LAZY DAY IN PORTLAND

This morning (I use the term loosely) we went to the Saturday market, even though today is Sunday.  It's a fun place with lost of nice crafts, I bought some earrings and a little purse and some cute earrings for Martha.  We arrived and parked at about 11:15 which gave us about two hours of free parking.  For some unfathomable reason, parking is metered from 1-7 on Sundays.  Wonder if they sold their street parking to finance an arena?  This is apparently a pretty hot neighborhood, I don't know if it's still called the Pearl south of Burnside,  but people line up at a lot of places for food.  VooDoo donuts is one.  

Another interesting thing that I only recently read about in a food magazine is liquid nitrogen ice cream. The ice cream is mixed up -- cream, flavorings, fruit, whatever you want, and then it's hit with liquid nitrogen, stirred, hit with liquid nitrogen again,

stirred again, and pretty soon it's ice cream.  

We met Pam and Norm at the market and hung out for a little bit.  I looked for really classy items.  

Part of our afternoon outing was to the Alberta art district in northeast Portland.  It's got a lot of the same hippie/hipster vibe

of the Fremont neighborhood in Seattle.  Lots of locals out having coffee and lining up for food, this time for biscuits.  

This is clearly a 1910-1920 neighborhood with lots of Craftsman houses.  

Some chalk left out in case a passing chod wants to draw on the sidewalk.  

It looks a little like maybe they are more rental than owner occupied, but I'm judging mostly on the fact that there's not a lot of landscaping.  Clearly, there also aren't any garages, either.  We stopped at Random Order, a coffeehouse and bakery whose sign said they sold pie, delicious cocktails and fried egg sandwiches.  We had pumpkin chocolate chunk muffins and coffee.  Met some very adorable dogs, too.  

Their owner was obviously a professional dog trainer. The bigger dog would do a number of cute moves and the owner was having a good time using the dogs as a chick magnet.   

We went back to the Pearl to make sure there wasn't anything we missed at the fair that we could agree on, there wasn't, emphasis on the agree on factor.  Then we wandered around the neighborhood, had a beer, went back to Powell's Books, because I forgot to check out the gardening books, and then a little more shopping at the home stores -- I particularly liked Casa Bella.  

We had some delicious tamales from one of the vendors at the fair at the end of the day.  I don't know what other cuisine what cuisine was mixed for these tamales, but they were delicious.  They had chicken, potatoes, prunes and green olives in the stuffing, and were wrapped in banana leaves instead of corn husks.  The consistency of the masa was a little different, too.  They were so close to closing that when I went to buy a coke at another stand, the owner gave me an elephant ear, which is basically some pizza dough fried and dipped In sugar. I'm embarrassed to admit that I really liked it.  Of course, what's not to like about bread and sugar, especially if you add a little extra grease?

We made an early day of it today.  We might go to a glass gallery tomorrow, plus I want to walk around through some of the bungalow neighborhoods.  With a little luck, we might find an antique shop that's open, but I'm not holding out much hope for that.  

PORTLAND, Day 1

We had one plan for today, and that was to go to Art in the Pearl, an annual art show here in Portland. We got there around 11:30 a.m., even though we left the hotel at 11 and it's only about two miles away, if that.  But parking was a bit of a struggle, and then we got on a street that had no turns and ended up coming back across the bridge and then back to the Pearl district.  By the time we got there, Connie, Jean, Pam and Norm had just arrived.  We decided that we would start out together, but agreed to meet at 1:30 and go somewhere to lunch.  It's a pretty good fair, at least judging by the fact that I bought a painting by a Grass Valley painter (and saved $55 by not paying California sales tax) a very cool sleeveless tunic wrap, for want of a better description, and a gorgeous little vase.

(Te isn't the vase.  It's smaller.  

 There's one more item I'd like to get, but John doesn't like it as much as I do, so I probably won't.  

We could actually go back tomorrow.  

We went to lunch at a cute little Thai restaurant that Connie found a few blocks from the fair.  Some blackberry Margaritas were had -- they sound so Oregon, and some local brews.  While we were there, we noticed that it was pouring down buckets of rain.  I had seen that there was a 20% chance of rain today, but I usually think that means no way.  I guess that's just how it is in dry Sacramento.  

It had stopped by the time we went back to the fair.  

We stopped at the Pearl bakery to have a brownie and some coffee.  Back at the fair, we closed the place down, then made a quick stop at the museum store we passed on the way there.  

We took Connie and Jean back to their hotel so we could pick up some things we can take home because we have a car.  You should have watched them networking at the fair, in addition to the amount they have done for the two days they were at the conference.  

We then went back to Powell's books and bought a few things and spent about an hour and a half.  We weren't hungry, since we had such a big lunch, so we stopped at a place called Noodles where you could get any type of pasta --Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Italian, and American (Mac and cheese).  You could get whatever you wanted in either ther a large or small plate, which was a perfect amount of food.  And of course a local beer called Bad Pig.  

OREGON COAST Day 3

Another wonderful day of beaches and seafood.  Really, what more could you ask?  Oh yeah, how about a sand dune?

There are a lot of sand dunes along the Oregon coast, some of them in, to me, surprising places.  Like these giant dunes right behind the Fred Mayer big box store in Florence.  

These are really cool.  And big.  

And fun. 

After we played there for awhile, we went on, heading for Newport, Lincoln, and eventually Portland.  

On the way to Newport, we stopped at a beach called seal rock.  No seals there, but we found a cool driftwood fort on the beach.  

These are something that people build frequently on beaches in Oregon,

and they are generally made so you can go inside them, though I was a bit nervous about the whole thing collapsing.  Apparently there are rules -- like you can't tear down someone else's fort, but you can add to it or reconfigure it.  You can't steal the wood out of someone else's fort to build your own.  You basically have to leave one there until the ocean washes it away, which usually happens within a couple of weeks. 

Although the skies were overcast most of the day, it was amazingly warm.  

We stopped at old bay Newport for lunch.  

We saw a couple of nice shops with some really good glass, but really didn't shop.  We had lunch at Mo's.  John had clam chowder AND chicken tacos, and I had oyster stew.  All of it was delicious.  

When we left Newport, we went on to Lincoln and visited this wonderful garden, called the Connie Hansen garden.  It's just a very large lot in a regular neighborhood, but it's really cool. 

We arrived in Portland about 7, checked into our hotel and went to dinner at a cute nearby restaurant called Milo's. I had a delicious portobello sandwich, because I'm really craving some vegetables. 

Tomorrow we go to Art in the Pearl.  

OREGON COAST, Day Two

I love the Oregon coast.  

Of course it helped that the weather was beautiful.  Sunny and while not what I would call warm, at least not bone chilling.  

I took a nice walk this morning. John has a miserably sore neck, so he stayed in the motel while he waited for the Naprosyn to kick in.  The neighborhood around our hotel is eclectic.  Pre-fab houses, little houses the size of a small RV, beach-style McMansions, craftsman bungalows.  

Then we were off to check out as many beaches as we could.  

Our first big stop was at Heceta lighthouse beach.  Like every beach we stopped at, this one was clean, fine sand, big vistas.  We also took a nice hike up to the lighthouse.

Then we took an extra little hike at the top,  I was a bit reluctant to do this one after I saw the sign about the bears, though. 

Our second major stop was Strawberry Fields, which is another beach that has a nice parking area with a grassy park at the road level, then a trail down, in this case, to tide pools and seal rocks.  

The third big place was Devil's Cauldron, (which looks a lot like toilet bowl at Hanauma Bay) and had a nice little hiking area around the water.  

After that,

we went into the town of Yachets and had lunch (halibut sandwich and clam chowder) at a cute little place that had a tent set up outside with picnic tables underneath.  

After lunch, (3:30) we headed back to Florence and stopped at one more beautiful beach to dip our feet in the water.  I was shocked at how much colder the water is up here.  It's so cold in CA, I just didn't imagine it would be so much colder here. I loved this beach .  

Our second to last stop of the day was at Fred Mayer, which must be the Wal-Mart of Oregon, so John could get some Ben-gay and an ice pack for his neck.  By the time we got back to Florence, the fog had come in and you could hardly see the bridge, though the time we finished eating, it was all gone.  Love these ghostly bridge pictures.  

We had dinner tonight at Spice, a seafood-pan Asian fusion restaurant. John had scallops in green curry sauce, and I had scallops wrapped in bacon with an Asian flavored barbecue sauce.  We followed that up with some locally made ice cream cones.  We have done NO shopping.  I can't believe it.  

SACRAMENTO TO FLORENCE

I arrived at Enterprise this morning to pick up our rental car, but had to wait almost a half hour to get the car.  And they weren't even that busy.  This meant we didn't leave until 10 a.m. Instead of our planned 9 a.m.  

We made it to Redding by noon, stopped for lunch and went on.  This is a pretty tedious drive.  One pleasant surprise is that gas was about 20 cents a gallon cheaper in Oregon.  Another pleasant surprise was at dinner tonight where there was also no tax.  

Anyway once we turned off I-5, it got better.  We were then on a nice two-lane country road that was going through a lot of nice agricultural land, fields of sheep, orchards, and the like.  We also went past an elk viewing area where there were a bunch of elk out in a field.  (Not fast enough with the camera for that one.)

We were going to head directly to Florence, our seaside destination for tonight, but took a little detour south to visit a photogenic lighthouse because it was about 6 pm and the light was really quite beautiful -- except not at the lighthouse which was more or less fogged in. 

This one is right across the street from the lighthouse.  John with the jawbone of a whale.  

On our way up 101 to Florence, we saw this guy walking down the road with a fishing pole and what looked like a 30-pound salmon.  

Actually turned around and went back to take his picture with it.  He said it's the third one he's caught.  today? This week? This season?  Not sure, and that the one before this one was bigger. Right.

We arrived at our hotel, the River House Inn, at around 8 pm, and after a few quick pictures before we trashed the room, we headed off to dinner.  

I like that they gave us a rubber sucky to play with in the bathtub.  The other unusual thinginthis room is that they have a sleep machine, soe kind of white noise.  I guess they must have some noisy stuff that goes on here, though not that noticeable yet tonight.  

OMG,  we went to an Italian restaurant, Restobar, for dinner and had the best halibut ever.  Herb crusted with homemade aioli sauce, Yukon gold potatoes and a salad.  All for $16.  And it was a cute, cozy, amber-hued place which felt good because it's not warm here.  

And the aforementioned no tax.  

Tomorrow we are mostly hanging out at various beaches.  There's a big sand dune park near here.  

Petaluma, Sebastopol, and Dillon Beach

We really had a fun day today.  We actually got up a little bit too early, because we wanted to visit the antique stores along Gravenstein highway between Cotati and Sebastopol, but our motel was so noisy from people taking showers in adjoining rooms that we were wide awake at 8 am. So we went to the lobby and had our free breakfast, which was just as representative of the hotel as the room was.  

Here's an example I noticed in the room this morning.  They obviously replaced a lamp, but didn't bother to paint around where the size was different.  Maybe they hoped I'd stand there for the rest of my life with my hair covering it up.  

So anyway, we were on the road by 9:30, and forced to drive past all these antique shops that didn't open until 10 or 11.  We finally came to a big multi dealer place and had a lot of fun looking at stuff, though we didn't actually find anything to buy.  I kept trying to imagine all the clever things designers would do with stuff, but nothing came to mind, though I did kind of like these little rock hangers.  

We thought we'd stop for lunch in Sebastopol, but didn't find anything interesting, so went on out to freestone to Sunflour Bakery.

 I love the place.  It has soul.  

It was also very busy.  And they have a very wonderful garden, as well.  

From there we headed out to Dillon beach where we had a lot of fun wading in the water,

climbing the dunes, and playing with other people's dogs. One dog ws so well trained th the would bring the ball back to his owner nd drop it between his legs nd look at nothing but the ball until he threw it again.    Except the last time, he mistook John's legs for his owner, dropped the ball, and never looked up to see whose legs the ball was between, so to speak.  I think the owner kind of had his feelings hurt, so he took his ball and went home. 

John managed not to get anxious about going home, and we stayed late enough to have dinner in Petaluma.  I'm so glad it worked out, too, because there was little traffic on the way home, as opposed to Saturday, when we drove over and there were all sorts of backups, from Yolo causeway to highway 37, to highway 101 and even in Cotati, though that was to be expected, I'd say.  We would have been back to leaving to come home from a two dy trip at noon of the second day if traffic returning had been bad.  

ACCORDION FESTIVAL

We went to Cotati for the Accordion Festival today.  

The only reason we actually came was because I want to buy a concertina.  I was disappointed in that, because they only had three at the festival, and they were the junk ones.  Now that I've spent the day trying to find one, I realize I need to fix the one I have, even though it's a piece of junk, it's good enough for what I want it for, and I know I can actually fix it.  

Anyway, the festival was fun.  Food trucks have made many events so much better than they used to be, and this one was no exception.  We had a wonderful chicken burrito, very California style, with a bit of feta cheese and nice grilled chicken in a veggie wrap.  And a nice wine.  

We were able to see three different performers, the first was Alicia Baker, who has a wonderful voice as well as being a great accordionist.  She accompanied herself singing opera arias, played exotic arrangements that she had written in music school of various things and otherwise kinda knocked your socks off.  

One of the things they had the last time we were here, maybe five years ago, was the massed playing of Lady of Spain.  They did that again this year, but it seemed like there were only about 20 accordions.  But they also did the Beer Barrel Polka.    People also got totally into it and danced in front of the stage. 

After that we heard Vincenzo Abbracciante who played some pretty good jazz, then the legendary Dick Contino, who is apparently the grand old man of the accordion.  He's 84 and clearly a crowd favorite.  Finally we saw The Great Morgani, who wears a bizarre costume which even covers his accordion, but he plays though it.  

There was a huge crowd. 

All in all, it was a pretty nice day, though I failed in the main objective.  

We had to take a poor choice on a hotel, because we didn't plan ahead, but we did get a room that matches my hair.  

Tomorrow I want to go to Sunflower bakery for brunch, then go over to the beach, then go check out the antique shops, but I don't know if we will achieve any or all to it.  Traffic was awful on the way over here, so john will probably be chomping at the bit to leave by noon.  

Lark Camp

Lark camp, first full day

Even though this is a five day trip, we only really get three days here.  Already it feels like it's almost time to go home, and it's only the first actual day.  

Yesterday was almost all day driving, we arrived in Mendocino at about 2:pm, and had been told that under no circumstances could we be let into the camp before 3 pm. Oh, what a pity to have to walk around in Mendocino for an hour.  The camp is about 20 miles out of town,the last 8 or so on a dirt road.  I was noticing the unusual gray color of the  ferns by the side of the road until I realized there're just covered with dust.  It is VERY dusty here because of the drought, though I suppose as a camper it's better than if it was the usual rainforest.  Then there would be mud.  

Anyway, we finally got tour cabins about 4 pm, took us until 5 or so to get all our stuff (enough for a three month safari in Africa, including taking enough medicines to cure Ebola) into the cabins and move the car far away.  Then we walked down to the main teaching area to get our meal tickets.  There was some snafu and they really weren't ready to sell them, but we stood around to be first in line for dinner so they'd have to help us in order for anyone else to get to eat.  (Most people bought meal tickets in advance, but we signed up too late to be allowed to buy any ahead of time. )

After dinner we sat around the fire pit and listened to varus jam sessions, but didn't participate In any.

I'm happy to report that there were no critters although at one point when I was in bed I thought I heard something.  Turned out it was my jeans and sleeping bag, which I'm using more as a quilt, sliding off the bed.  When I woke up around 3 a.m. I noticed both were on the floor. 

Today the fun began.  I took a class this morning on playing the bodhran, which I have discovered is pronounced bor OHN.  Mine is a pretty poor excuse for one anyway,but is particularly ad here because it's cool and a bit humid, and coming from warm, dry Sacramento, it is very flabby.  Most good ones have tuners so you can loosen or tighten them, but I am to going to invest in a better one.  I had hoped someone would have a stick to sell, because I just play mine with my hand. I ol earned some techniques today, but without a practice stick,it's not going to help me too much here.  I like the teacher, though.

The second class I took was irish music for Anglo concertina.

 I've been looking forward to buying a new concertina, and I did realize in this class that I don't particularly want to play Irish music because it's a very specialized technique,and the Anglo concertina, as opposed to the English concertina, is the one that works like a harmonica -- push in for C, out for D.  Probably more concentration than ill ever be able to muster.  I probably won't go back to that class, either.  I think tomorrow I will take Lisa lyn's class on the music business.  

The other two classes I took this afternoon were one from Lisa -- beginning and intermediate harp, which was very beginning,but good info for teaching beginners, and intermediate to advanced for Ayreh Frankfurter.  That class was wonderful. We discussed how to harmonize a piece in several different ways and also got some interesting chord arrangements to just learn and stick in wherever you want them to make you sound more professional. 

Our final scheduled event of each day was a big session of multiple instruments of Swedish music, which was really a lot of fun.  That music is so lively and exciting.  Aryeh was teaching that one as well and playing nickelarpa.  After dinner Elizabeth and I sat out on the porch and played for awhile.  

It was very cold this morning,and I was cold, even though I was wearing a shirt, a wool sweater, a fleece jacket and gloves. By about two in the afternoon I was able to take the jacket off, but by 5 I was ready to put it back on.

Earlier in the day I needed to get my harp over to the area where the lessons are. I debated walking over with it-- it's about the equivalent of 5 or 6 blocks, but decided to take the bus instead.i hadn't realized how far apart the camps were.  I brought my hurdy gurdy because I wanted to take the French music class, but it's more or less the same time as the harp class, in camp 2,and if you catch the bus just right, it's about a half hour  ride.  If you don't, or if it's too full, you have to wait bother half hour.  So the hurdy gurdy will remain in the room unplayed unless something changes.  

My harp and harp case are absolutely covered with dust. I wore a hole in one of  my socks yesterday, and may use it as a dust cloth for the harp.  My harp gets a lot of attention here, because many of these musicians have never seen a carbon fiber harp in person,though most have heard  of them.  And even though they know cf harps are light, they don't really believe how light they are until they try to pick it up. 

Sunday - it is so cold here, and ALL OF THE CLASSES ARE OUTSIDE! Whose lunatic idea was that?  I am freezing all the time.  Today I wore a long sleeved shirt, a sweater, my heavy jeans, my fleece jacket and my wool scarf, plus my winter gloves.  And still, by the time the 9:30 a.m. drum class was over I could do a drum roll just by shivering.  So I went for a two mile walk just to warm up.  A long walk isn't really the best use of your time here, because there are so many interesting classes and just listening to jamming musicians.  

Today I went to the "Getting your Music Out Ito the World" class, which had a lot of good stuff about marketing yourself and especially about busking.  Our beginner harp class is pretty beginner, but I'm enjoying it nonetheless.  She throws in a few things for the more advanced players.  Also, because these are a bunch of musicians, even though many of them are first timers at the harp, by the end of our second day today they could play the first part of Ode to Joy, Frere Jacques, Joy to the World, and Somewhere over the Rainbow with two hands.  

And that's another fun thing.  We went to a singing session tonight.  I think most of the singers were from a class for people who are shy but want to sing in a session.  They were all good, and the really cool thing was that when they would get to familiar parts of songs, you'd sort of hear some humming, and then you'd hear a couple of people singing along, and then it would just develop into beautiful four part harmony with a lot of beautiful voices.   It's like nowhere I've ever been just for that alone.  I realize that's the only thing I miss about being in a church is that connection I feel in a group of people singing.  And this was even better, because I think it was mostly a bunch of heathens singing. So there was a real connection.  

Our harp class with Aryeh is the best of all.  We are working on making arrangements by learning simple bass patterns that we intend to practice until they are second nature and we can throw them in anywhere, and then we go through a chordless lead sheet and put in the chords three times.  The first time is the white bread version, the second time is more interesting, but not totally unexpected chords, (like deceptive cadences and brief forays into minor chords, and the third time through is no holds barred.  We didn't finish that segment in class, so it was homework, but since our class is at 4, and then we do Swedish music for an hour and then we have dinner, and then we party, I didn't have time to do mine, so I'll have to do it in the morning.

Monday.  Last night I finally figured out how to keep my sleeping bag from sliding off the bed, which it does several times during the night.  I have made up the bed with sheets and have my afghan on next to the sheets and the open sleeping bag on top.  I wake up several times in the night because the slippery bag has slid off onto the floor, and I'm cold.  Last night I pinned the bag to the bottom of the bed with a safety pin, and it worked like a charm.  I slept all through the night.  It makes it a tiny bit too short, but that's okay.  And of course, in bed in the unheated cabin is the only time I'm warm all day.  

I can't believe the camp is almost over for us.  Today is our last day in the afternoon harp classes, boo hoo, and probably the only thing I'll be able to go to tomorrow is the freezing drum class, where I take my floppy, untunable drum, borrow someone else's stick, and make a sound not much more interesting than playing on a magazine.  

This morning I dressed in a turtleneck, a light wool sweater, a heavy wool sweater, wool scarf, jacket, fingerless gloves under my regular winter gloves, jeans, and my fleece sweatpants over my jeans.  In other words, the only clothes left in my suitcase are the ones I'm wearing home.  Reminds me of when Zoe and I were in Amsterdam.  Only colder.  I can only imagine how miserable it would be in a regular year when it's not so dry.  I've talked to several people who were here last year and they say it was really cold then.  I can't imagine it being any colder.  But that is my only complaint.  And it's nothing the promoters can do anything about.  

This morning I went to the bodhran class and banged around for another hour and a half.  But today I sat at the fire before class and warmed up the drum head so it wasn't all mushy.  Didn't really improve my playing all that much, though.  I had a schedule to meet today, because Aryeh had assigned us to work out an arrangement of Eleanor Plunkett that didn't use the common chords and incorporated some of the licks he have us for left hand.  I worked it out pretty well, sat up on the edge of the woods

near the restroom and he came by and told me it was a beautiful arrangement.  Of course when we got to class I couldn't get through more than a measure without stopping, because I had made too many changes and incorporated too many new things, and couldn't put them all together without having written some of them down.  Oh, well.  This has been the best arranging class ever, because we talked about how to put an arrangement together, i.e. "hymnal" version, slightly more different chords version, bridge that may be relatively unrelated, then simple first part of the piece again, relaxing, drawing into the finish, and then wow 'me with something special at the end.  Always end with excitement.  I wish I were here the rest of the week, because I'd love to continue this class.  We also had a nice nuts and bolts recording/marketing class today.  I did manage to take off my jacket for almost two hours today, due to the fact I had all those other layers on.  Tomorrow I'll be complaining about the heat again.  

Lisa Lyn said she would help us Elizabeth and me, because we are the two advanced students in her class, tomorrow morning with some tricks of the trade before we have to leave.  I think they're pretty firm about wanting to see your taillights going down the road by noon if you are a half camper.  If I come for a half camp again -- because even though I like the energy, I couldn't be this cold for 10 days without going crazy, I'd come back for the second half rather than the first.  

Tonight we walked to camp three, which is about a mile or so. I can't believe how dark it is here.  No lights at all.  Not even moonlight because the trees are so dense.  And quiet.  Anyway, we went to a belly dance, middle eastern music program.  Mostly the music.  The dumbek player was amazing. We got back at 12:30.  My roommates were already in bed when we left.  If I've met them at camp, I haven't recognized them.  They get up after I do and go to bed before I do, and of we ever see each other in the cabin it's too dark to see what they look like.    However, one of them asked me about playing at the farmers market.  Now, the only place I've mentioned that here is in the marketing class we took.  Which means she was in the class (and there were only five or six people in the class and I knew 2 of them, but obviously I failed to recognize her. ). 

Tuesday we had some time to just play harps for awhile, so that was fun, but we also had to pack up our tons of stuff and leave, which wasn't.  I will definitely go to this camp again.  I'll bring more warm clothes, though.