Regal Cinema and Late Lunch at Nordstrom Cafe

I attended the 12:25pm showing of "The Hedgehog" at the movie theater in downtown Portland. Cast: Josiane Balasko, Garance Le Guillermic, Togo Igawa, Anne Brochet, Ariane Ascaride. The movie was even better than the novel "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" by Muriel Barbery. Usually a novel is so much better.

Afterwards I went to Nordstom Cafe to have a late lunch. I like sitting at a table along the large window with a view of Pioneer Courthouse Square - Portland's living room. I have seen the view dozens of times. I thought that I would search for three things that I had not noticed before. I saw water flowing in the trough on top of a brick wall, two enormous umbrellas and a brass directional marker.

I purchased a small package of shortbread cookies at Starbucks for dessert. I took a couple photos of the Nordstom cafe window - a closeup and a far shot - before boarding the MAX train north.

Fox News does make stuff up!

I attended a book reading by Jenna Bush, the daughter of President George W. Bush, a few years ago at Chapman Hall during the Miami International Book Fair. When I returned to my South Beach hotel room, I turned on the television to hear the news. The newscaster said Jenna Bush had standing room only. Wow, what news station was that? I checked the televion station. Fox news. Why were they reporting there was standing room only for Jenna Bush? I was there. The huge auditorium was only half full if that. The next night there was standing room only - for Caroline Kennedy.

"Two and a Half Men"s Ashton Kutcher

I think that Ashton Kutcher is a horrible replacement for Charlie Sheen. True I did not watch the first episode of “Two and a Half Men,” but I did watch the second episode. I was not amused.

Evidently CBS is not amused but for a different reason.

CBS is reportedly unhappy with a marketing stunt Kutcher pulled in this week’s episode in which the actor promoted companies he has a personal interest in – and the network was not paid for the product placement.

Kutcher’s character Walden Schmidt – an Internet billionaire – is seen on his laptop, which is covered in stickers and decals for social media and tech sites, all companies Kutcher has financial stakes in, according to Variety.

“Two and Half Men” creator Chuck Lorre was okay with the promos, but apparently CBS was not. CBS says it will blur out the stickers for all repeat airings of the episode.

As for "Two and Half Men", with the natural end of the series so near it might have been better to have ended last year - to have made a couple of wrap up episodes to account for Charlie’s disappearance and then gone out with some dignity.

Bob's Red Mill Tour, Milwaukie, OR

My daughter, Kimberly, and I took a guided tour of Bob's Red Mill manufacturing facility. The guided tour is held Monday through Friday, and begins promptly at 10 am. However we did not arrive until 10:15 so we missed the film. The tour lasted about one hour. We saw how their products are made. We got a free sample at the end of the tour. The tour took place at their World Headquarters (not the Whole Grain Store), located at 13521 SE Pheasant Court, Milwaukie, OR 97222. (GPS Coordinates: Latitude:45.425858, Longitude -122.591902, N45° 25.5515', W122° 35.5141'). After the tour, we did not have time unfortunately to stop by their Whole Grain Store and Visitors Center, located just one mile west on Highway 224. We ate lunch at nearby Starbucks. Kimberly finished finding the rest of the caches for the North Clackamas Geocoin Challenge.

Mystery of the Steam and Sail Ship

On Wednesday afternoon, September 14, 2011, I rode the Washington State Ferry from the Seattle Waterfront to Bainbridge Island. I explored the charming village of Winslow. I stopped at a new shop called Salt & Sea vintage home at 230 winslow way east. Behind the counter was a large painting of a steam and sail ship steaming past a lighthouse.

According to Wikipedia, steam engines were developed and adapted in the late 18th century for use on ships, but did not become widely used until the early 19th century. Growth in their use was rapid on United States rivers, and seaworthy steamships gradually replaced sailing ships for commercial shipping through the latter 19th century. During that period even the largest of steamships had auxiliary sails. The French transatlantic steamer "La Touraine" was probably the last of her type to be equipped with sails, although she never used them.

Evidently you can tell the name of the shipping company by the markings on the stacks. I also photographed the name on the prow of the ship. Can you identify this steam and sail ship? If so, please contact me or leave a comment on the blog.

"Savoring Seattle" - Day 7

After breakfast on Friday, September 16th, most of the group traveled to the waterfront by Metro bus and took the Water taxi to West Seattle and back. I chose to relax in my room, pack my suitcase and watch "You've Got Mail"...directed by Nora Ephron and starring Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Greg Kinnear.

I walked a couple blocks to catch the monorail to Seattle Center. I rode the 604-foot Space Needle to the top where I spent quite some time looking at the city below. The Space Needle (1962) was a modernistic totem of “Century 21 Exposition,” also known as the “Seattle World’s Fair". I attended the fair on the day of the filming of a scene in "It Happened At The World’s Fair" (1963) starring Elvis Presley. The Space Needle is an "historic landmark".


I walked to the street corner near Seattle Rep and caught the city bus to Fremont. I had lunch at Starbuck. I visited Groundspeak Headquarters at 2:00pm at their new location. I placed five Travel Bugs in the large chest. Nicole greeted me and we had a short chat.


I caught the city bus back to Seattle Center, rode the Monorail and walked a couple blocks back to the hotel to retrieve my suitcase. I caught a city bus to the King Street train station where I got on the 5:30 train south. Once again I rode Business Class but spent quite a bit of the time in the dining car talking to a woman who was also traveling to Vancouver. I was back in Vancouver before 9:00pm.

"Savoring Seattle" - Day 6

After a late breakfast on Thursday, September 15th, we heard a lecture on glass art in the Pacific Northwest. She led us on a walking tour of City Center glass art, Chihuly chandeliers in Benaroya Hall and two glass art studios - Traver Gallery/Vetri International Glass.

We had lunch in the private dining room of the TASTE at SAM (Seattle Art Museum). After lunch we visited the museum on our own. About 3:00pm I found the interior passageways up the hill to the Central Library. I took the escalator at 2nd Ave. & Madison/Marion up and through Wells Fargo, crossed the street, and took the Hillclimb Assist that connects 3rd & 4th Avenues at Madison via an escalator and corridor. I checked my e-mail at the library and did a bit of research on sail/steam ships. You can go from 4th Ave. to 5th Ave. (third floor) via the Central Library elevator. We had a delicious dinner at Benihana.