Back in Phoenix, Wednesday to Friday, Dec. 27 - 29, 2017

On Tuesday, our return flights to Phoenix went as scheduled.  As on the trip to Portland, on one of the flights I got upgraded to First Class - this trip was the first time that I had been upgraded while flying with tickets acquired with frequent flyer miles, and it happened on one of the two flights in each direction.

Wednesday was a quiet day doing laundry and other errands.  Thursday, I had signed up to change candles at the Desert Botanical Garden.  For Luminaria, the candles last three evenings and are then replaced.  Sixteen volunteers and four staff were split into four teams.  The staff drove the carts with the supplies of new candles and plastic cups, as well as trash buckets for the used candles.  The four volunteers with each cart are split into two teams.  I was partnered with Gretchen - I went first, removing the old candles, plastic cup holders if needed and any trash that may have ended up in or near the luminaria.  Gretchen then followed behind me putting in new candles.

The other two volunteers with us did the same on the other side of trail.  With 8,000 luminaria in the garden, this means that each of us bent over about 1,000 times, either removing old candles or installing new candles.  It took us less than two hours.

As we ended at Stardust Plaza, I stopped to admire the Jun Kaneko sculptures there before signing out and heading home.

Later Thursday, I walked the two plus miles to Alexi's restaurant for a fundraiser for Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton.  He is term limited as mayor, but is running for the US Congressional seat currently held by Kyrsten Sinema, and she is running for the US Senate being vacated by Senator Jeff Flake.  I met Anne and Shawn there and we enjoyed drinks and light hors d'oeuvres.  Under Stanton's leadership, Phoenix has become the fastest growing city in the USA and has an unemployment rate a full percentage point lower than the national rate.  He hopes to bring his experience with bi-partisanship leadership to Washington D.C.  Anne offered to drive me home, but as is my wont, I declined and walked home to get the exercise.

On Friday, Anne, Shawn, Patty and I went to see a movie at the AMC Esplanade Dine In Theaters on Camelback.  I decided to walk the two and half miles there to get some exercise and saw the moon visible in the late afternoon daylight.

The movie we saw was "Wonder" - it is based on the novel of the same name.  Here is a little bit from an interview with the author:

The moment that led to the bestselling children’s novel Wonder — with its message about the power of kindness that is now at the center of a new movie — is one that author R.J. Palacio wishes she could take back.

A decade ago, “I was in front of an ice cream store with my two sons and my younger son, who was only 3 at the time, saw a little girl that had a very significant craniofacial difference,” says Palacio, 54. “He got a little scared and he started to cry.”

“In my haste to kind of shield her from seeing his response or his reaction to her face, I kind of whisked him away really quickly. Afterwards, I started really thinking … what I should have done, of course, is just turn to the little girl and maybe started up a conversation and shown by example that it was really nothing to be afraid of. That just got me thinking about what it must be like to face a world every day that doesn’t quite know how to face you back.”

The book and the movie are about what it is like for a young boy with craniofacial differences; he has had 27 surgeries to fix his face and been home schooled through grade four.  The movie is about him going through his fifth grade school year.  It is a movie definitely worth watching.

Here is what the actor looks like, without and with the makeup showing his disfigurement.



After the movie, I walked home while Anne, Shawn and Patty drove home and had a light dinner at Spinato's Restaurant.

Christmas in Portland, Saturday - Monday, Dec. 23 - 25, 2017

Saturday morning, I went out early and had a bagel and coffee at the Eisenhower Bagel Shop.  Our plan for the day was to go see the 12:45 showing of "The Darkest Hour" at the Living Room Theater in downtown Portland.  It is about three miles from the house, so I decided to walk to get some exercise and left earlier than Patty, Ben and Martha who all took the train.

When Ben and Martha were in the Sunnyside neighborhood of Southeast Portland, I was surprised to see the intersection painted.  Apparently, it is not the only neighborhood to do so.  These were on Overlook Drive about a quarter mile from Ben and Martha's home.

My route took me past Overlook Park, about three quarters of a mile from Ben and Martha's home - I decided that I would need to explore it later.

Following the route given me by Google Maps, I crossed the Willamette on the Broadway Bridge, an older draw bridge.  Looking north from the bridge, I had a nice view of the river and the I-405 bridge.

Just as you cross the river, Union Station is to your left - we had previously taken the train to Seattle from there.  To the right is the Albers Milling company with their colorful signs.

A couple of blocks before reaching the Living Room theater, I passed Helen's Market and sent a photo of it to my sister Helen.

Patty, Ben and Martha arrived a few minutes after I did.  "The Darkest Hour" tells the story of Neville Chamberlin stepping down as Prime Minister and Winston Churchill taking his place.  Chamberlin and Lord Halifax wanted to negotiate with Hitler through Mussolini as an intermediary.  As we know, Churchill resisted and urged that they fight.  The movie only covered the month of May in 1940.  But it was a great show.  Here is a link to the website for the movie.

After the movie, Patty and Martha took the train home and Ben and I walked back, and had a nice chat during the hour long walk.

Saturday evening, Ben drove us to Oui Restaurant at the Southeast Wine Collective for dinner.  They now accept reservations if you choose the chef's choice menu.  As usual, it was excellent with fine wine and many dishes for all of us to sample.  Some of the dishes I remember are chicken liver mousse with quince cranberry chutney, baguette slices with whipped butter mixed with smoked maple syrup, the shaved cabbage salad, butternut squash with chick pea delicatta, roasted chicken with fingerling potatoes in fine herbs aioli and hedgehog mushroom farrotto.  And then there were three deserts to share, two from the menu - half baked chocolate chip cookie and butterscotch pot du creme - and four ice cream sandwiches made for a large event - homemade gingerbread on the outside and eggnog ice cream on the inside.  And of course, ample amounts of wine.  Martha was the designated driver and drove us home safely.

On Sunday morning, I went out for a walk and to explore the neighborhood some more.  Ben had told me that northwest Portland has become very gentrified and home to many yuppies, while north Portland where they live still has older homes.  On their street, only one home has been replaced by a new home.

The rest of the houses in their neighborhood have been there for decades, with most being modest middle income one story or two story homes.

Many have well tended yards, especially in the odd shaped lots where angled streets meet.

And many of the trees are huge - the trunks of these are at least three to four feet in diameter.

More than a half mile from their home, next to Overlook Park, new homes and multi-story apartment blocks have been added.

Overlook Park has a large open area and a nice circular trail.

As the name implies, there are great views overlooking the Willamette River and the Union Pacific Railroad freight yard.

As the day progressed, a light snow started to fall.

Here are Ben and Stowe running around in the snow.

 And the snow slowly began to accumulate as the daylight hours passed into the evening.

 

Martha and Ben brought out some of the charcuterie from Friday night's soiree and some of the wine they picked up Saturday as members of the Southeast Wine Collective.  Patty had learned about and enjoyed Blaufrankisch wine on her trip to Austria in April, so we enjoyed that and because Helen had been on that trip with Patty, sent her this photo as a reminder of the wine.

After dinner, we set out on foot to walk to the Prescott Street stop of Max, Portland's light rail system.  With the snow and ice, it was walking weather  - we definitely did not want to be driving in the snow/sleet/freezing rain.

For Sunday evening, our destination was the Portland Center Stage at the Armory in downtown Portland.  We had tickets for "Twisted Dickens" - it is a spoof of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" that included many references to modern day events - including Portland not having salt for the streets in the current snow and ice storm - and some scenes with George Bailey from "It's A Wonderful Life."

Many people did not go because of the weather, so there were lots of empty seats and they told people to feel free to move closer to the middle and/or front.  

After the show, it would have been a 40+ minute wait for the next train or a slightly longer walk with a shorter wait for a bus - we opted for the bus and managed to walk home.

Monday morning, I went out for a Christmas day walk in the ice and snow to see what we had struggled through while walking home Saturday evening after the show.

Martha made a magnificent brunch for us of salt caramel bread pudding, thick slices of bacon and eggs cooked with cream cheese and herbs, fresh fruit and hot chocolate for Ben and Martha, coffee for Patty and me.

After brunch, we started the opening of gifts by letting Stowe open a gift from Ann and Terry.

And then Stowe got to play with his new antler.

 

We then spent a couple of hours opening gifts and enjoying Christmas together as a family.  After noon, I took a nap and then went out for a walk.  There was still a lot of snow and ice.

I walked out to Interstate Ave. and headed south towards Overlook Park.  As a main thoroughfare, Interstate has the light rail tracks in the middle and many newer buildings.  But there are still some older ones as well, such as the Polish Library Association Hall.

There is also this older building which is now labelled as the Kaiser Permanente Town Hall, but it shape indicates that it was either a large barn or maybe the hall for some community organization.  When I searched online for it, the info is that since earlier this year it is inactive - but further sleuthing finds that it was built as a Finnish Social Hall in the early 1900s and moved to this location in 1990.  It is part of a large Kaiser Permanente campus across the street from Overlook Park.

 

As I walked through the now ice and snow covered park, I again checked out the Union Pacific facilities and noticed a turntable for reversing direction of train engines and cars.

In another part of the park, young kids were sliding down the hill.  And some teens were going down the hill on a modified bike which had the front tire replaced with a short ski.

At the park, there is a sign on a side street pointing to the Overlook House, so I went down that street.  It had many very nice older homes as well as the Overlook House which is a community center and has nice gardens and patio on the grounds.

Then I continued on some other side streets to get back to the house for one last dinner in Portland.  Monday evening was a quiet evening spent with Ben, Martha and Stowe, and spent packing for our return to Phoenix on Tuesday.

We are so fortunate to be able to spend the holidays together and I am so thankful for our family.