Angie Windheim

Spending a day in downtown Portland with the boys is fun, and we definitely need to do it more regularly. On our Spring Break trip downtown, we started at the Portland Art Museum.  It’s free for kids 17 and under. Only $10 for adults. The museum is huge. You could get seriously lost with all of the floors and the underground tunnel that links the two buildings.  The boys lasted about an hour and a half.  Ben liked the contemporary art, the Native American collection is very cool, and the classical/impressionist collection is neat as well. Joe and Sam had the most fun circling and examining a very, to scale, naked male sculpture. Ben was so embarrassed! 

We got lunch at the new Portland expansion of the Deschutes Brewery.  The kids love that restaurant in Bend, so they were excited to try this one. Sam and Joe tried the bread pretzel. They didn’t go for it, but I’m telling you it was awesome! I took them home and shared with Brian. The garlic, mustard, cream cheese sauce it comes with is sooooo yummy.  Ben had the wings as usual. He actually shared them, and Joe discovered that he likes the hot wings.  He likes them a lot 🙂

Lunch was followed by an awe-inspiring trip to Powell’s City of Books. The store is amazing. We got the map and just stood there for a few minutes.  The kids filled a basket full of great books and started reading as soon as we got in the car.  And, they read all afternoon when we got home. I think we’ll start summer vacation that way as well. Very neat.  Oh, but don’t park in the Powell’s parking garage. That thing is sooo steep and so scary.  It’s probably what the boys will remember most about the trip!

Despite the endless rain and the cold chill this Spring Break, we still managed to have some fun playing tourists in Portland.  One day, the whole family, along with the McBride clan, headed to Oaks Park for the afternoon.  I hadn’t been there for probably 8 years. My expectations were low.  But with Safeway’s 2-for-1 discount we were only out $7 per person and the risk was minimal 🙂  

We had a great time. The place is kind of a dump, but there are a few really fun rides and the people watching was most excellent.  Ben loved the Screaming Eagle, Sam and I loved the Eruption (Brian got woozy on that one) and Joe loved the Disco ride.  The roller coasters are fun, but really hard on the body. Not a lot of padding and very jerky.

The best part of the adventure though was going out to dinner afterward. We decided to try Jimmy’s Smokehouse and Pizzaria at 7025 SW Macadam Ave.  It had rave reviews online and they were so right. We knew we’d done good as soon as we walked in and smelled the food.  We tried the Caesar salad, the riblets, the Macadam Avenue pizza, the pepperoni pizza for the kids,  and, my personal favorite, the End Cut pizza with thinly sliced Cascade Natural Prime Rib, carmelized sweet red onions, Gorgonzola cheese, Parmesan, Mozzarella and Provolone. Oooh yeah, baby. Add a good pitcher of beer and this place is a winner. We have just got to come up with a reason to get over there again 🙂

Great reading for “all ages.” How many books can answer that claim?  I found one, The Graveyard, by Neil Gaiman. My voracious reader, Ben, read it and loved it. He actually thanked me for buying the book. I decided to read it as well. I loved the movie adaptation of Coraline (based on the novel by Gaiman) and have enjoyed several adult novels by Gaiman. And, then it was awarded the 2008 Newberry Award. I just couldn’t resist.  

The Graveyard is such an excellent story. Harrowing circumstances lead a child, Nobody “Bod” Owens, to be raised and protected by ghosts and a “guardian” in a graveyard. Bod’s parents and sibling were the victims of foul play and a “man named Jack” would like nothing more than to find Bod and finish what he started. The story follows Bod’s coming of age, his adventures and education, and his inevitable confrontation with his family’s legacy. It’s creative, creepy, suspenseful and I completely recommend this book to kids and adults. One exception to the recommendation: kids who go sleepless after movies like Coraline, should skip it or at least not read it before bed.

So cool. The new U2 release, “No Line on the Horizon,” is fun listening. Really different in some ways and just good ol’ U2 in other ways.  “Get on Your Boots,” “No Line on the Horizon,” and “Stand Up Comedy” have all hit my work out playlist.  “Get on Your Boots” reminds me of the boost I’d get on the treadmill when “Vertigo” first came out.  From the mellow to the hyper tunes, U2 sounds like they’re having a blast with this CD and it’s contagious for the listener.

Today I read a very interesting article in the Oregonian regarding the common ground between Christians and Muslims. I’ve always felt that most religions seek to create good energy in the world and that the differences in details are not so important. The fighting based on religion is dangerous to all and completely out of tune with what faith should bring to our lives. So, the Oregonian’s article wasn’t swaying me to a new way of thinking, yet I know that it could be revealing something new to many people.  The article was about an open letter to Christian leaders that was signed and/or endorsed by over 300 Muslim leaders in 2007.  You can read the entire letter at www.acommonword.com.  The letter successfully supports a common ground between Christianity and Muslims with what is written in both the Qur’an and the New Testament. The “Two Commandments of love” in both include the Unity of God, the necessity of love for Him, and the necessity of love of thy neighbour.  I was particularly pleased to see even the historical overlap of the messengers of God.  It’s worthwhile reading.  Here’s the excerpt that got me started:

“Finding common ground between Muslims and Christians is not simply a matter for polite ecumenical dialogue between selected religious leaders.Christianity and Islam are the largest and second largest religions in the world and in history. Christians and Muslims reportedly make up over a third and over a fifth of humanity respectively. Together they make up more than 55% of the world’s population, making the relationship between these two religious communities the most important factor in contributing to meaningful peace around the world. If Muslims and Christians are not at peace, the world cannot be at peace. With the terrible weaponry of the modern world; with Muslims and Christians intertwined everywhere as never before, no side can unilaterally win a conflict between more than half of the world’s inhabitants. Thus our common future is at stake. The very survival of the world itself is perhaps at stake. 

And to those who nevertheless relish conflict and destruction for their own sake or reckon that ultimately they stand to gain through them, we say that our very eternal souls are all also at stake if we fail to sincerely make every effort to make peace and come together in harmony.

So let our differences not cause hatred and strife between us. Let us vie with each other only in righteousness and good works. Let us respect each other, be fair, just and kind to another and live in sincere peace, harmony and mutual goodwill.”

Business Week trashed Portland as the most unhappy city in the U.S.   Whatever! The Edge column in the Oregonian is asking for rebuttals in the form of a limerick contest. Very appropriate with St. Patty’s Day coming up.  So here’s my attempt…I thought about changing the last line to “So Biz Week can go to hell.” But I don’t know if that is OK for the paper. It’s funnier though 🙂

Whine Country

Man, I love concerts!  Last night Brian and I caught Spoon’s fantastic show at the Crystal Ballroom. They really rocked the house. Spoon’s music just has the best rhythms and the whole sound is very fun. And, the lead singer, Britt Daniel, lives in Portland which raises the overall coolness factor by at least 10. You could tell the band was happy to be back on stage after a 4 month break from performing. The energy was contagious.

Brian and I have been Spoon fans for awhile. We own their last two CDs and the band played a lot of our favorites. After the show, we both looked at each other and said, “we need more. We need the ‘Fitted Shirt’ song,” from an earlier CD.  We’re just going to buy the whole CD 🙂  Spoon also tested out some great new songs on the crowd, so we’ll have to buy that as well when it come out.  I think we’ll also purchase some tunes from the opening band, Everest. They were goooood.

The Crystal Ballroom is a venue that buzzes your whole body. Serious. You can literally “feel” the music jolt through you from your toes to your tip of your nose. Of course, I always have a little panic that the bouncy floor is indeed going to give way and we’ll all be on the morning news as the “McMennamin’s Mishap.”  But that place has been standing for a long, long time and will continue to house some spectacular shows. If you haven’t been there, what’s wrong with you???  Go! And, grab dinner at Henry’s Tavern before hand. Heavenly gorgonzola fries, fantasy worthy pot stickers, over 100 beers on tap, etc.  I also tried the Black Butte Porter BBQ beef, caramelized onion and blue cheese pizza. Wow!  I think it would be fun to go with friends and just order a bunch of stuff so you could sample as much as possible without exploding.

I’ve already gushed about my camera, so I’ll just share some of the fun shots I got of Joe’s basketball season. The pic of Joe with the big grin was taken right after he took a shot that got stuck between the rim and the backboard.  When the referee popped the ball out, the ball went straight up and  back down through the net.  Everyone got a kick out of that…especially Joe 🙂

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The first official meeting of the Lit Ladies Book Club kicked off last night at Julie’s house. I had no idea what to expect. Would we even talk about the book? Or was this just an excuse to drink some wine and chat. Well, we did talk about the book and everyone had interesting things to contribute and it was GREAT!  Our book to discuss was The Glass Castle, a memoir by Jeannette Walls. I’ve already blogged my “review” of the book, but it was so fun to hear other perspectives. Out of 12 members, we had the complete mix of “hated it,” “loved it” and everything in between.  I loved that Jami and Cara had done some follow up online and had more information to share about the writer through YouTube interviews and such. I plan to explore those myself, because it would be fun to see these “characters” come to life.

We all agreed to pick completely different genres for the next two months and decided that April will be The Thirteenth Tale, by Diane Setterfield.  I heavily encouraged this ghost/mystery novel. I hope it’s good! For May we will read The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne.  

The Thirteen Tale has been compared to works by the Bronte sisters and has excellent reviews (with a few “hated its” thrown in).  Here’s what Amazon.com had to say:

“Settle down to enjoy a rousing good ghost story with Diane Setterfield’s debut novel, The Thirteenth Tale. Setterfield has rejuvenated the genre with this closely plotted, clever foray into a world of secrets, confused identities, lies, and half-truths. She never cheats by pulling a rabbit out of a hat; this atmospheric story hangs together perfectly.There are two heroines here: Vida Winter, a famous author, whose life story is coming to an end, and Margaret Lea, a young, unworldly, bookish girl who is a bookseller in her father’s shop. Vida has been confounding her biographers and fans for years by giving everybody a different version of her life, each time swearing it’s the truth. Because of a biography that Margaret has written about brothers, Vida chooses Margaret to tell her story, all of it, for the first time. At their initial meeting, the conversation begins:

“You have given nineteen different versions of your life story to journalists in the last two years alone.”

She [Vida] shrugged. “It’s my profession. I’m a storyteller.”

“I am a biographer, I work with facts.”

The game is afoot and Margaret must spend some time sorting out whether or not Vida is actually ready to tell the whole truth. There is more here of Margaret discovering than of Vida cooperating wholeheartedly, but that is part of Vida’s plan. The transformative power of truth informs the lives of both women by story’s end, and The Thirteenth Tale is finally and convincingly told.”

Awesomely spooky. I loved Coraline. Of course, I kind of knew I would since it was based on a Neil Gaiman book.  Everything about this movie was great. The story of a girl ignored by her parents that discovers her “ideal” set of parents in an alternate (not imaginary) world is both surreal and moving. The other worldly animation is perfectly matched with the voice actors.  And, it’s in 3D!  I spent the extra dollars to see it in 3D at the Bridgeport Cinemas. I thought the effects were great, particularly the weaving sewing needly and the tunnel between worlds.  The boys actually weren’t that impressed. Go figure. I’m sure the movie loses very little if you see it in a regular theatre.

Warning: Coraline is scary, creepy, spooky.  Ben and Joe had no problem with that, but Sam (age 6) had to crawl into my lap for the second half of the movie.  And, he had a couple of nights of difficulty sleeping.  He’s usually pretty tough, but does give you the heebie jeebies. Let’s just say that what Faye Dunaway did for the term “Mommie Dearest” (aka Joan Crawford),  Teri Hatcher does for the term “Other  Mother.” I’ll know I’ve been truly insulted by my children if they ever use that one on me!

Go see Coraline!