I learned several things yesterday ...

... at my drum lesson with Greg Odell, founder of The Last Regiment of Syncopated Drummers.

Here we go, in no particular order. My left wrist doesn't move like my right one--I'm right-handed. Greg Odell is a fantastic teacher. If I practice, I just might be able to do this! I definitely weigh more that I should. I learned the Comparative Table of the Relative Value of Notes. (Well, I have a hand-out to make sure that I remember them.) I drummed something very fun known as a Single Paradiddle. I had no idea how much counting went on with drumming. Every cent I pledged to the LRSD's Kickstarter Campaign was well spent. I had a blast and am so happy that my brother Howard was here from Mississippi visiting and got to accompany me to my lesson,  along with my two sons Lamont and Leland. Yippee!

How many degrees of separation from a shaved ice delight to quite a silly sight? Look all the way to the end and you shall see, my friend.

I thought about making a collage with these photos, but I like seeing them larger than that allows. Hope you will!
 

One. So Cold Shaved Ice, in action at the Portland Mini Maker Faire, September 15, at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI). He's making me a Wild Cherry. From SCSI Web site: Portland's only sustainable and solar powered shaved ice vendor! We use locally sourced beet sugar and the stand is run solely on power harnessed from the sun! (I say, so cool, so Portland.)



Two. See the red already in the cup, more visible in the photo above than in this one? That means he's already drizzled a good deal of syrup on the ice inside the cup, before putting on additional ice for the final shaping. Leland and I were pleased to see this because we knew immediately that we'd have flavor from top to bottom!
 

Three. The final shaping.



Four. Soaking the shaved ice with syrup! Here's what the Web site says about their syrups: So Cold Shaved Ice makes all of it's own syrups using beet sugar and natural extracts as well as using unaltered, naturally sweet fruit juices to produce unparalleled flavor! I can testify to the truth of that statement, as can Leland whose watermelon one had us both looking for the seeds!



Five. The Alter Egos Society booth. A silent exclamation called my name! You know just what I'm talking about! Their booth sign points out that the AES encourages creativity and original, DIY costuming for superhero enthusiasts while raising money to support the mentoring of homeless youth. (I say, more cool Portland going on.)
 

Six. I stepped up to wait for a little boy to finish his mask, reading this sign as I stood there among the children. I like these instructions because they promote safety in mask creation. Smart.



Seven. My fearless leader. Well, he's the AES man helping mask-makers like me and the children at the table.



Eight. See what I mean? I traced the pattern, visible there at the top of the photo, onto the bright green fun foam. I cut out the holes, and the AES man cut them a bit larger on the bottom and the outer edges. He then cut tiny slits near the outer corners where the strings could be inserted so that I could tie my mask to my face. Since there was a child there who needed the AES man's help, I offered to show him an easy way to insert the piece of string through the slit. Fold the end of the string over into a loop, use your finger to carefully force the slit open, the shove the loop through the slit so that the string could be tied off. You see, he was trying to shove the cut end through the slit, and it's just not big enough to go through easily. He smiled and then allowed me to complete the other side of my mask while he helped a nearby child.
 

Nine. Silly sight! As promised, me in my mask with my Wild Cherry red tongue. Do you like the marker marks on my thumb? They came from holding the fun foam as I cut out my eye holes. Later on when I took off the mask, Leland asked, "Mom, what's that purple on your face?" Yep, marker marks between my eyes and on my nose.

Fed up? I am.

I thought I'd be cute and creative and make a sign about a pet peeve, using a photo from our wedding. That's LeRoy and me on December 31, 1972. That was the chain-letter era, right?

It's my birthday today. A present to myself!

Sunday, December 11, 2011, found me at my first event as a Portland Trail Blazers' season ticket holder. Holiday on Ice lasted from 2-5 p.m. I stayed almost the entire time, first going on the locker room tour, then wandering around on the concourse, decorating cookies, making crafts. I talked with the radio announcer, nicknamed Wheels, and one of the TV announcers, Mike Barrett. I met Scott, my Season Ticket Services Account Representative. By 3 p.m. Blazers were walking here and walking there, smiling at all of us, stopping for photographs or autographs as time allowed. I took lots of photos and talked to about half of the team, getting a few autographs.

Next I decided to go back to the locker room to see in any others were there. Lo and behold, there stood Coach Nate McMillan. I moved down the line from player to player and then I was in front of him. I couldn't help myself, when I started to talk, saying "I can't believe I'm standing in front of you. My Mama would be so excited. She became a basketball fan after we moved here in 2006 ... I'm sorry, I'm crying. She died in January."

I can't remember exactly what happened after that, somewhere in there I explained that I was a first-time season ticket holder. I know I felt good when Coach McMillan signed my piece of paper and took me seriously when I handed to him the PTB lanyard I had purchased in the Fan Shop, rubbing it for good luck over and over because I explained that I was going from player to player, collecting good luck for the team ever since I bought it and Gerald Wallace touched it first before putting it into the shopping bag. Coach handed me the lanyard, we shook hands and smiled at each other as I told him what a good time I was having here. Coach McMillan smiled some more when I looked to his right and said, "That's Buck Williams, right there." I patted my heart and sort of swooned. Coach Williams grinned and said, "I wish my wife could see some of this around here." The three of us laughed together for a moment. I might not be able to remember every single thing that happened, but I will always remember standing there in front of those gracious, tall men.

I rode the elevator up with them and several players. Then on the concourse Coach McMillan sat down by himself at the coloring table, waiting for folks to come see him. I sat down in front of him and he asked me what was Mama's health problem, so we talked for a few minutes about what had gone on with her health and what had happened to her on January 7. I even explained that I hoped she had just left her phone in the bedroom and was sitting in front of the TV watching the Blazers play and couldn't hear her phone. Instead she had laid down for a nap and didn't wake up. He listened and smiled kindly. I went on to say that Mama had been so impressed with the kind of young men the Trail Blazers he was leading the players to be, individuals who care about themselves and the team and Portland. He said that's what he was trying to do and shook my hand again, saying he was glad I was a season ticket holder. I said that I was so happy about it because, while I didn't want to be one while I had Mama to watch games with at home, that I had missed basketball in person after having spent six years keeping score for the boys and girls' high school teams, both at the scorer's table for home games and on the bench for away games where i used to teach English and be a librarian down in Mississippi. He grinned. I stopped rambling. Then I got up so that someone else could spend some time with him.

Later on I sat talking with Scott my account rep and asked him if he would go with me and take a photo of me with the coach. By the time we got close to the front of the line, Coach and the players had to leave the coloring table and head somewhere else on the concourse. After I had walked around in the concourse for a while, it dawned on me that I might find Coach McMillan at a different table and maybe I could get someone to take the photo I wanted. You can see the result at the top of the post.

I am so looking forward to attending our home games. I'll be able to do that on mass transit, too!

Happy 64th birthday to me!

A side trip on Labor Day to Swan Island dahlias, No. 1.

Dahlia Edna C ... Joy came over me when I read the name of this dahlia the color of sunshine. I found it on one of the paths amid the rows and rows of colors and shapes and sizes of beautiful blooms. Edna was my Mama's name.




Dahlia Lynette ... I missed finding this one in the fields so finding it in the display area was even more exciting.


Our dahlias were in the same room. I love that we were there together, although the yellow one beside Lynette is not Edna C., Edna C. was nearby.

ELLEA--Edna, Lucy, and Lynette's Excellent Adventure, #2

Sunday evening we ate dinner at 3 Doors Down Cafe, where my older son Lamont is sous chef and my younger son Leland used to be a prep and line cook. Y'all know, if you follow my blog, just how outstanding the food is there. And I have to say that I'd believe the same exact thing even if I didn't have a familial connection to it.

In the photo, left to right, there's Lucy, Lamont, Mama (Edna), Leland, and Kailey (Leland's girlfriend). Of course the other L of ELLEA is me, and I took the photo!


Here's the appetizer Lamont made for us, with the chanterelle mushrooms he picked last week, butternut squash, Brussels sprouts, and fresh-made-by-Lamont pappardelle pasta. As you can tell, we were so hungry that we started serving before I remembered to take a photo! In a very few moments, it was gone.

Several of us had the salad of romaine leaves with classic caesar dressing (which they make there at 3DD), sprinkled with grated hard cheese and served with herb croutons.

Mama and Lucy shared the meatballs and buccatini with a hearty tomato sauce--I didn't take a photo of them.

Kailey had the parmesan risotto with chanterelles, celery root, and butternut squash.

Leland had the grilled carlton pork loin, with roasted pears, celery root, delicata squash and mashed potatoes, and a wonderful slice of oven-roasted cippolini onion.

I had the pan roasted blue marlin with chanterelles, leeks, pancetta, and creamy lentils.

To go with my entree, I ordered the New Fangled Old Fashioned, a drink I first had on Halloween night when I rode the bus over to 3DD after work--nope, it wasn't another cheesecake run, just a chance to relax over good food and drink. That night I told Chucker, the bartender, that if you were ill, that drink could heal you. It's made with house-made dried maraschino cherries, muddled with fresh orange slices, Bulleit Bourbon, Angostura bitters and cherry syrup. He told me that the cherry syrup is house-made, too.

For dessert, Kailey got a piece of banana cream pie, Mama and Lucy shared bread pudding, and, lo and behold, Lamont sent me a piece of cheesecake, I didn't even know that there was cheesecake in the house!

All in all, each of us had a memorable end to a great day. Lucy and Mama had spent hours and hours playing a card game that they love, called Hand and Foot. Lucy explained to Kailey that it's a sort of double canasta. I had spent hours and hours with NASCAR on the Speed Channel and then on ABC, sitting on the couch, working with photos for Flickr and Walgreens, the two places where I store them. We got a good night's sleep and spent today being chauffeured around the Columbia River Gorge and the bottom of Mt. Hood by Lamont. Pictures to come, I promise, 'cause I took a whole lot!