Persimmons clinging to tree

The garden is modeled after an ancient scholar’s garden, and as such is an extension of the home. There are sheltered spaces and open spaces; there are private places for the scholar and his close friends to discuss ideas and open spaces for conducting more public business. There are paths for strolling and contemplation.

The Painted Boat in Misty Rain pavilion represents the journey from Suzhou to Portland; though a stationary pavilion, the visitor is meant to feel as if on a boat while in it.

Suzhou, sister city to Portland, provided inspiration, guidance, artisans, and materials for the project. The “Su” in the garden name signifies Suzhou as well as meaning arise.  The “Lan” is taken from “Portland” as well as meaning orchid. Thus the name signifies the link between the two cities as well as naming the garden, “The Garden of Awakening Orchids.”

The persimmons clinging to the tree provided color as did other seed pods and a few flowers.  Roses bloom till December here, and there were a couple brave ones left along with other unnamed flowers.

Next visit I will pick up the guide to plants of the garden and learn some of the names as well as enjoy looking at the flowers.

Brave red rose

yellow flowering tree

Yellow flower detail

The plum blossom is especially hardy and blooms in February, making it one of the three friends of winter along with bamboo and pine.  Its sturdiness is shown through the tile design, “Plum blossom on cracked ice.”

ground tile design

Throughout the garden, the ground is covered with tile designs like this, all named and each extending the theme of its area. In addition, guests are invited to remove shoes and walk over the varied textures for foot massage.  Needless to say we saved that pleasure for a future warmer visit.  Quilters would enjoy the garden for the design inspiration of the various floors.

The garden covers a city block in the midst of Chinatown.  Generally I was not aware of the city outside, but sometimes it got into my photos, as in this one.

a garden in a city

The garden feels much larger than an acre because of its design.  The guest walks in various loops as the scholar once would have, and perhaps the guest contemplates as well.  Poems are part of the overall design (English translations in pamphlets) to aid the contemplative experience.  Our contemplation consisted of listening to the tour guide.

Besides the loops to stroll there are structural elements of view within view, creating the illusion of distance.

keyhole arch

There was a blond woman whose sign read “I’m a first generation immigrant, but don’t get hassled. Is it because I don’t have ‘the look’? Wie sind die 99%.” There was another similar with the last line in French.

My favorite was a person who appeared to be panhandling, seated on the sidewalk. Sign said “Keep your money; I want change.”

auction items

I love an auction, be it silent, F2F onsite or online.  And the recent fund raiser for Sisters of the Road was no exception.

I like auctions for a purpose more than just those for buying stuff because then I can feel good about spending money.

I start out with an idea of how much I want to give and place my opening bids. Then I wait to see where I am outbid and where not.  When I am outbid I have to think about how much I want the item. Sometimes I really really do, so I bid back.  Sometimes I was rather lukewarm, so I let it go and either save to bid up on some other item or add a couple opening bids.

This time I had to let a couple ticket offers that I really liked go by. They just got too high.  But then that is another way to feel good even about losing.  The organization gets so much more because I tried a couple times to get an item, this time tickets.

But what you see here are the four things I managed to stay first on. Maybe next year I’ll get one of those tickets.

It is an annual event–maybe you can try next year.  There are plenty of items that can be shipped as well as events and services that are donated by Portland businesses.

I have observed the boycott of Black Friday ever since I first heard of it.  (Since my association of “black” related to “Black Thursday” the beginning of the Great Depression, I was puzzled by the naming until I learned it meant –mostly for big box stores–moving from the red to the black financially.) Alas, I shop so little that the big box stores probably never noticed my boycott on their bottom line, but I still feel part of the movement. Small things add up.

Then along came Shop Local Saturday. Much more to my liking because shopping local  and supporting the small specialty stores in my neighborhood is important.  I may not always make it on the named Saturday, but it is my first place to start shopping when indeed I must shop–for yarn, for fabric, for food.

So today I was delighted to read of Green Tuesday.  Again, I may never observe it on the “appropriate” Tuesday. But I am sure that doesn’t matter if I observe it all year.  I invite you to check out the various green solutions suggested and find some to try.

Maybe you would like to see the winning quilts: http://www.quilts.org/winners.html  Their photos are better than mine, and some very exciting exhibits did not allow photography.

For this show I had two days. The program map made it very clear what exhibits were where, so I could go directly to my favorite categories.  Of course I look along the way. At first–as I usually start any quilt show–I started out reading each and every quilters’ comments.  I soon realized, as I usually do, that I had to speed up. So I went into down-the-middle-of-the-aisle mode. In that mode, I walk, glancing left and right, and only get into detail on the quilts that call to me.  Plenty of quilts yell! Thus I catch my favorites first, while I am still alert.  Any time that is left goes to the other categories and the vendors.

When I reach the chosen area, I slow down and give each quilt more individual attention. I always check out the Hoffman Challenge because I love to see the wild variety of quilts that come from one fabric.  The rules are that the fabric has to be used in a recognizable way on the top in more than the border.  I am always amazed at the designs where a quilter has taken a small motif of the fabric, cut it out, and appliqued it throughout another design, like one with a weeping flower tree. The flowers, about nickel size, were carefully cut from the challenge fabric and appliqued as the flowers on the tree.  Since I don’t applique, I also look to see if there are patchwork winners. There usually are a few. Every year I think I will make one myself.  I did once. Here is the URL for previous challenges and winners: http://www.hoffmanchallenge.com/past_challenges.html   The fabric for 2012 is pink and lavender roses: http://www.hoffmanchallenge.com/index.html We have until July 20, 2012 folks!

One thing always amazes me.  When I hit an area I have already viewed from a different angle, it is as though it has totally different quilts from the first viewing.  So I can enjoy an exhibit more than once.  In smaller shows, I often go around twice.  Here the double viewing came if I was with friends at a section I’d already viewed or if there were a section I had to pass to get from here to there.

This show could have used more chairs more randomly placed; however, they did have a “meet the teachers” section where there were continuous half hour presentations and nice seats.  I wandered there by schedule for presentations I wanted to see and when I needed to sit. The latter provided introduction to a variety of things I found interesting but would not have sought out.

Thank goodness for cell phones.  My friends and I could meet up for lunch and going home.  In between we did some viewing together and some on our own.  Both are great ways to see a show.

The vendor area is another kind of exhibit. This one I walked through quickly and again let a booth call to me. I was quite tempted by several: raincoats, kits, hand dyed fabrics.  But I didn’t do a lot for the economy this year. I am sure the vendors prefer shoppers to viewers like me.

Non quilt show aspects of a trip are interesting as well: accommodations, restaurants, local museums. It was great to have a local hostess who knew the restaurants. I will never forget The Red Onion. I ordered their specialty, Chicken Brazil, but it was a difficult choice–each looked so good. There was even one vegetarian offering and one meat-and-potatoes offering, so most anyone could be accommodated. Look at my entre

Chicken Brazil

I haven’t decided whether to take my camera or not.  I view a show much differently if I am taking pictures.  I am more interested in light, angle and composition.  I become a photographer instead of a quilter.  It also makes me more impatient of crowds, the people who get in the way of my carefully composed shot. I prefer enjoying the people.

I do much better just enjoying the quilts, looking at design, looking at technique, maybe commenting to my companious or eavesdropping on others who are commenting.  Of course i do not touch, though that takes MUCH restraint. On rare occasion I have sketched something I want to remember, but I do that less and less. Instead I figure the mental image will do, and if it gets distorted, maybe there is a reason.  There will be bed quilts, wall quilts, traditional quilts and art quilts, and I will revel in them all.

I will be meeting friends in Houston, and that certainly adds to the fun; I will also be staying at the new Hosteling International Hostel, the Morty Rich Hostel.  Hosteling is a great way to travel; in the US it has always been for people of all ages, and they finally took “Youth” out of the name of the organization.

So time to get packing.

entrelac experiment

The bright pink yarn was left over from a Code Pink project, but seemed appropriate for a child scarf. I set it aside.  Then I found a pattern for a lace shawl (I can handle lace) that also was structured by entrelac (new to me).  I’ll post the name of the lace shawl when I get working on it.

It was clear I needed to learn, so I googled entrelac and found instructions and started. It really didn’t make sense till I had done several rows–it was just a lot of one line directions, and I had trouble keeping my place. Suddenly I saw the pattern of it all and could almost knit without directions.  Occasionally if I am attending more to talking than knitting I forget which end to attach the new knitting to and have to unknit a rectangle, but it is also an easy pattern to unknit.   All this to say if entrelac overwhelms you, keep at it.

So I had it all figured out–why waste it. Back to the scarf goal for the yarn…no reason not to make an entrelac scarf, so I did. It is actually finished now–I just forgot to take the photo with the fringe.

And the gray scarf:

gray scarf

I had heard of the knitting group at Sisters of the Road and one week headed out.  Only I left in such a hurry I forgot my knitting. So I was invited to look through donated yarns. I found this nubby lace weight yarn–unlabeled, so it is a mystery fiber, but I think it may be synthetic because it didn’t hold its blocked shape. I needed something to do while talking so opted for a stitch I’d used previously: yarn over, knit two together forever (except at the end of a row where the last stitch is knit-one).

I will certainly never purchase nubby lace yarn!  Keeping the tension loose enough for stitches to slip like they need to was a challenge.  And it is less than perfect–but I am not a perfectionist, and once worn somewhat gathered, its flaws will hide.

The scarves are in the Sisters of the Road auction; the remains of both yarns are in the knitting group stash, well were.  The pink was claimed immediately.  The gray yarn ball doesn’t look like any has been used, so there is enough for another scarf.

On another note…post a day is impossible…now I am going for post a week.  Someday I’ll figure out how to change the button.

Jobs Not Cuts Demonstration

And I think people–and dogs–gathered for a demonstration expresses the possibility of political change.  (I thought I had the cute white dog as well as the sign, but he hid as I snapped.) This gathering, far south of Occupy Portland, supported them as well as expressing its theme of Jobs, Not Cuts.  Since it was a coalition, we also urged single-payer healthcare so that healthcare is not dependent on holding a job and the elimination of corporations as persons in order to get democracy back into the hands of the people. The site, the park under Sellwood Bridge, was chosen for a special reason.

Sellwood Bridge

The site was chosen to emphasize the need for maintenance on infrastructure.  On a scale of 1-100, the Sellwood Bridge is rated 2. Remember the bridge that collapsed in Minnesota?  It was rated 50. Improving infrastructure would have two beneficial effects: upgrades and jobs for the people.

I sometimes wonder how much to hope from such gatherings, knowing how much more there is to do than gather. But this I also know.  Doing nothing will accomplish nothing and keep the 1% rich while the rest of us 99% get poorer. And so we gathered, encouraged each other, expressed our goals, and we hope to ignite interest in others as they get more informed and to awaken the politicians to the people.

When visiting Chicago I did the tunnel vision walk and ignored the people who needed money.  When in New York I was with a friend who kept a pocket full of quarters whenever she went to the city to give one to each who asked.  The comparison created internal dissonance. My attitude came from two things: an early experience and a stereotype.  The stereotype first.  People won’t use money for food, but for cigarettes, drink, or drugs.  The experience. I once knew some high school rich kids who dressed down and went downtown and panhandled and came home to gloat over their profits. They had no real need.  My NY friend answered that by saying it was not her conscience, but theirs.

Now that I live in a Portland I do see a few real live people who are experiencing homeless, and some ask me for money. I started out with the tunnel vision approach, but didn’t like myself that way.  The old high school kid prank held me back though.  In a conversation I learned two things.  Look at their shoes.  And there is a place called Sisters of the Road Cafe that serves meals, and one can buy coupons and hand them out instead of cash.  Seemed a good move to resolve my dilemma.

So I got some and they came with instructions. The most relevant direction was “Make eye contact.” Quite a contrast to my tunnel vision approach.) The rest was to be sure they could get to the cafe and would use the coupon. Having something to offer helped me get out of tunnel vision.

Browsing the website led me to a book, Voices from the Streets,  that resulted from a study, interviews with people experiencing homelessness. And the most relevant chapter so far is the one on feeling invisible and how that lowers self image. Adding that to the eye-contact principle has at least gotten me out of tunnel vision.

Time will tell how involved I actually get.

Although the book gets off to a slow start in setting up the political background, that background is necessary. I have not yet finished it, but the fire is finished along with 146 workers’ lives.

David Von Drehle provides a look at factory life, and  the book starts to get more interesting.  The vignettes about various people add to its life.  It is interesting that the owners of the factory started out as immigrants just like their workers. And as is so often the case, they are satisfied to be owners and are not thinking of reaching to pull others up with them. One learns about Russian Jewish immigrants, and how their backgrounds prepared them to organize, and about Italian immigrants fleeing natural disaster.

It is one thing to know, somewhat abstractly, that a fire occurred and workers were trapped and killed.  But once details of some workers’ lives are given, the tragedies become real, and I felt anger at the fire escape that did not lead to the outside, at the inspections promised but not followed up on,  and at the doors that not only opened to the inside, but also were locked. I felt the fear and despair of the workers who had to run through flames to get to the roof.

The author describes the fire floor by floor, eighth, tenth, and ninth. He helpfully links what was happening on tenth to what had happened at the same time on eighth, etc, to keep us oriented.  The fire lasted 30 minutes. It is difficult to imagine so much action happening in that short time or a blaze intensifying so much. The author compensates for this by reminding us after long descriptions that only three minutes have gone by, or whatever number is relevant.

And now to read to the end.