"Undaunted Courage" by Stephen E. Ambrose

I purchased "Undaunted Courage" by Stephen E. Ambrose some time ago when I had planned to go on Road Scholar's Lewis & Clark trek from St. Louis, Missouri to Astoria, Oregon this September. I was hit with a lot of bills the last couple months so I decided to go on two less expensive trips instead - Road Scholar's Las Vegas and Road Scholar's Victoria, BC.

I started reading "Undaunted Courage" yesterday. I always thought that William Clark, who was four years older than Meriweather Lewis, was the "leader" of the expedition. However it was Meriweather Lewis that President Jefferson gave the task of finding a waterway across the newly acquired Louisana Territory to the Pacific.

Lewis and Clark complemented each other. Meriweather Lewis was a hunter and outdoorsman. He would often venture out in the middle of the night in the dead of winter with only his dog, Seaman, to go hunting. Even at an early age, he was interested in natural history, which would develop into a lifelong passion. His mother taught him how to gather wild herbs for medicinal purposes. Clark was a tough woodsman accustomed to command. He was a better terrestrial surveyor/mapmaker than Lewis and a better waterman. In general, in areas in which Lewis was shaky, Clark was strong, and visa versa.

Monday, March 26, 2012

On Monday afternoon, March 26, I drove to Delta Park and rode the MAX trains to Chinatown. I purchased a season pass to the Portland Classical Chinese Garden, Lan Su Yuan, Garden of the Awakening Orchids, NW Third & Everett. This 40,000-square-foot (one full city block) walled garden is the largest classical Suzhou-style (Ming Dynasty) garden outside of China.

After a brief walk-around I entered the two-story authentic Teahouse in the Tower of Cosmic Reflections and climbed the stairs to the second floor. I sat, relaxed, and enjoyed Emperors Gold Tea and two kinds of cookies - four Almond and three Pecan - while gazing into the Garden and soaking in the warm sunshine. I read a bit of a novel "The Hunger Games". I enjoyed the live music drifting up from the first floor of the teahouse.

I saved a couple cookies to have later. I caught the MAX train back to Delta Park and drove home. That evening I went to the Regal City Center Theater to see "The Hunger Games". It was well done but longer scenes in the novel were compressed and the ending was a bit different. When I got home I finished reading the novel.

GEOregon Meet & Greets Events

GEOregon holds their monthly club Meet and Greet events usually on the 2nd Friday of the month. Their main event venue is the Round Table Pizza on McLoughlin Blvd in Milwaukie, Oregon (N45 24.239, W122 37.313). They also hold at least two of their events on the west side at various locations. Be sure to look at the event calendar on the GEOregon web page for the event schedules and locations. Hope to see you there!!

Wildlife Botanical Gardens Booth at Better Living Show at Expo Center

I manned the Wildlife Botanical Gardens’ Booth from noon to 4:30 pm yesterday at the Better Living Show at the Portland Expo Center. I handed out information and talked about NatureScaping, Wildlife Botanical Gardens and Geocaching.

The Wildlife Botannical Gardens (GC1GHJR) in Brush Prairie, WA is a great place to visit year round. There are about 8 or 9 gardens - Butterfly Garden, Hummingbird Garden, Perennial Garden, etc. Admission is free. Location: 11000 NE 149th St., Brush Prairie, WA.

Environmental advocate and actress Daryl Hannah, known for roles such as the mermaid in the zany comedy “Splash” (1984), a Cro-magnon in “The Clan of the Cave Bear” (1986) and teamed with some big-name stars i.e. Julia Roberts in the romantic comedy “Steel Magnolias” (1989), appeared at Portland's Better Living Show. Hannah was available for photos and autographs from 5:00 to 6:00 pm. I watched her signing autographs and talking to people for awhile. She was the keynote speaker at 7:00 pm however it had been a long day so I did not stay around to hear her.

34th annual Portland Shamrock run

More than 30,000 participants ran or walked the 34th annual Portland Shamrock run this morning.

The race included five different events: a 15K challenge, an 8K race, the 1K "Leprechaun Lap" for kids, a 5K run and the "Shamrock Stride" for walkers only.

My daughter, Catherine, ran the 8K race. I watched the race from Starbucks at Pioneer Courthouse Square and the main entrance of Nordstrom across the street.

All events started at the corner of SW Naito and Pine Street, adjacent to Waterfront Park. All events, except the “Leprechaun Lap”, finished at SW Naito Parkway and Taylor Street at the south end of Waterfront Park near the Salmon Springs Fountain.

The Shamrock Run is the second-largest running event in Portland.

Afternoon Tea at Lavender Bleu Tearoom in West Linn, OR

My daughter, Catherine, had her hair cut in West Linn. Afterwards we stopped by the Lavender Bleu Tearoom in historic West Linn for Afternoon Tea. We had lemon sorbet, tomato bisque soup, assorted sandwiches/quiche, fruit (purple grapes and sliced fresh pineapple), lemon scone with clotted cream, lemon curd and jam, and assorted desserts. We shared a pot of Earl Grey with bergamot. The tearoom was decorated for Spring/Easter. The Afternoon Tea was quite lovely.

NW Dance Projects Spring Premieres Performance

On Saturday evening, March 10, 2012 my son, Christopher, and I attended the NW Dance Project's Spring Premieres performance at the Newmark Theatre in downtown Portland. This is modern choreography and dance at its finest. The first piece was Conjugations, by Choreographer and Artistic Director of his own dance company, Wen Wei Wang. Artistic Director and Choreographer Sarah Slipper’s piece, Airys, was a sharp and dramatic contrast to the first. The final piece by Patrick Delcroix, Chameleon, opened up the stage after the previous catastrophic vision, to the bare back walls, ropes and lights of backstage.

"This is dance theater with a company at the height of its ability to communicate emotions and images, yes, with their expertly trained motions through light and sound, but also from every fiber of their being, inside and out, clearer than any words that could be uttered."

Dancers: Samantha Campbell, Patrick Kilbane, Elijah Labay, Lindsey Matheis, Lindsey McGill, Franco Nieto, Andrea Parson, Ching Ching Wong. Christopher is the rehearsal pianist for NW Dance Project.

"Sight Unseen" by Portland Civic Theatre Guild, Tues. March 6, 2012

This morning I drove the car to Delta Park, rode MAX to PSU and then caught the streetcar to 10th & Clay. I saw the Portland Civic Theatre Guild production of "Sight Unseen".

According to Wikipedia, “Sight Unseen” is a play by Donald Margulies. At its center is Jonathan Waxman, a Brooklyn Jew who has become an extraordinarily successful artist. He claims astronomical prices for his work sight unseen. Happily married, with a baby on the way, he travels to London for a retrospective of his work. While there, he impulsively decides to journey to the countryside to visit his former model and lover Patricia in the Norfolk farmhouse where she lives and works with her archeologist husband Nick, an older man she married in order to remain in England when her student visa expired. The play unfolds in a non-linear progression, with forward and backward jumps in time that eventually lead to the beginning of a relationship that ended without satisfactory closure.

After the play, I rode the Streetcar north. I stopped at Nordstrom café to have lunch. I sat at a table near the window so I could people watch on the street below. Afterwards I rode the MAX yellow line to Delta Park where I had left my car.