NY Mysteries July 27, 2019

Another blissful week spent in Portland, Or. Last Sunday a friend and I went to Cathedral Park, sat in the shade and listened to jazz. 

Cathedral Park Jazz Festival

 

 

 

 

 

Later that week, old friends and I returned to a bar with four aquariums. 

Aquarium Bar on Mississippi
Aquarium Bar on Mississippi

 

 

 

 

 

 

I went to the Portland Art Museum on Monday. Closed, of course. So I’m going back today to find Childe Hassam’s Afternoon Sky, Harney Desert. It was the museum’s first original piece of art, acquired in 1908. What a concidence. I spent part of my childhood in Old Lyme, Ct. where Hassam and his painter friends had a colony.

This evening I’m giving a margarita party. Friends and I have done this for several years. We have it in my place at the Inn at Northrup Station. Usually, we drift up to the roof which is like an attic, tons of chairs and tables brightly colored and a perfect way to gently end a party.  

The Inn at Northrup Station

 

Graphic Lessons: What do a thirty-four-year old, a nine-year-old and an eighteen-year-old have in common? Murder. 

Millie Fitzgerald applies for a private school teaching job, faints on a  dying man in the school kitchen, deals with a troubled nine-year-old and with the eighteen-year-old niece of the murdered man.

Graphic Lessons: Nine-year-old Dana is the only witness who overhears a person fighting with George Lopez, the soon to be stabbed Windsor School kitchen worker. Who can she tell? Her mother who never listens or accuses her of lying? Her father who’s started a new family in Singapore? She tells Millie. 

Graphic Lessons: NYPD Detective Steve Kulchek is assigned the murder case at the prestigious Windsor School. What’s bugging him? His partner being stabbed ? His hated boss, Captain Dick Holbrook, being a trustee of the Windsor School?  Losing his girlfriend to Holbrook? 

NY Mysteries July 20, 2019

No trip to Portland is complete without attending at least one Mississippi Street Fair.

 

Mississippi Street Fair
True North Folk Singers

 

 

 

 

 

Midsommer is an unfogetable movie. Violent, barbaric, bloody, brillant, disgusting, beautiful. There are no likeable characters. A group of Americans go to Sweden to observe the anniversary of an ancient rite. Agatha Christie’s Then There Were None meticulously kills off every character. Midsommer kills off many in the cast. Is it the girl’s dream? Decide for yourself.

 

Happy Hour at Nel Centro was followed by a True North concert in blissful weather at the Origan Historical Society. We sat on the patio and listened to folk and blue grass then took a quick tour of the recent exhibit of the Beatles. Yes, the Beatles played in Portland. 

The facade of the Oregon Historical Society

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Beatles

 

 

 

Graphic Lessons: What do a thirty-four-year old, a nine-year-old and an eighteen-year-old have in common? Murder. 

Millie Fitzgerald applies for a private school teaching job, faints on a  dying man in the school kitchen, deals with a troubled nine-year-old and with the eighteen-year-old niece of the murdered man.

Graphic Lessons: Nine-year-old Dana is the only witness who overhears a person fighting with George Lopez, the soon to be stabbed Windsor School kitchen worker. Who can she tell? Her mother who never listens or accuses her of lying? Her father who’s started a new family in Singapore? She tells Millie. 

Graphic Lessons: NYPD Detective Steve Kulchek is assigned the murder case at the prestigious Windsor School. What’s bugging him? His partner being stabbed ? His hated boss, Captain Dick Holbrook, being a trustee of the Windsor School?  Losing his girlfriend to Holbrook? 

NYMysteries – July 12

 I’ve visited Portland, Oregon for twenty years. Dear friends of mine moved here at that time. They bought a little house in north Portland and turned it into an enchanting oasis. It was on public land that was gobbled up by Las Vegas developers. Their house and garden were surrounded by buildings that dwarfed them. The good news is that they sold their house and managed to have included parking and gym rights in one of the new buildings. It’s bittersweet to acknowledge that this will be the last time we’ll hang out in Portland for three glorious summer weeks. I’ll visit them in Albuquerque and we plan on having reunions in Portland. We stood in for artist Jerry G. Dickason at an open viewing. Here are some photos.

Can you bet what this is?
The late nineteenth century railroad station

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My wonderful friends

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jerry G. Dickason’s Studio

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Jerry G. Dickason painting

 

 

 

 

 

 

Graphic Lessons: What do a thirty-four-year old, a nine-year-old and an eighteen-year-old have in common? Murder. 

Millie Fitzgerald applies for a private school teaching job, faints on a  dying man in the school kitchen, deals with a troubled nine-year-old and with the eighteen-year-old niece of the murdered man.

Graphic Lessons: Nine-year-old Dana is the only witness who overhears a person fighting with George Lopez, the soon to be stabbed Windsor School kitchen worker. Who can she tell? Her mother who never listens or accuses her of lying? Her father who’s started a new family in Singapore? She tells Millie. 

Graphic Lessons: NYPD Detective Steve Kulchek is assigned the murder case at the prestigious Windsor School. What’s bugging him? His partner being stabbed ? His hated boss, Captain Dick Holbrook, being a trustee of the Windsor School?  Losing his girlfriend to Holbrook? 

NY Mysteries July 5, 2019

What a busy week. As you know, on Sunday there were two Pride marches. I joined the one that originated at Judson Memorial Church. It was smaller, less commercial and more like the gay day march of years ago. 

Judson’s Meeting Room. Judson’s Saints
Judson on the march. Beloved and Proud
Greeting one and all to Pride Day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I joined dear friends in Brooklyn for the perfect July 4th celebration: A small group in a luscious  garden, feasting on grilled meat, potato salad, garden lettuce and tomatoes and homemade strawberry shortcake plus lots of lovely wine.

Stairs leading to the garden

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, I have forgiven The Morgan that ridiculous Renzo Piano J. C. Penny entrance. Director Colin B. Bailey has vitalized the Morgan. He’s tapped into the city’s LGBTQ community, offering parties and previews open to all. Director Bailey has not neglected the Morgan’s classical background. Friends and I went to the enchanting Maurice Sendak’s Drawing the Curtain, a Walt Whitman exhibit and Hogarth’s Cruelty and Humor. Hogarth gave an unflinching view of eighteenth century London’s Gin Lane and Beer Lane. Weary from so much culture, we had a charming lunch. 

Maurice Sendak’s Design for show curtain

 

 

 

Ad for Walt Whitman’s
Books

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Graphic Lessons: What do a thirty-four-year old, a nine-year-old and an eighteen-year-old have in common? Murder. 

Millie Fitzgerald applies for a private school teaching job, faints on a  dying man in the school kitchen, deals with a troubled nine-year-old and with the eighteen-year-old niece of the murdered man.

Graphic Lessons: Nine-year-old Dana is the only witness who overhears a person fighting with George Lopez, the soon to be stabbed Windsor School kitchen worker. Who can she tell? Her mother who never listens or accuses her of lying? Her father who’s started a new family in Singapore? She tells Millie. 

Graphic Lessons: NYPD Detective Steve Kulchek is assigned the murder case at the prestigious Windsor School. What’s bugging him? His partner being stabbed ? His hated boss, Captain Dick Holbrook, being a trustee of the Windsor School?  Losing his girlfriend to Holbrook?