People of the Drum

I have never experienced an event like "People of the Drum." It was an amazing event. It was an event in the making by four very apparent drum groups in Portland and it was PHENOMENAL. Portland Taiko is a Japanese drumming group, which I will see whenever I have a chance. They are an amazing group and they are the group that spear-headed having this event that was a culmination of four very different cultural groups all connected by the drum. Here is a short description that I copied from the event Facebook page: "A collaboration with the Obo Addy Legacy Project (Ghanaian Drum and Dance ensemble), Medicine Bear (Native American Drum and Dance Ensemble), Mexica Tiahui (Aztec Drum and Dance Ensemble), Portland Taiko (Asian-American Drum Ensemble)."

First up was the Taiko. Amazing, as always. I swear that the room was vibrating with all the drumming.

There was an audience participation time.

Medicine Bear group was up next and this was a great experience as I had seen some drumming and Native American dancing a few times on one of the reservations at home in Wyoming. Reminded me of those times.

 And, the two dancers with the group were wonderful, as was their dress. All the bead work is amazing.

Up next was Obo Addy Legacy Project. It was wonderful to see these amazing, young individuals so enthralled and into the music of their native culture. Awesome.

 The gentleman at the microphone who is holding the drum is Obo Addy. He is the reason this group exists and was designated as a master drummer in his home country at the age of 6. He has made a big impact on the music culture of Portland and just now when I am writing this blog (Oct 19th--much past the actual event I'm blogging about) I found out that this wonderfully talented man and prominent man in his community died less than a month after this performance after a struggle with liver cancer. Here is a news story about him. After reading of this news this event means that much more to me and I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to see and hear this wise, wise man speak and perform.

The last group was Mexica Tiahui. Once they started performing I realized I had seen them before. They performed at my workplace probably 5 years ago. I have a picture of them (well, some of them) interspersed with my participants. They were and still are wonderful. 

 There was also an audience participation section of this performance, as there also was with the Obo Addy group and Taiko. That was one of the amazing things about this event, people got to experience hands on, rather than just being audience and watching.

 After 3 hours of performances (my rear was very tired/sore from sitting on small plastic folding chairs) they came together as four cohesive groups for a finale. It was wonderful to see and hear the melding of the four cultures from four different corners of the world and see and feel the unity within the room. If only every person could experience events like this I think the world would be a better place.

If ever they have a follow-up "season" as they were doing this performance 3 total time this summer, I will be there. 

Bat N' Rouge

Portland is a quirky place. It loves its Drag Queens and its Drag Queens love Portland. If you remember this POST than you will see how I even knew about this event. When we were at Darcelle's I saw that Bat N' Rouge was coming up. This was to be a fundraising event for Cascade AIDS Project where there were softball teams made up of LGBTQ individuals. There was a superhero team, a Drag Queen team of Marilyn's and two others. It was not your typical softball game/event but was fun to watch, outside of the blasted near 100 degree heat for the day today. I didn't stay long, but hope to watch again next year for their 2nd annual match-up!

I can't imagine running bases in short white dresses with a blonde wig on in that heat...kiddos!

Music in the Park

Another reason I love Portland: it is a city ripe with music, especially in the summer. Portland Parks and Rec sponsor a "Free for All" summer with a ton of free events. There are multitudes of concerts, movies in the park, etc. I love going. For a two week stretch there is a nightly concerts at Washington Park in the amphitheater. It is a great venue and only once have I been disappointed by a group. I only made it to one concert for this two week stretch this year, but it was enjoyable. A group called Water Tower. 

Lovely night out and goal for next year: remember to look at the schedule and make it to more than one Washington Park Concert.

I {heart} PDX

I adore the city I live in. Time for another annual installment of "Flicks on the Bricks!" This time: A League of Their Own- one of my faves!

National Night Out With Some Cuties

I've never done anything for National Night Out, but this year it fell on a Tuesday (who knows...maybe it always does fall on a Tuesday). Tuesday evenings are the times I spend with my friend Stasia and her two adorable kiddos while Dave/Dad is at church meetings. I enjoy this time. In honor of National Night Out the neighborhood association for the neighborhood they live in was having an event at the park, so  we walked across the street to play and check things out.

Check out these cuties!

 Myles and I spent lot o'time on the slide. I can't remember the last time I went down a slide. We had a grand time.

Josie loves the swing! Look at that smile!

What a nice night out!

W.I.P.

Until recently I was not aware of the acronym WIP, nor could I guess what it meant when I first saw it. Then I realized that I am very familiar with the meaning of it...WIP stands for Work In Progress aka projects that have been started and are unfinished. I, unfortunately, have a lot of WIP's. Both in the cross stitch world, crochet world and scrapbook world. The glaring WIP's right now are the crochet ones as that is where my energies have been focused as of late. I decided I'd make a list of them and before I could start a new project I'd have to finish one of the started projects. Too bad I haven't had much time to crochet lately....you know, with all the pattern browsing I've been doing (wink, wink). Okay, not really. Life has just been busy and the weather has been great. Two lethal combinations when it comes to completing indoor oriented projects. When the weather turns you can be sure I'll work on those WIP's if I can restrain myself from starting any new projects....

Happy crafting to you, too!

Birthdays and Berries

My friend Marta's birthday is tomorrow and we had planned to get together to do something for it yesterday. We didn't decide what to do until Saturday. I had wanted to go blueberry picking and she decided she'd like to join me. Then her friend Gema wanted to tag along. So we all got in the car and away we went to Sauvie's Island. We arrived at the blueberry farm only to find it closed. It was sad. We then headed to a few other blueberry farms and ended up at the Pumpkin Patch in their berry fields. The blueberry bushes were thoroughly disappointing, so we headed for the blackberry bushes which were loaded with berries, some ripe, some not quite yet. We still left with lots.

We had to pass this glorious wheat field on the way to the berries. The sound of the field of wheat waving in the wind reminded me of a combination of ocean waves and a rainstick. It was beautiful. I loved it.

Loaded (and thornless) blackberry bushes.

Arches of blackberry bushes.

Marta ventured over to the blackberries after she'd had enough of the raspberries.

Lots o'berries and this wasn't even half of them.

Gema dividing up her loot.

View across the wheat field.

We stopped at the marionberries on the way back to check out. They were definitely stickery. 

 Black and white wheat.

It was a glorious day to be out in the fields and the only disappointment was the lack of blueberries... :( sad day for me. Next year, though, I vow!

PT 658

I had never heard of a PT boat. Apparently they were sort of a big thing during WWII. I decided this past weekend to go to Milwaukie Daze here in the Portland area. Truly, I was a bit disappointed. The saving grace was that I got to tour the only remaining PT-658 boat that can be in water. It is housed here in the Portland area and the volunteer group that manages it opened it for tours. I got in line and waited....and it was worth it. (Forewarning: there are loads of pictures...some will be captioned...some not.) 

This was the sign at the site...

With the boat behind it!

There was a momma duck and babies hanging out while we were hanging out.

 Machine guns.

 One of the docents (is that what they call folks who give tours on boats just like museums?).

 These boats weren't made to spend much time out at sea...they were short range boats that went from a base and returned not too long after that so they have few supplies.

 Torpedos...they were impressive. One of the tour guys said that the way they worked them was to turn them on then unhook them and roll them over the side of the boat and hoped for the best. At the front of the boat is a torpedo aimer (yes, that is my technical term) that you will see a picture of later. Something about directing 16 tons of dynamite...I think.

 The men that were usually on these boats were 19/20 years old and the most 'crazy' of military men as these boats were sort of known as a way to a sure death. 

If you look closely in the picture below you can see one of the 'beds' that the men had available to them.

 On deck gear. There are no rails or anything on these boats...I can't imagine what it would be like on the seas.

Below you can see two of the three engines...they use airplane fuel...expensive stuff they say. They were going to be filling the boat in the next few days and it would cost upwards of 6,000 dollars...I know gas prices are high, but with that bill none of us should complain.

 Engine from another view.

Torpedo mechanics...

Engine...

Steering wheel...they should have a fancier name...

The chart room with original charts...

Through the door mid-picture is the officers cabin area.

In the picture below in the upper right corner you can see the torpedo site to aiming...very rudimentary for today, but not in those days for this type of work. 

 The boat and then me and the boat from a distance.

Random things I learned: I like railings on boats. It was hot this day and the tops of my feet got sunburned a bit. JFK spent part of his military service time on a boat almost identical to this one. It was called PT-109 and sunk, he saved surviving crew and became a war hero. Jimmy Dean wrote a song called and about the PT-109 aka "Big John." I learned more, I'm sure, but can't remember right now. It was a nice time and I was glad I was able to see this impressive piece of history.