Portland in September

I’m beginning to write this blog as we drive home from Portland where we’ve spent the last week. It’s a beautiful day, beginning to look and feel a bit like Fall. Since we made the drive a week ago, a storm has moved from Southern California up into Oregon and Mt. Shasta, which we just passed, is now snow-capped. From the time we left Lauren’s condo this morning at 7:30 a.m. it has poured and continued to rain the 200 miles to the Oregon-California border, where we were greeted with blue sky and sunshine. We experience the weather-phenomena at the state border just about every time we make this trip. The rain (Oregonians call it “liquid sunshine”) abruptly stops as we drive across the state line. Crazy!

Our good friend Sally Simms flew to Portland the day after we arrived last week and we spent the next several days being tourists. After our last trip to Portland in June when we missed the factory tour of Bob’s Red Mill, I was determined to do it this time. Mission accomplished! We took the 1-1/2 hour guided tour on Friday morning and then visited the store and bought several of the products, including ground flaxseed, which our gluten-free tour guide swears by. Since Bob makes it, I’m assuming he eats it, and I’m sold! We met the man and he looks darn good for 86…

He still runs the company and has been a life-long advocate of organic, whole grain foods. I won’t share all I learned about Bob in this blog (come to Portland and we’ll take you to the mill for a tour), but he has written a book called “People Before Profits” (I love the title) and it seems he lives by those words, because when he turned 80 he gave the company to his employees. Quite remarkable!

Saturday morning it was off to the Lake Oswego Farmers' Market...

Lauren discovered the Market in June and has gone every Saturday morning since. She’s described it in detail to me, but I was in no way prepared for the size and quality of the market. It is Incredible! First of all, the setting is beautiful with over fifty vendors lined up along the park next to Lake Oswego selling everything from handmade pasta, fresh fish, and flowers to farm-grown pork products, including a fresh BLT. The Pig Guy wasn’t there this past Saturday, but his BLT’s are Lauren’s favorite way to start her weekends. All of this is good, but it’s the produce stands that are head and shoulders above any market I’ve attended. Did you know that carrots are available in a red, yellow, and purple as well as the typical orange?

Attending the Northwest Quilting Expo in Portland the third weekend of September each year has become a tradition and this trip, as well as all of our September trips to Portland, are scheduled with this event in mind. The show includes art quilts created by the top quilters from Oregon and Washington and traveling exhibitions from around the world. It’s a humbling experience for me. I used to think I was a fairly accomplished quilter. All it took was attending this regional show that first time in 2009 to realize when it comes to quilting I’m not the expert I thought I was, but rather an advanced novice. The winning quilts at the show are the Van Gogh’s of quilting. I always leave the show realizing my quilts are a step above the paint-by-number’s of quilting, but not by much.

There were probably over a hundred vendors at the show demonstrating and selling all things related to fiber arts…fabrics, threads, books and patterns, and all types of notions. There are always lots of  “specials” that are only available if purchased during the three day event. Actually, it sounds like a good sales pitch, but I’ve found it to be true. For the most part, we were good this year and resisted the temptation of getting caught up the shopping frenzy. That is, we didn’t buy much at the show. We did our share of damage at a local fabric store called the Craft Warehouse, where we found flat-fold fabric (same quality and some of the same fabrics we've used in our quilts) for as low as $4.00 a yard, down from as much as $13 a yard.  We shopped until we dropped…literally!

We’d gone to Portland prepared with a wheelchair as we figured Sally would need a little assistance in getting around the convention center. By the end of the day, I suggested that she take her turn pushing so I could give my feet a rest. I didn’t spend much time in the chair, but it was good for a laugh…

On Sunday, we did another factory tour of the Tillamook Cheese Factory located in…surprise, Tillamook, Oregon. It was a self-guided tour with the viewing area of the factory about the same size as Bob’s Red Mill, but our time spent reading and watching the production lines was far less because it was self-guided and we didn’t have the albeit interesting, but chatty guide.  The samples were great, including a smoked cheddar and garlic cheddar that aren’t offered at our markets.  The factory store offers their full range of cheese, blocks and off-cuts from the factory, and we are going home with a little bit of everything.  

P.S. On the drive home Verne told me that he's not going back to Portland if all we do is talk about cats...can you imagine that? As I finished this blog I realized I hadn't mentioned Lauren's adorable (and spoiled) kitten, Chloe. Here's a picture of the Little Princess...