Month: February 2008

Bike Project Day 23: The Missing Children’s Arboretum

In which I attempt to ride all the yellow, green, blue & purple streets on the Bike There Bike Map while increasing strength, stamina, aerobic capacity and exploring Portland’s nooks and crannies.

Day 23

Weather: Sunny & Cold

Ride Average Speed: 10.2 mph
Time: 59.43
Distance: 10.6 mi
Average Heart Rate: 132

The Ride:
N Lombard & N Denver
Go to Interstate and turn left
L on Ainsworth
L on Williams to Vancouver
R on Schmeer (hooks around)
R on 6th Dr.
Right into Children’s Arboretum
Come back out
L on 6th Dr.
L on Vancouver Way
L on Gertz Rd.
L on 13th
L on Marine Dr. to Bridgton
L on Gantenbein Ave.
R on Marine Dr.
At turnoff for Delta Park cut though park
Back to Denver.

Route comments:
Good route, though the whole Schmeer/6th Dr. was very heavily trafficked because a lot of industrial businesses don’t have President’s Day off. It would probably be better to ride there on a weekend.

The Columbia Children’s Arboretum is not well marked. I rode up and down that street looking for it and never found it.

How did I do?
It was clearly the first bike ride in a very long time. I had a longer route planned, but 10 miles was the limit for me, so I cut it short. I rode very slowly and it was nice to be out.

Glorious Bicycling Moments/Neat Things:
Mount St. Helens was out.

NE 13th Ave. was a mishmash of houses. There were older houses that felt free enough to do whatever they wanted, say paint large flowers on their garages.
There were gated communities. This made me laugh. That flimsy gate isn’t keeping anyone out who doesn’t want to come in, and anyway, a gated community in this area? You’ve got to be kidding.
There were also McMansions next to very modestly built houses. If you’ve got to locate your McMansion next to a run down 60s ranch, you still haven’t made it.
NE Bridgetown Rd turned out to be interesting. The road has been in the news lately
because the US Army Corps of Engineers wants to cut down all their trees. Bridgetown Road is a levee and the Corps doesn’t like trees on the levees. I was under the impression that the trees had all been cut down, but this picture clearly shows trees.
I was also surprised to see that Bridgetown Road had fancy condos on it.
From newspaper reports I expected a bunch of houses like this.

There are a lot of house boats in the neighborhood. It was a fun place to ride.

Walk to Lowes

I needed to walk to Lowe’s today and because I didn’t have church this morning, decided to take a longer way to see how it connected to my usual route. What I foudnd was a bit of a surprise.

Oregon does this thing I love called “One Percent for Art.” Whenever there is a large construction project, Oregon law requires, “not less than 1% of the direct construction funds of new or remodeled state buildings with construction budgets of $100,000 or greater for the acquisition of art work which may be an integral part of the building, attached thereto, or capable of display in other State Buildings” What this means is that whenever there is a big construction project, we get pubic art. The Max lines are a great place to see art.

This is my favorite art on the Yellow Line. Due to my not-so-fabulous picture, you might not be able to see, but along this bridge between Kenton and Delta park, there are these great flaming comets. They remind me of pinballs and it is fun to see the trains shoot through the pinballs and makes the bridge look like a large public pinball machine. The artist was inspired by 50s car culture. Back in the day, the people who lived in Vanport, a housing project built during the war for shipbuilders, used to race their cars on the back roads in this area of North Portland. Eventually Portland International Raceway was located in North Portland. My normal walk to Lowe’s involves bypassing this sign and walking all the way up to that brown sign in the distance. Then I take a right and another right and voila! There is Lowe’s. Sort of. I still have to walk though a few parking lots to get there. Today I took a right at the sign and figured the road would loop about before I hooked up with Hayden Meadows Drive and Lowe’s.

I turned out to be entirely wrong and for a very rare reason: I had the street running the wrong direction in my mental map. In my mind, Schmeer Road ran East/West, or perpendicular to the freeway. By taking this route, I realized that it actually is a North/South street and runs parallel to the freeway. It was incredibly disorienting, but once I realigned my directions, I realized that this route was about 10 minutes shorter than my previous one.
Schmeer Road looks like many places located next to a freeway. Big box stores, gas stations, chain restaurants, auto parts places. It’s not pretty, but I have no neighborhood hardware store, so I have to wade through all of this to get to a big box hardware store.
Schmeer Road also has Portland Meadows, the horse racing track and also the place where my brother saw a Grateful Dead concert in the 90’s.
I love walking by the Burrito House. It puts a smile on my face because to me “Burrito House” and “Fine Mexican Food” don’t really exist in the same place. Maybe “Good Mexican Food” and “Burrito House”, but anything with “House” in its name doesn’t get to use the word “fine” in my book.
I’m not sure what this building is being used for, but it is very well taken care of. It is always a highlight of my walks when I head North.

Resolution 2008 Update. Letters written Feb 1-10

  • Feb 1. Erin. Congratulations on her new house.
  • Feb 2. Commissioner Randy Leonard about his dumb idea to ban duct taping spots for the Rose Festival Parade. Stirring up trouble where there was none, that’s what he’s doing.
  • Feb 3. Chris. Thank you.
  • Feb 4. State Senator Margaret Carter. No on UO Basketball Arena financing plan.
  • Feb 5. Rose Quarter Ticket Sales. Good service.
  • Feb 6. State Representative Tina Kotek. No on UO arena.
  • Feb 7. Chelsea Cain. Because I love her books and her weekly feature in the Oregonian.
  • Feb 8. Felicia.
  • Feb 9. The Editors of the Oregonians HGNW. I suggested a story idea.
  • Feb 10. Dr. Cottrell.

I’ve also started keeping track of who wrote me back. I’ll have a report next time.

Requiem for an apron.

I don’t normally steal things, but when I knew I was quitting Bread & Circus, Whole Foods Market, I did take home this apron. Though part of working at B&C was a low point in my life, another part of it was something I look back on with nostalgia. One of the better parts was the uniform. I liked wearing the chef coats and the crisp white aprons.
I cooked with this apron for years, but my whitening powers are weak and it quickly faded into a grubby gray, then got even dingier and I had to stop using it, for fear that no one would eat anything I made while wearing it. It sat in my closet for a few years because I didn’t want to just throw it away. Today I did, but not without taking a picture.

Lint Progress: Savvy Plus

I love Savvy Plus. One of the things I hate about shopping is that it is so uncomfortable. In retail stores, I tend to feel grubby and worried that I “shouldn’t” be shopping there. It’s mostly all “me” stuff, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Being on the top end of normal clothing stores isn’t fun, either. I tend to feel huge in normal retail stores. Savvy Plus is the solution. It’s a clothing store for sizes 12 and up with resale and some new items. Both are reasonably priced.

And, it is run by Gaya who completes the package. She’s very nice and full of good energy and also has my favorite combination of leaving me alone to navigate the store, but also providing more attentive service if I want it. She let me take her picture, even though I could tell she doesn’t like to have her picture taken. Who wouldn’t want to buy clothing from someone so great? It’s also the kind of store where people pipe up with their opinion if something looks great on someone. The whole experience is shopping without all the baggage.
I hit the pants first. Gaya nicely told me to leave whatever didn’t work in the dressing room. I appreciated that, as it is one of those things I’m often not sure about. I tried on six pairs of pants, but nothing worked there. I wandered around the store looking for a new black sweater that fits. I found a sweater-like thing that ties in the front. It was 50% off so only $7.00. When I got home I banished the “bit too small” sweater from my closet to the donate pile. That was a nice feeling.
I also found this jacket which fits very well and has both black, white and gray in it. It was 30% off and came to $16.80.
Savvy Plus. If you are female, size 12 or larger and live anywhere near Portland you must go there. Don’t delay.

I’ve just realized that I might not need any more blazers/jackets/sweaters. I think I need to do step two of Ready to Wear before I shop again. That would be figuring out how many outfits I have in my closet and generating a list of what I need. I’ll do that tomorrow.

Lint Progress: Closet Cleanout.

Today I did the big closet clean out as recommended on Ready to Wear. The plan was to go through everything and only keep things that I love and I am currently wearing. The rest go into piles and get put some where else. My piles were: Out of Season, Tailor, Donate, Other Closet, Like.

Tall order. I suspected that I wouldn’t love many of my clothes. Thus, the “Like” pile.

The closet before:


And with everything I love. That gives me 3 skirts, one pair of pants (I was wearing them) two tanks, 2 shirts, 4 sweaters/jackets. I added back in a lot of the “like” stuff. Loving everything will be a goal for the future.
I then moved onto my drawers. Before:

And after:



Here are my plies:
This is a pile that cropped up mid-sort. It is the “cut these t-shirts up to save for the quilt you are making someday” pile.
Here’s the “like” pile.
The “summer clothes” pile on the left and the “put it somewhere else” pile on the right.
On the left: the “donate” pile. On the right: I had nothing to go to the tailor, but these shoes are going to the cobbler before spring arrives. I love them.
Shoes I like that went back into the closet.
The following is a list of the “like” items I put back, and the reasons I’m not in love with them:

  • 2 black tank tops–cut a bit too low for work.
  • Orange striped shirt–faded
  • Green sweater–nothing to wear with it. It also draws attention to the psoriasis on my arms
  • red long sleeved shirt–faded
  • black sweater–is a bit small, but I need it to complete outfits, so it has to stay for now.
  • straight long black skirt–I wear it all the time, but I know it isn’t the most flattering thing.
  • khaki pants–I had them hemmed before I washed them and they are a bit short. I’ve also gained weight since I bought them and so they are a bit tight. Until last week, my only pair of pants.
  • black skirt–I’m on the fence about if this is a flattering skirt or not. Also, I don’t think it looks very good with flats, but I don’t wear heels.
  • Long black skirt, a-line. I keep reading that short people shouldn’t wear long skirts.
  • Running shoes–I really need a new pair, but if buy any new ones, I will destroy my clothing budget.
  • Black heels–I hate heels because they hurt my feet. Still, it’s good to have them on hand, and these are more comfortable than most.
  • Old running shoes–I wear these for project work. It doesn’t matter if they get paint or sawdust on them
  • black birkenstocks–I’ve been wearing these every other day in fall, winter and spring since 2004. I’m a bit tired of them, but buying new shoes would (as above) destroy my clothing budget.
  • sliver heels–I actually really like these shoes a lot. They aren’t really the kind of shoes you can walk in though, so they aren’t practical. I tend to carry them to events where I wear them. Then I don’t walk too much.

Now my closet is much less cluttered and I have an entire empty drawer in my dresser. The next step will be making outfits and generating a list of what I need. I’m starting to suspect that this project will be longer than 40 days.

Ready to wear: an experts guide to choosing and using your wardrobe. Mary Lou Andre

This is the first book I’ve finished of the slew of wardrobe-choosing books I’ve checked out from the library. I liked it a lot and have made it my main “planning my plan” book for my Lint project. Mary Lou Andre first suggests removing all clothing from your closet and keeping only the items you love and are currently wearing. Then she has you shop in your closet for outfits and write down those outfits on a handy chart she includes in the back of the book. As you shop your closet and see which items are missing, you then make another list of what you need to take shopping with you. This makes sense to me and solves one of my biggest problems, namely going to the store and dithering about what I need.

There are also fun stories from her business and descriptions of essential parts of your wardrobe as well as smart tips. My favorite was that once your tights get a run or hole in them, to slit the label.

The History of Love. Nicole Krauss

Most novels I read are stories. That is, they have characters and a plot and plot devices and everything gets wrapped up in the end. They are sort of like real life, but not really. Real life never really wraps up as neatly as novels. You meet the guy, you find each other and pledge love and at the place where the novel of your life would end there comes a whole life of dishes that need to be done and bills to be paid and work to go to. Even on gray rainy days.

I loved this book because it was a slice of life. In real life people may never know what happened to this or that dropped plot line in their life. They may know each other. They may have said goodbye forever only to discover each other, by chance decades later. They may have a chance meeting with a stranger that connects dots for them. Or maybe everything is murky.

I loved this book because Leo Gursky, the character we meet first, is such a force of nature. An old man, retired locksmith in New York City, never married, who carries a note in his wallet explaining he has no family and where to bury him. Seeing the world through his eyes is a reason to read fiction.

Other characters were also wonderful. I can’t say enough about this book. I don’t even resent that someone the same age as me could create such a perfect thing. Read it.