I love sketching in journals because I love making our memories come to life.
Mitchell and I are staying in Portland for our vacation;
I am told the hip thing to call it is a “staycation.”
Mostly we are working on the book, but a goal is to try new coffee shops
and see if we can find a new favorite. How will we judge:
organic coffee
organic munching offerings
good easy long-term parking or within walking distance from the studio
and of course, ambiance, that indefinable something-ness.
And to chronicle our investigations, I’ve chosen a small square Stillman & Birn Delta journal. Ivory paper. Mitchell gave me a perfect card for my birthday and it is in the front of the journal, along with one of his crazy sketches on my envelope.
(How many people save the envelopes? I love them sometimes more than the cards.)
NW is undergoing more abuse by the Portland planners.
They’ve decided to put parking meters in our little neighborhoods.
I wish they wouldn’t, but what really pisses me off is that they made most parking
an hour or under. This means that if you live here you can’t park and
go to lunch and run an errand OR go to a long coffee with your loverman.
Seriously, I understand having a couple of 15-minute parking spots,
but MOST of them now are an hour.
Two coffee shops we wanted to try we did not merely
because we could not find a parking spot that was worthy of our time.
(BTW, this is also bad for businesses, Portland planners!
Like they read my blog!)
Anywho, this is why we finally ended up at an old haunt, St. Honoré Boulangerie.
Good lattes, amazing baked goods (splurged and paid for it), and good sandwiches.
Lovely long wanna-be French table for community sharing.
In the summer they throw open the glass sliding doors.
They don’t score high because no organics. Not even one offering.
It is in the neighborhood with parking issues but at least it is near parking lots so you can find a place somewhere! All part of the reason we are looking for a new place.
On Mitchell’s second quad latte (we are on vacation so he is not getting bugged by me about his crazy addiction to shots) he drew a lovely OM in the foam.
Inked sketches in a Stillman & Birn Delta Journal with Platinum Carbon pen
or other pens and mostly ink:
Noodler’s, Super5 or De Artramentis Document inks; two Daniel Smith Watercolors.
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Parking will continue to plague – walking, biking and public transport work for certain segments, but an aging population, necessarily protective parents, and multiple errands to ‘shop local’ mean demand for car usage isn’t going away. Despite good (creative) planners’ intentions.
Love your staycation plans and the loving way you express your relationship with Mitchell. Your daily appreciation of each other is palpable and I’m happy for you both. The warm support and companionship of these years is every bit as romantic as those adventurous, lustful early years 😊💖
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We have a good system of busses/trams, but unfortunately, not from the studio. By the time we took the dang thing we could walk to whereever if fairly close by, and we do . . . if it is not raining or freezing. I so agree with you about loving in these years. It is true that youth is wasted on the young — I would love not to be achey — but other than that, I love where we are in our minds/hearts. XO
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Absolutely. Achy is hard but nothing beats the comfort of well-worn love and the knowledge that ‘forever’ is our promise kept.
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Your comments are poignant today. Yes, agreed.
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💖💖💖
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Inspired by all you say and portray of Mitchell. But also Hub is getting total knee replacement on Wed. And we’ve been working exceptionally well as a team on the mind-numbing reading material, forms to (repeatedly fill out), classes and pre-tests to attend and all the paraphenalia I’ve been accumulaing to prepare for his homecoming, and my stint as Nurse Ratchitt.
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OH! I am so sorry! We will be thinking of him and holding good outcomes in our hearts! And I think there needs to be a blogpost on being Nurse Ratchitt!
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Knee replacement is a good thing. Being nurse Ratchitt not so much 😊😊🍷🍷🍷🍷
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Yes!
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I love the scenes from your vacation 🙂
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Thanks so much Dan. We are having fun now that the dang thing is actually happening!
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I like the idea of a staycation! I’m always amazed when people seem to sketch their food and beverages so easily. I’m eating before I even think about possibly sketching. As for meters…they annoy the hell out of me! One local town here put in meters on the street and in all the lots. I avoid going there at all costs. There are some good restaurants but there are good restaurants in places that I can park easily…provide parking and I will come. lol Have a fun time!
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I often do a quick sketch in pencil then I can take my time. Color later. Sometimes I take a pic and sketch it all later, because there is NO room at the counter!
I know towns need to raise money but I would prefer a restaurant tax. It only hurts locals then when they are going out for a sit-down meal (take out usually is excluded) — if they are shopping and so forth they can park free. Or if they wanted to do a day of free parking! Or have locals buy a pass to park free! ARGH!
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Wow! Two quad lattes! I’d be up for days! I’m looking forward to checking out the coffee shop that’s just down the street from our new house. Most likely won’t have time to get there before we close on the house. And about those parking meters? I’ve been known to run back and put more money in for the second hour. 😀
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Yes, me too. On a long drive he will do three and sleep peacefully at the other end.
I WISH these were meters. NO, just limits. Idiots. 😉
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