20 10 / 2010
"The beautiful is everywhere; perhaps more in the arrangement of your saucepans on the white walls of your kitchen than in your eighteenth-century living room or in the official museums."
12 10 / 2010
Step into my office: Heart
Heart Coffee Roasters - 2211 E Burnside, Portland, OR Website
(Another installment of my Office Away From Home Series…)
Wifi - Yes. But, BUT, just one outlet. Full laptop batteries only, please.
Coffee - Consistently awesome.
Pastry - Small selection of gems. Try the homemade “oreos”. The GF poppy seed muffin has truly perfect crumb.
Noise - Perfect.
Location - Hard to get more central than Burnside…
Bonus points - Excellent taste in music, fab interior design & genuinely friendly baristas.
Minus points - The banquette seat closest to the windows gets BLAZING hot if you sit for more than 15 minutes. Aforementioned single outlet.
Overall - A My platonic ideal of a coffee shop. The chic vibe and central location make it easily my favorite place for meetings. Slightly less so for computer-type work.
12 10 / 2010
Adventuring in PDX: Lone Fir Cemetery
Sometimes, by virtue of having grown up here, I lapse into feeling as though I’ve seen it all: walked every street, enjoyed every charm, eaten every bite. This is, of course, not true by a mile. So this year, I’ve challenged myself to abandon that conceit, ignore for a moment those familiar pleasures and find a few new adventures.
The first is this: the Lone Fir Cemetery (SE 26th between Stark & Morrison). It’s a beautiful place, filled with bits of pioneer history and crumbling monuments to forgotten Portlanders.
Walking through the cemetery, the names feel familiar: Macleay, Dekum, Hawthorne, Overton. Stop and pay tribute at the headstone of Asa Lovejoy, one of the founders of Portland.
This is the headstone of James C. Hawthorne, founder of the Oregon Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Thanks to Dr. Hawthorne, what was once called Asylum Avenue is now SE Hawthorne Boulevard.
It took some research to learn the history behind these odd looking headstones. Some are so realistic and covered with moss that you’d never know they were made of stone. These stones were one of the benefits of early participation in a fraternal organization called Woodmen of the World.
These are the founders of the cemetery.
Looking at the lush grounds, it’s hard to imagine that in 1855, when the cemetery was platted, there was just one Douglas fir tree, the eponymous Lone Fir.
In summation, the cemetery is a gem and you should check it out. Lone Fir is open every day, tours happen once per month, and there’s a great website. A special tour takes place at the cemetery on Halloween: Tour of Untimely Departures.
06 10 / 2010
I just ordered my 2011 planner. 2011!
There’s a method to this madness, and here it is: this is the best planner available. I’ll give you four reasons:
- Hard cover
- Perfect size
- One weeks calendar on the left, lined page for notes on the right
- Made by Moleskine, meaning it’s the most intuitive, thoughtful, useful analog device available. It also comes with stickers. Just sayin’.
You should get one. Like, soon. If you wait, by the end of the year it will cost at least $40. Here’s a link on Amazon: Moleskine Weekly Planner.
And here’s another link: 12 months - Weekly Notebook - Red hard cover - Large - Moleskine ® English
