Weird Portland Wednesday: For the Love of Trees

American elm at 1111 SW 10th Ave. was named Portland's first historic tree in 1973

We love our trees, oh yes we do.  We have a law that you need a permit to cut down any tree on private land that is more than 12" in diameter at breast height.  And you may need to plant new trees that, combined, equal what you cut down.  Once known as "Stumptown," Portland has become "Tree Town."

In 1990, Portland resident Phyllis Reynolds published a book dedicated to the Trees of Greater Portland.  She was worried that these beautiful trees would be cut down to make room for development.  She drove up and down streets throughout the Portland area, talking to land owners about their trees, giving life to these beauties throughout our city.

We love our trees so much, we have named almost 300 of them as Historical.  Heritage Trees are trees that have been formally recognized by City Council for their unique size, age, historical or horticultural significance.  Once named as such, the tree is given a plaque and can not be cut.  If on private land, landowners must agree to this listing.  This safety from cutting belongs to the tree, not to the owner; therefore, successors are also not allowed to harm the tree.  BTW, in the US, the first state-sponsored heritage tree program began in 1995 in Oregon with the Giant Sitka Spruce.

We love our trees so much, we don't allow anything to get in their way....  We decorate, on all occasions, this little pine located in the World's Smallest Park.  And here's my friend Cece standing next to a glorious tree that has decided not to allow civilization to take over.    It's just one more thing that helps keep Portland Weird.

peace~~~

And Dem Republicans Be Like...

I've been around for a long time.  Not nearly as long as my mother nor my aunt of course, but you know...a fairly long time.  I've had the pleasure to watch television come into our lives, first as black and white and then move into color.  What a joy it was when Mom and Dad finally bought a color TV and we could watch Disney's Wide World of Color!  

We moved into the little transistor radios and then into audio cassettes.  I remember walking to school carrying my transistor and dancing to the pop music along the way.  When I was still in high school, Telstar came along to broadcast telephone and television signals.  That's how I could watch Neil Armstrong walk on the moon.

I've watched different social media come to life.  I jumped into it feet-first in the early 90s through Internet Relay Chat (IRC).  Met thousands of people along the way, including my husband.  When our IRC #41plus channel started waning, one of our members created a new venue for us on this new thang called "Facebook."

Okay, back to the main idea of this entry...  My first time to vote was just after 1971 when President Nixon signed in the 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  This Amendment gave people 0f 18 the right to vote.  I was 21.  There were Republicans and there were Democrats and there were Libertarians and there were other parties out there.  And they were sending mean and dirty television ads toward one another.  But without this newfangled immediate social interaction, we tended to keep it local.  Hell, in the beginning there were battles between the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists.  But there were no memes of sarcasm and hatred and shaming to spur each other on.

Not no more no how.  Boy howdy!  Daily we get hit by memes and polls and meanness on a minute-to-minute basis.  We get to see how much we think differently.  How Republicans are angels to those dirty Democrats.  We get to see how Democrats are forward-thinking patriots to those education-hating Republicans.  Conservatives are great!  Liberals are fanatic!  Conservatives are bad: holding back the future!  Liberals are good: looking at where we need to go to stay a world!

Aren't you tired yet of all this?

There is no other purpose to post such trash than to create divisiveness.  I recently heard in an interview that we are no longer attempting to change people's minds with our political posts on social media, but to create more division.  To nanner nanner in people's faces.  To stick out our tongues and play with our wagons in front of those who aren't of like mind.  I also heard that the newest charged Russian admitted to plastering Facebook with such memes in hopes to split us apart.  It has seemed to work, didn't it *sigh*

So let's stop.  Yes, just stop it.  Let's find what we have in common.  We are all worried about a great deal of issues.  NBC News found these 15 things are what we all are concerned about--the issue if not the possible solution:

54% - The availability and affordability of healthcare

53% - The economy

51% - The possibility of future terrorist attacks in the U.S.

46% - The Social Security system

46% - The size and power of the federal government

46% - The way income and wealth are distributed in the U.S.

43% - Hunger and homelessness

43% - Crime and violence

39% - Illegal immigration

38% - Drug use

37% - Unemployment

34% - The quality of the environment

28% - The availability and affordability of energy

28% - Race relations

25% - Climate change

If we all tend to share these concerns, then we are not so different as the magic memes say we are.  So whadya say we start finding ways to be chums again.  Stop pissing off others just for the joy of "gotcha."  (You can also leave off pictures of your dinners on social media, but that's a whole separate issue.)  Remember the "be respectful" part of being out in public (and always wear clean underwear just in case you are in an accident.  But again, another issue).

peace~~~

Given a Little Time

Marline, me, Richard, September 2018

No one leaves a high school reunion shrugging their shoulders, thinking, "Well, that's over."  We either leave it wondering why we came, happy we came, or totally energized that we have reconnected with old friends.  This year we celebrated 50 years after graduation.  Fifty years having left teen years behind.  Fifty years as adults.  There were 130 of us celebrating our youth.  Fifty years.

It was a grand celebration.  Thanks to social media like Facebook, many of us have kept up with each others lives to some degree; so having a face-to-face party was grand.  Some of us haven't seen one another in 50 years.  It was a total love fest.

The first day of the Reunion Weekend was a pizza party.  I spent most my time flitting around, camera in hand, hugs available.  The pizza parlor was glad to have us; the line for orders and drinks was out the door :)  Old friends greeting, chatting, laughing...the best of times. 

The second night of the weekend was the actual reunion

dinner.  We held it at Kellogg West at Cal Poly in Pomona, CA.  My good friend Richard and I spent the first half hour greeting incoming.  Everyone looked so good,  We might be older, but damnit we were pretty :)  

We honored five of our former teachers.  What fun that was, chatting with the teachers like we were peers.  But, laughingly, we all still called them "Mr." or "Mrs." rather than their first names.  They even asked us to call them by their first names...most of us couldn't. :)


Some of the fun things we had was a photobooth, some goofy trophy give-aways, and a presentation of Quilts of Valor to our veterans.  The idea of a photobooth was great--all of the committee were pleased with the idea but it almost didn't come to be.  We sent out notices early so people could rearrange their lives around the event, so confirmations were slow in coming.  Fortunately as the event neared, we swelled to over-expected.  

The Elizabeth Taylor Award was a tie--it went to Patti and to Mike with four marriages each.  The Ponce de Leon Award went to Nancy, who still looked 18.  The Marco Polo Award went to Alan, who came out from Maine.  The George Burns Award went to Gary and Char, who were married a week after we graduated.  And finally the Rose Kennedy Award was a tie--it went to Harriett and to Patti, who each have 18 grands and great-grands.

The short ceremony in presenting Quilts of Valor to our veterans was moving and lovely.  We presented 10 quilts during the reunion.  I also presented two others during the weekend to two Vietnam vets who were friends of mine, but not of our class.

The final day of the weekend was the picnic.  By now us old people were pretty tired.  The group was smaller but the chatting and laughter was just as grand. 

This bbq gave we who party hardy a chance to relax and talk more.  We had plenty of food, a nice group of about 50, and lots of hugs.

The amazing thing about a reunion is that the older we get, the less we hold grudges and the more we seek out childhood memories.  People we really didn't care for became interesting classmates we wish we would have known better 50 years earlier.  Old loves became mellow loves.  Playmates became precious to us again.  Our 10th reunion was fun to see each other after 10 years but our 50th is much more nostalgic, softer, mellow..with still great life to play and goof around.  For a few days we were 68, but 18 again.

Steve and me October, 1967

peace~~~