Headed to my first day of work, I noted that our poor trees at the station are getting an upgrade.
You can see the problem. They look a little wan.
Mostly, I think because people carve into them, as this blurry photo is attempting to show. But also because they have very little space around them that isn’t brick or a paver.
I’m not sure if the trees themselves will survive the work, but we shall see what comes of it.
On this last day of summer, here are a list of my 2024 songs of summer. These are songs that I heard a lot on commercial radio. My affection for them varies.
Themes: sad men (Noah Kahan influence). Trending country (see also: Noah Kahan influence)
“Wondering Why” Red Clay Strays
Hitting both themes, “Wondering Why” included a nice arpeggio throughout. There is some good writing with these lyrics: She comes from silver spoon, golden rule, private school, never miss Sunday church / And I come from blue-collar, low-dollar, out here where concrete meets old red dirt
“I Remember Everything” Zach Bryan and Kacey Musgraves
A duet in the mold of “Leather and Lace” where one person takes a verse, and then the other one does. This also fits both categories. I like the chorus especially. Some good writing here: You’re like concrete feet in the summer heat / It burns like hell when two souls meet.
Also, an 88 Ford is not a very old truck, in my mind.
“Austin” Dasha
A great jilted/breakup/I’m-better-off song. Unlike the video, the radio version doesn’t overly linger on the physical attributes of Ms. Dasha.
Nice line: In 40 years you’ll still be here, drunk, washed up in Austin.
I guess “Austin” would fall into the category of sad men a woman doesn’t have to deal with anymore.
“Save Me” Jelly Roll and Lainey Wilson
This is a very sad man song. It also is the song that really gets stuck in my head.
Chorus: I’m a lost cause
Baby, don’t waste your time on me
I’m so damaged beyond repair
Life has shattered my hopes and my dreams
“Beautiful Things” Benson Boon
In the category of songs I probably would have liked more had they not been played ad nauseum on the majority of stations I flip through is Benson Boon, with his worry about god taking away/losing “you” aka the “girl my parents love” that god “sent my way.”
Benson Boon is Pacific-Northwest born, according to many radio promos. Monroe, Washington, apparently. He’s currently 22, which is crazy.
“A Bar Song (Tipsy)” Shaboozie
This was also a song that played a lot that I grew tired of. It’s fairly plodding and weary, which fits the lyrics, but rankles when repeated.
Songs by women I liked that don’t fall into the country bucket, but do concern men.
“Please please please” Sabrina Carpenter
The chorus has a great dip into the low region that I’ve just discovered has a radio edit. Heartbreak is one thing/ My ego’s another/ I beg you don’t embarrass me/
Little sucker ahhh…
“abcdefu” Gayle
This is a very delicious breakup song and I always enjoy when people find something fun to do with the alphabet, musically. It’s quite the list of things to forget. (And yet another song I discovered is quite different in it’s original, non-radio state.)
It also is from 2022, so I’m not sure why the algorithms that program radio airplay played it so much this summer.
A song I did not like that was played a million times “Whisky” by Hozier
And for the second summer in a row, this song was a song of summer:
I guess the tortured poets didn’t produce any breezy summer hits.
On the way back, we stopped at the Bonneville Lock and Dam, which I hadn’t visited since I was a child.
Outside, they had recorded information about the site, which was nice and also had me worrying about park ranger job longevity.
Do you know someone who is both dead and who also loved roses? This garden is for them!
Timer photo!
I neglected to take pictures of the fish ladder, but here Matt and I are as lampreys.
I was hoping to spot a lamprey, but no dice. Apparently they don’t migrate, so seeing them is rare.
We walked out to the powerhouse, and I took pictures of the great art deco details.
Our next big staycation outing was trying out the railbikes in Hood River.
Matt waits in the station. Aside from railbikes and train rides, you can also rent ebikes to explore Hood River for the day.
Matt on the bike. One person gets to control the level of assist. Matt was in charge of that on the way up. We had about a 45-minute ride up to the fruit company, and then I was in charge on the way back.
A quick self-portrait at the Fruit Company.
Me on the way back down. I got cold and put on my coat, accidentally zipping my safety vest under my coat.
On the way back, we got to stop so our guide could take our picture at the waterfall. She remarked that she hadn’t seen an actual camera in a very long time.
To celebrate my new job we had the prix fixe menu at Coquine and had many amazing things.
Here, Matt enjoys the sweet corn soup.
Aside from our five courses, they also brought us a few snacks, plus bonus dessert.
It was a delicious meal.
While doing the final things at 7611 before the estate sale company took over, we discovered a box of my old music books in the basement. I had no idea it was down there. Among the music books was the notebook I brought along to my piano lessons.
This is an apt notebook, as I was incredibly imperfect while learning piano. Also, I forgot that there used to be all kinds of fun notebooks. They seem to have receded with the tide of stationary.
Mrs. Peterson was my piano teacher. I would walk to her house where she had a room for her piano pupils. It probably was a family or living room originally, it had a sliding glass door to the backyard. Her children were grown up, but she wasn’t overly old. Somewhere between my mom and my grandmother.
Under Mrs. Peterson’s guidance, I worked through several piano books. She used the notepad to write my weekly assignments. On the first page she explained the treble and bass clef, along with FACE and All Cows Eat Grass mnemonics. I don’t think we got into Every Good Boy Does Fine and Good Boys Do Fine Always—I think those might have come later.
Flipping through the book provided evidence that my memory of myself as a piano student was correct. There were a lot of reminders to practice stated in various ways. I also needed to curve my fingers when I played. I’m not sure what was going on with me and not curving fingers, but it was a thing.
I took piano for three years, and in that time learned cursive, so Mrs. Peterson could switch from printing my lesson assignments to writing them.
I remember the recitals clearly. I even remember that “Mist” was “Mist Over a Japanese Garden” which is for sale on Amazon at this very minute for $7.99. I do not, however, have any memory of what those piano parties were. They happened twice a year, according to the notebook.
After my third year of having to continually be strongly encouraged to practice, I stopped taking lessons. I did not appear Thursday September 6 at 3:30 p.m. Instead, I took a year or two off and began not-practicing a series of instruments through late elementary, junior high, and high school.
I next took piano lessons my first year in college, and at that time, I did practice every day (or six days a week?) for an hour. I supposedly made good progress. The piano instructor quite liked me, and I even got a small music scholarship (of the kind for spirit rather than talent) but my second year I took too many credits and something had to go and so it was the one-credit piano that I dropped.
We drove to Kah-Nee-Ta for the day. It gave us a chance to read from the books, an activity that has fallen by the wayside as the number of our streaming services have increased.
It was a good day for Kah-Nee-Ta as it was gray and rainy in Portland, but sun-sun-sunny on the other side of the mountain.
At the turnoff, there was a sign that we were on open range, and indeed, three horses were hanging out in the road. Matt took this picture.
We checked in, grabbed lockers in our respective dressing rooms (lockers were spendy, and also my locker rental kiosk charged me twice) and explored the various water offerings. We made brief visits to the children’s spa and walked through the children’s play area (there were no children playing at the time.) We checked out all three wellness pools, from the nicely warm to the very hot.
We then rested a bit, before trying out the lazy river. This was my first lazy river. It was super fun. We both had pool noodles, and when we stepped into the “river” (actually a pool about 4.5 feet deep with an inner pool that was not part of the river), the current pushed us around in an undulating circular path. It was quite relaxing and fun.
The middle pool had both a volleyball and a basketball net, so we played some ball. We also ate lunch (it was fine, but also I didn’t choose the Indian Taco option, which was probably really good) and then soaked/rested/lazy rivered again before taking a walk.
We played miniature golf, and checked out the lodging and teepees., then went back for one more soak before showing and heading back. I took this self portrait outside the entrance.
And then Matt joined me so we could do a time photo. (Such a classic timer photo!)
On the way back there were more horses.
Overall, this was a good trip. Because lodging is rather spendy, I think this trip would be a great to stop when coming back from Bend. It would break up the drive nicely.
When we visited, there were not many people, but I’m not sure how things go in the summer. There is an option to rent a cabana, or various permutations of deck chairs. We did not opt for that. The free chairs are not padded, but they were nice, and there were a ton of them.
On the way home we stopped at DQ for dinner and a Blizzzard.
I love so much about this postcard. It’s sparkly, but not in a glitter way. It has cute drawings. It does the A to Z thing. So delightful!
Sara reports that it’s week 3 of the semester. How time flies.
We’re having a small summer vacation, as opposed to our extravagant Disneyland trip in March. Our first stop: The Portland Spirit, the boat that runs regular cruises on the Willamette River
After having our picture taken while boarding (regulation, according to them, but also so they could try to sell us the photo for $15) we climbed to the third deck and grabbed chairs near the railings.
We opted for the Happy Hour Cruise which was the shortest in duration and had no food included. It was a good choice.
While you cruise, there is guided narration. Here we pull away from the dock.
Here is the Tilikum Crossing Bridge, the South Waterfront, and the OHSU Tram.
Looking back at the Sellwood Bridge.
We turned around and came back a little earlier than I thought we would, but I guess that’s what you get when opt for the least expensive cruise that is shortest in length. Back at the dock, Matt could touch the dock as we pulled up to it.
One last self portrait.
And one last look at the Hawthorne Bridge.
We finished up the last things we needed to do before Thea’s Estate Sale took possession. I wandered around the house feeling sad about all the things that will no longer be part of my family and will soon find their way to new homes.
I took one last picture of the hallway. For my entire life (nearly 50 years) I’ve watched myself walk down this hallway in the mirror that sits over the phone desk where my grandmother always removed her clip-on earrings before talking on the phone.
When I was younger, I would run and leap, and as I got older and more earthbound, the pace was slower. If the mirror could montage, you’d see me from a baby to mid-century.
I took the mirror home with me. But I will no longer have the long hallway to reflect me to me.
