Wells Glass Studio

This morning I reserved some time at the glass studio to create a special piece for Lori and Pam.  While I was there I picked up the finished pieces from my class two weeks ago.  There were only two of us working there this morning.  The other woman is 92 years old and she's a delightful character.  We had a lot of fun talking and laughing while working on our projects.

This is my earlier finished products:

This is how they looked before they went into the kiln:

Food, Wine and Jazz

Tonight I enjoyed an unexpected treat.  Allison is ill with the flu so she gave me her ticket to attend an "Our House" event at the "Niche" Wine and Art Bar in Vancouver.   Ann and I went together for a late afternoon wine and jazz event, followed by a five course dinner by Chef David Hickenbottom.  

It was held in a small wine shop and art gallery that specializes in unique and specialty wines from all over the world. 

The winemaker furnishing the evening's wine is David Smith, owner of Burnt Bridge Cellars in Vancouver WA.  Proceeds from the dinner go to "Our House", a charitable organization that takes care of patients with AIDS.

Food was inventive and unusual.  An example; one course was heirloom tomatoes with fresh herbs and dill pickle ice cream.  The first course was "Delice and Pear Trifle" a whipped delice de bourgogne cheese with star crimson pears and rosemary balsamic syrup.

The entree was Sudan Farms rack of lamb with braised baby greens and a sweet potato bone marrow ravioli with crispy sweet potatoes as a garnish. - - Truly a memorable experience - -

Fun With Rachael

Rachael is visiting for a few days so we enjoyed a trek to a Thai restaurant, "Thai Peacock".  We chose it by basically "throwing darts" at a list of Thai places in the downtown area and it turned out that we hit a really cute place.  It seats about 20 people and Rachael tells me that it's authentic and excellent (I don't know much about Thai food) and for me, it was a good chance to learn something new about Asian food.  

It was a great experience and one that I look forward to repeating.  After lunch we spent some time at Powell's Book Store so now I have two new novels to start once I finish a huge novel titled "Jerusalem" that I've been reading for over one month.  It tells the story of the city beginning in 3,000 BC and goes up to he present time.

Roger's Self Portrait Class Assignment

 Roger's flu bug is still holding on but he decided to ignore it and get busy to finish his first portrait painting assignment.


We've had a relaxing weekend with dinner last night at the Hotel50 Bistro to celebrate three years together.  It is said that "time goes fast when you're having fun" so I think that is an accurate description of our relationship.

Portland on January 14th

• Below freezing most of the day
• Snow at noon
• Forecast for "freezing rain" until midnight
• Fresh Oregon coast Dungeness Crab (delicious)
• 2007 Borra Zinfandel
• College classes cancelled due to bad weather
• Roger in bed with a virus (not a happy camper)
• Fireplace going, Bella cuddling - Life goes on..............

Wells Glass Studio, Portland

This afternoon I joined a class of 12 women who enjoyed instruction at a glass fusing class held in the Alberta District.  The studio is on a block of artisan shops that offer a variety of classes in the arts.

To see more information about the studio go to:  www.wellsglassstudio.com

We had a great time - everyone with a different creative vision.

 The pictures are of the unfired version which will dramatically change after they are out of the kiln.

I had such a good time, I'm thinking that I need to return later in the month for some "open studio time" when we can create our own designs and learn more advanced techniques.

 

School Days

Winter term started Monday.  I'm taking a history class three days a week; "Ancient Near East & Egypt" at PSU and the class building is on the streetcar line so it's very convenient getting there during the cold and rainy winter weather.

Roger has one painting class and one sculpture class so he has been busy gathering all the tools that he'll need.

He's working on his first homework assignment which is to paint a self portrait.  He's working on the sketch and tomorrow he'll start painting it in class.

Short and Sweet............

• Good flight from Paris to Newark
• Easy transfer to Hilton Airport Hotel
• Really tired - trying to stay awake to get back on schedule
• Very good hotel restaurant dinner
• Roger is already doing ZZZZZZZZZ
• Watching Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune (old people's necessity)
• Lights out.............................

• Tomorrow fly to Chicago - transfer - plane to Portland
• Arrive home about 10 p.m.
• Back to reality

A Perfect Ending

Tonight we were dinner guests at a friend's condo in Paris and this is one of the views from their balcony.

Delicious food, great conversation, a perfect ending to our trip.........................

Lunch at Brasserie Bofinger in Bastille District

www.bofingerparis.com/en/

Today we dined at a wonderful Brasserie in the Bastille District.  Finer Paris restaurants offer Prix Fix 2 or 3 course lunches that include either an aperitif and a small glass of wine or, like today, a small bottle of wine for each two people. Two of us ordered two courses and two ordered three, with dessert so we could share.  Another three hour lunch that we soon won't forget and our last in Paris.

Le Pere Lachaise

The Pere Lachaise is the largest cemetery in Paris.  I took the Metro and it was only four stops from here.  Once out of the Metro station, I only had to walk across the street to enter the grounds which consist of 120 acres of tombs.  The cemetery was established shortly after the French Revolution so it's a little over 200 years old.

Many famous people are buried here such as Picasso, Gertrude Stein, Sarah Bernhardt, Edith Piaf and Oscar Wilde.

Many of the tombs are small buildings that hold entire families.  Most have open metal-work grills for doors with stained glass windows on the back of the tomb.

The weather is lovely today so it was enjoyable just walking and reflecting on the history of this interesting place.