Markus' First Visit to the Chinese Garden

First Visit to the Japanese Garden

Markus and I at the Japanese Garden (Self-portrait)

We had a rough morning with Markus fussing constantly and wanting to eat all the time. By noon I was dying to get out of the house. Mainly I needed to go to the library and return some books.

It was such a nice day though, that I decided to see if the library had any of the Cultural Passes available for one of the gardens. I got lucky and they had one for the Japanese Garden, so we got into the garden for free.

One of the many fountains in the garden.

I had forgotten that the garden is on the shady side of the mountain in the aftenoon and that it's really better to go in the morning. So we didn't see much of the beautiful warm sun.

I didn't take very many pictures - the garden is really prettier when there are colorful leaves and flowers. Or when it's sunnier, or just after a rain when everything is wet.

Rock Garden

There weren't too many people in the garden. A few tourists and a few regulars. I felt bad for the tourists coming at the wrong time of year. I especially felt bad for the girls who brought a baby in a stroller. They couldn't walk through 3/4 of the park because they couldn't go over rocks or stairs.

Since there wasn't much catching my eye to take photos of, and there wasn't really anyone to take my picture, I practiced taking my own.

Here's another self portrait ...

... and a third one.

Mt. Hood behind the Portland Skyline

A nice sunny spot to feed Markus.

He slept through most of our visit to the garden. However, towards the end he woke up hungry (as usual).

My view while Markus was eating.

So much nicer than my living room!

One of the many lanterns.

Usually the lanterns are some of my favorite features in the garden. Maybe it was the lack of color in the foliage, or maybe the lighting and lack of contrast, but they just weren't pulling me in today.

The Magic of the Baby Swing

Our New (to us) Baby Swing

Markus has been a very fussy baby for the past couple weeks. We heard from several people (and read in The Happiest Baby on the Block) that swings are very good at keeping babies calm.

After checking prices at Target and Wal-Mart, I discovered that new swings are 50-100$. I decided we could probably get a used swing from Craigslist for much cheaper. On Sunday, I saw this one being sold for 25$ and decided that sounded like a reasonable price.

I arranged to go pick the swing up at 4:30 PM. Sami and Markus went with me. When we got there, noone was home. A few minutes later a girl drove up, except she wasn't the one that lived there. She said she was also supposed to come at 4:30 to meet her friend. She made a phone call and said her friend was running late and would be there in 10 minutes.

Tanja, the girl selling the swing, felt bad about being late and making us wait. She told us the swing had been given to her by a friend anyway, and that we could have it for free. She was moving back to Germany and I think she was mainly just stressed out about trying to pack up and get rid of everything.

Markus likes the swing.

When we got home, I started to put batteries in the swing and discovered that the battery terminals were rusty. Probably the swing had been in a garage or storage closet and gotten damp in the humid Oregon winter.

Sami sanded the rust off and got it working again so now everyone is much happier.

PS - I know it's an out of focus picture, but he's sooo happy!

Pittock Mansion

Pittock Mansion

Earlier this week I starting thinking that it had been a long time since we'd gone anywhere on the weekend. I looked in the Oregonian's event section to see what was going on this weekend, and discovered that there was a special Valentine's event going on at the Pittock Mansion.

The Library - Jacobean style

Normally it costs 7$ per person to get into the house, but I knew that the local public library has cultural passes that you can reserve and check out for various area attractions. It's great because you can get two adults and two kids into a garden or museum for free.

Chandelier in the Music Room

The ceiling is silver leaf under a bronze glazing. It's hard to see in the photo, but in real life, it's quite spectacular.



OK... I'm going to write more later, but I'm tired now....


Sorry.

Music Room

Turkish Smoking Room

Dining Room - Edwardian

Butler's Pantry

Kitchen

Kitchen Storeroom

(Formerly) Refrigerated Room

Breakfast Room

Staircase

Writing Room

South Sleeping Porch

Nieces' Room

Master Bedroom

Shower in Master Bath

Sewing Room

North Bedroom

West Bedroom - Federal style

West Sleeping Porch

Puppet Theater

Child's Bedroom

Upstairs Hallway

Rear View of Mansion

View of Portland and Mt. Hood

Cooper Mountain Winery

There was another Valentine's chocolate and wine tasting event at the Jenkin's Estate. The parks district website really does not do the place justice. Anyway, I had the date of the event wrong but didn't realize it until we were in the parking lot. So, we visited this nearby winery instead.