Does Anyone Visit this Blog on a Friday Afternoon?

What's here is the best painting I've seen all summer. It's by Steven Shearer, and I can't even remember the title, and I have the sinking feeling, "jeez, did I post this already?"

A.'s at work. I'm alone with the kids. Am going to a Radical Reference benefit soon, and I'm hoping all attending will be radical enough to accept the fact that I just have no Friday night babysitter.

Sitting Here Missing Pioneer Day

Does anyone else but me think this flier is odd? Even overlooking the misspelling of "Thompkins?" (If someone cared that much, you'd think they'd know to drop the "h.") I dunno; maybe I'm just cranky. I do like the fact this flier is done by hand, and not on a computer, but it was the "Kids Art Zone" part that really made me laugh out loud. Will there be a Tompkins Square Riots musical next? (Of course, I will attend this thing, if I'm not dead by then because I've been doing a lot of bike riding in the street sans helmet.)

Today is Pioneer Day in Utah, which I'm sorry I'm missing. I love quirky holidays (like the above). Pioneer Day is a serious state holiday in UT, bigger than the 4th of July. It's marks the day the first Mormon pioneers came into the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, and there are events that lead up to the day, like rodeos that I used to attend with my Utah cousins and their other cousins, who were real farm kids. Two summers ago, my kids and I celebrated Pioneer Day in Veterans Memorial Park in Provo. I LOVED the whole surreality of it: the local Mormon missionaries trying to organize people for three-legged races and such, the Indian fry bread stands, attenders in 19th century rural costume, complete with sunbonnets. I should have filmed it, and I did post about it here. At one point in the park, an older biker dude approached and told me that I was his kind of woman. (I never get that in NY!) Below is a pyramid of cupcakes in the window of Mrs. Backer's Bakery, one of the old school Salt Lake City bakeries. Just their old neon sign is a state treasure.

Anyway, former Utahn Emilie A. and I are hosting an exiled Pioneer Day celebration in Tompkins Square Park this evening (on the central green patch) at 6:30 if it's not raining, and I'm bringing brownies!

Someone Else's Subway Reading

This guy was reading Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian. I'm reading this Signature publication. A. just finished Harry Potter 3, Kid #1 is reading Harry Potter #6. Kid #2 is being read Ramona and her Mother. My New Yorker subscription lapsed, but C.P. told me there was a story about a librarian in it.

The other day in the park I saw a young woman on the park bench reading The Red Tent. It thrills me to see people reading in public.

What are you reading?

Fashion Post Monday: Hot, Stinky, Sweaty NY

Not that I'm complaining, because I do love summer, but in stark contrast to breezy Portland, where I was often compelled to grab a sweater before leaving, it's been hot, sticky, sweaty, black-out, typical Spike Lee Do the Right Thing kinda weather. (This first photo I took at the New Museum's block party yesterday in Sara D. Roosevelt Park.) And I've been out on the street photographing. You'll see from the bucket load of photos below that people will wear anything no matter what the weather: cowboy boots, Doc Martens, suits (see Bill Cunningham's 7/20/08 video post on this in the NY Times). Of course, the plethora of tank tops, and intentionally exposed bra straps, etc. let you know that I would like to be doused by a large bucket of water (speaking of bucketloads) please.

(As an aside, many of these photos were taken in a 10-minute span in Sugar Sweet Sunshine, a cupcake cafe. And in other news, I'm now on Facebook, if anyone cares!!!!)

What are you wearing in this weather?












And here's an old one from the Mermaid Parade: memories of lovelier weather:

Fire Building

One of the highlights of the Portland trip was fire building on Indian Beach, about an hour's drive from Portland to the shore. The sticks teepeed like this--this was our third attempt. John blew it into life. A squirrel swiped two marshmallows from our camp.

Fashion Post Portland: Rozanne in the City of Roses

One of the big things on my Portland list was hanging out with my Portland blogger friend, Rozanne, who I met only briefly last summer at the Japanese Garden. It was a visit riddled with kid requests and interruptions, though, so I left feeling like our exchanges at been cursory. This time Shelley and I left the kids with dads back at the pad, and met Rozanne at hers and then walked over the Atlantic Avenue for dinner at a stop at the dive bar The Know, where I programmed Iggy, live Thin Lizzy, the Clash and the Jam into the very fine juke box. (Later, a live deejay would play Minor Threat!)

Rozanne is fantastic, btw, very funny and very cool, and her blog is a good one to check for very local Portland info. She's the one who first alerted to me to all the local Portland designers and that she tries to patronize them. I think her outfit here above is local; Shelley mentioned that buying local is often very prohibitive price-wise. Something to ponder. That rose above grows in Rozanne's back yard.

The other photos are from the downtown Portland farmer's market and the couple I shot through a window on Mississippi. I loved the dude's eyewear, and hope to have a pair of glasses like that myself someday.

I'm still on Portland time, which sucks. Staying up late; getting up late and feeling generally draggy all day.

Fashion Post Portland, Part 2: from Blue to Voodoo

On Mississippi Avenue, my sister frequents here and there a dress shop for girls named Blue, owned by the woman on the left--Sheareen Redlener--who lived in New York for 12 years and worked for Jill Sander. She was so nice that I asked if I could take her picture for my blog. No website for Blue up yet, but here's the address and phone number: 3753 North Mississippi, 503.542.0888. The manager, Amber Hansen, is on the right. They were as sweet as pie, and stock the store with relatively low priced (a summer dress runs from $40 to $50) and what looks to be locally designed fashions, and lovely costume jewelry. I would have done a proper interview, but Kid #2 kept begging for a $24 wallet that featured a guitar pick slot.

The counter girl in red served me a slice at Bella Faccia on Alberta Street. (This is where I had dinner with Shelley and my blogger friend, Rozanne! More on her later.) I liked her red sun dress, but was disappointed to see she was wearing it over jeans, which I did when I was immediately postpartum in the early 2000s. There's no reason to do so any other time.

The plaid boots worn by a female cyclist were startling, and actually looked better with the top, which my covert camera move cut off. Sorry, cyclist.


At the mighty Voodoo Donut in downtown Portland, I spotted this young man in a '70s era shirt naively taking on a donut challenge (finish in 120 seconds) that turned out to be way too big for him. (He needed some pointers from A.'s co-worker, professional eater, Eater X). Watch for Part 3 of my Portland fashion post this week!

Fashion Post Portland, Part 1: Seen at the Paradox Cafe

Thanks for your patience. Returned from Portland yesterday, and I just wasn't inspired to blog from there without any photos. So here are some photos for FPM, all taken in Portland last week. Part 1 were all taken during a late lunch at The Paradox Cafe, which is now one of my favorite restaurants in the United States. To the tuneful sounds of '70s era Scorpions (Or "the Scorps" as they were known to me back in the day--A. asked what the music was), I snapped the previous and following photos and eavesdropped hard on conversations. Someone complimented the young woman below's flower print dress, asking if she got everything at a thrift shop, and yes, she did.

I actually executed the over-the-shoulder shot below. My ear's in the foreground, but in the background, you can see a rocker buried in a mass of hair sitting at Paradox's vintage era counter. That I always like to see.

My general impression of Portland fashion is pretty casual, rock influenced, diy, augmented with lots and lots of tattooing. I liked it, and it reminded me something of Williamsburg. I didn't see many people out at my advanced age, but maybe everyone looks younger than they actually are.

Poem for Today

Here's a nice poem for the 4th of July,

In a Country
by Larry Levis


My love and I are inventing a country, which we
can already see taking shape, as if wheels were
passing through yellow mud. But there is a prob-
lem: if we put a river in the country, it will thaw
and begin flooding. If we put the river on the bor-
der, there will be trouble. If we forget about the
river, there will be no way out. There is already a
sky over that country, waiting for clouds or smoke.
Birds have flown into it, too. Each evening more
trees fill with their eyes, and what they see we can
never erase.

One day it was snowing heavily, and again we were
lying in bed, watching our country: we could
make out the wide river for the first time, blue and
moving. We seemed to be getting closer; we saw
our wheel tracks leading into it and curving out
of sight behind us. It looked like the land we had
left, some smoke in the distance, but I wasn't sure.
There were birds calling. The creaking of our
wheels. And as we entered that country, it felt as if
someone was touching our bare shoulders, lightly,
for the last time.

from After Life, 1977

We are setting up for Shelley's 4th of July party. I've decided to tape political poetry up around the perimeter of her backyard. A stranger in her neighborhood has posted one by Emerson for the holiday, which I have to go look at at some point.

Traveling Through

I snapped this photo on a warmish day, so I was surprised by this young woman's coat, boots, and tights. I guess they were her traveling clothes. And I thoroughly approved of her battered beatnik suitcase.

Tomorrow we fly to Portland, where Rozanne (who I hope to see) promises me I'll be able to collect some good images for the next Fashion Post Monday, although I'm still not sure whether I'll be able to post photos from Portland.

While in Portland, I hope to visit the main branch of the Multnomah County Library and the Independent Publishing Resource Center (IPRC), eat at Voodoo Donut, and spend some quality time with my long lost sister Shelley, who I haven't seen since January.

As for my battered suitcase, it's packed full with too many clothes for unforeseen, and most likely imagined occasions. It seems at my advanced age that I still don't know how to travel light like tinarama.

For those of you in the city, you might think about visiting Coney Island. (Our meteorologist mermaids won first prize in the Little Mermaid division of the parade!)