Wednesday Portland

I rose later, around 8AM. I had slept but rose once for proof of hydration. I woke at 5, 6, and 7, still sleepy, rolled over, and tried to sleep some more. Waking and seeing it was past 8 on my clock, I rose and put on my slippers. I was wide awake already to start my morning.

And a song for those who stay up all night: here.

My mornings now mean writing the blog and updating myself with the news, emails, and transactions for Quicken. It is no longer rushing to prepare for the first meetings at the shoe company here or at the office. Dressing and getting ready for the rest of the day is delayed until I finish the blog. There is no sense of rush or working.

The movement in food production to use cooperatives and provide a reasonable price for items has produced excellent products like Equal Exchange brand items, including coffee, chocolate, dried fruits, and nuts. There is a Fair Trade logo for other products. Please look for these brands or logos; they cost more, but they are, as they say, fair-traded.

When I lift my cup of liberal coffee, black in the morning, it is flavored with justice and kindness. We are called by God, and I think the universe, to justice and compassion, even in a cup of joe. My coffee speaks to me in the morning and says, “Here is justice!” Drink deeply and listen to the liberal coffee! “Here is compassion!”

With all the justice and compassion in my coffee, I had yogurt and toast. The toast finished my two-serving little jars of jam. Instead of having large jars of jam, I bought a handful of these jars with different flavors. There is only me here. Yum, Orange Marmalade is a favorite for me.

I wrote my blog, tried to recall the previous day, and filled in my set pieces (boilerplates, if you like). I also looked at the dirty dishes to remember lunch. I remembered, and soon, the day was being recreated in words in WordPress. I enjoyed my craft, and the day’s story was decorated here and there with some fun writing.

I did remember something later and inserted that; it often happens even a day later. Memory is not linear; it is more like hooks for ornaments and paper chains on a Christmas tree that is your previous day. You will remember them in bright bits, and then handmade chains slowly form and connect once you find the start. You can never recall the whole tree, just bits. Slowly, the image reforms and is transformed into a story.

I let the morning expire, and I am still not dressed. I make lunch in my PJs, a BLT with one of Dondrea’s tomatoes. I watch more ShipHappens, a show about rebuilding a WW2 small ship. They are testing their engines on the old boat, and the port engine has a cooling issue. Water is not following through the engine. The through-hull is blocked, and when they cleared it, a wincing moment to watch, the water rushed into the ship (a through-hull is a hole in the hull that lets water in, hopefully in a controlled manner). They managed to shut the valve. Oh my. The port engine worked once they cleaned the filter, unblocked the through-hull, and reconnected everything. Yikes.

I was dressed, and it was a lovely sunny but hot day, so I decided to head to Portland and the Chinese garden. I boarded Air Volvo after checking that my iPhone and Kindle were correctly synced. I only needed to take the iPhone. I brought up the Hop app and soon, after four tries, got my app to recognize the scan post at the station with Air Volvo parked in the free parking lot. The new cars are excellent on the red line now extended to our area.

I read and enjoyed the trip. The tunnel is loud, but my new less hearing means less noise, an unexpected bonus. Soon, I am at the last stop, China Town, before crossing the river and de-train. It is two blocks from the garden.

I gave my ID and soon got a pass; I am a member with a two-person pass. At the entrance, I am told I am minutes from the start of a tour and join the tour. Charles is giving a tour; we soon learn he is a former school teacher. He lectures and has a plan for his lesson. I asked many questions, as others did, and to Charle’s credit, he can ‘check and adjust’ and answered our questions as best as he could. He changed his talk to fit our group, and we focused on plants more. He covers about 1/2 of the garden and illuminates for me the purpose of some of the rooms and what a Scholar’s Garden is. The Portland Garden is designed after the existing Scholar’s Gardens in China. A couple, Brent and Anne, befriended me, and we exchanged information. They have just sold their house, stored their items, and now are touring, looking at possible places to live, and enjoying the travel. They have been traveling for months, and Anne let me know that after a hot and sticking month in Boston, that location is off the list.

I have a snack and tea at the tea house, wonton soup and wontons. I walk through the garden, prepare to leave, and buy the books containing translations of the inscriptions (Charles had one, and they are in the gift shop) when I see I am missing a credit card. I walk back to the tea house and find it. It is gray colored on gray tiles. It had fallen out of my pocket (a new hazard of looser fitting pants). I know I should return the card to my wallet each time I use it, but I made an error, slipped it in my pocket, and forgot it. I am happy to recover the loss and buy the book.

I walk to Ground Kontrol (only a few blocks from the garden), as I still have some credit left on my card. Security gives me a blue wristband, signaling I am allowed to order adult drinks, but instead, I head to the pinball machines and prove that these low scores are possible even when trying. In one pinball game, I believe I never hit the ball with a paddle, creating a score so low the machine gave me a free ball. Yes, I get pity from the machines! I managed one good game, for me, on the newer Adam’s Family machine (the classic ones that survive are now collector items and not found here for mere mortals to use). This was followed by two dreadful games. I also tried to play the old Tron game, remembering Eric mastering it and winning, but I never completed a light cycle contest in three plays (yes, I never left the RPG level, my first programming language I learned on the job). The older video games are half-priced here, which is an incentive for me. I returned to pinball and enjoyed that more. There is a room for new edgy games that are higher priced, but I never bother to do more than look at them. Still, I enjoyed myself and will be back.

Next, I walk to the local Irish pub, Kells, and have a locally made Irish-style red. I also ordered and ate a shepherd’s pie very slowly, so hot from the oven that I warmed my hands over it. I read Slow Horses on my iPhone and just relax. I am in no hurry today, and the beer hits me harder. I decide on dessert and read more. The bread pudding and coffee are perfect together.

I walked a short distance to the MAX station. It was cool, and I only had a T-shirt. I quickly boarded a train. A couple boarded, and I gave up my seat for them. I got a seat a few stops later, as the train soon emptied. The gal lost her bracelet in the seat. The other passengers and I helped her get it out of the benches. It had fallen off her wrist and into the space between the bench and the wall. She was relieved and managed to get it back before her stop.

Air Volvo was there when I de-trained. I soon returned home and decided to try Kaos on Netflix. Imagine our world ruled by the Greek gods and all the advertisements and culture directed towards the gods. This is an excellent re-skinning of our world. The series retells the myths mixing freely from American Gods, a reality TV format, and current shows like Wednesday and the Sandman. I managed two episodes but found none of the characters sympathetic, like in Greek myths. I cannot recommend it, but it is well-executed and worth a peek to see if you like it.

I did not return to coding, writing, or some church work. I will have to rise early on Thursday to do that. I read more Slow Horses, which is getting better. The first season seems to closely follow the book’s story and pathos. So far, I can keep going.

I closed my Kindle (which did sync with my iPhone reading). I managed to fall asleep before midnight. I do wake at 3ish to prove hydration.

Thanks for reading.