trail. He served as Portland's mayor from 1879-1882. One day looked out of the office window in his New Market Building at the Skidmore Fountain and decided that he wanted to dedicate a fountain to the city as well. Thompson commissioned Roland Hinton Perry, whose work adorns the Library of Congress and the dome of the Pennsylvania state capitol, and in 1900, he presented the city with a bronze elk fountain to commemorate elk that once grazed nearby. Local architect H.G. Wright designed the stone base of eastern granite, which included drinking troughs for horses and dogs. The Exalted Order of Elks refused to dedicate it because they considered the statue "a monstrosity of art." Many have tried to have Thompson's elk removed because it can be considered a traffic obstacle, but the elk statue remains. In 1974, after a debate about disturbing the blocks in order to complement the then-new General Services Building, Thompson's elk and the Plaza Blocks were designated as Historic Landmarks.