The Multnomah Villager

Well, I’ve been long overdue in posting this final post. Partly ’cause I didn’t want to put it out there, but I’m done. Due to some rather unexpected and major life changes, I’ve had to retire the blog. In fact, it gets worse. As of a couple months ago - I have moved out of the Village and am now living in a different part of Portland for the first time since the late ’90s.

I’ll still be around from time to time, since Jr. V is at Maplewood and I’ll be participating in activities with him at school whenever I can.

As for the ‘blog - I really enjoyed keeping it going for the years that it was active, and enjoyed getting to know my neighborhood and its residents in a way that would not have been possible without this site. I’m keeping it online for history’s sake and keeping the domain name. If you’re interested in taking over the site, I might entertain that possibility provided the spirit of the site is maintained and it doesn’t just become a spam-link page.

It’s been great. To quote the dolphins, “Goodbye, and thanks for all the fish.”

Today was the 1st annual Journeys mug and wine club BBQ - so I went up the hill to enjoy the “private event” with a good sized group of other mug & wine club members. Had a pint of the great ESB that they have on tap right now, from a Bend brewery called Silver Moon Brewing. There’s the ESB which I like, and and IPL, which is India Pale LAGER (and is a little too sharp for my taste). The current story is that Journeys is the first and only pub to have these brews on tap, and Bob drove the kegs up from Bend himself. One of the great things about Journeys is the amount of regional brews that one can get exposed to - and I pretty much just drink the reds. For me, since I’m not the type to go on brewery tours and I don’t drink beer at home, this is the only way I’d get exposed to some of these beers.

And this is probably even MORE true for wine. I haven’t done any wine drinking at Journeys, but I definitely am impressed by the continual parade of new labels, vintages, and varietals. Did I mention that they have port? A friend of mine introduced me to port at Legal Sea Foods in Boston one night some years back and I definitely appreciate it. One night I’ll have to go the non-beer route.

Still, I’m a mug club member (#16), which was a good deal even before today, but the spread that Bob & Shannon put out for us really put it over the top. Plus we got shiny permanent membership cards! Great food and did I mention free beer and wine? It was hot, but the conversation was good, the company was exceptional with all the regulars in house and it was REALLY hot but the outside tables were still pleasant.

Man, I am so glad this bar lived up to what I hoped it would be. Journeys has been a great addition to the neighborhood and is going strong. Thanks Bob & Shannon, and all the staff - today was really great.

In case you haven’t been to Gabriel Park this weekend, the skatepark is open. After staggering over to the park with Sally the dog (after like 2 too many beers at Journeys last night) we went up on the hill and watched the skaters tear it up for a while. It’s a great facility. Looks like a good addition to the park. Sitting on the grass watching the skaters is a good time, since I’m WAY too old to start skateboarding. Head on over there and take a look, but not now.. Woof! It’s hot. The dog and I will probably head back over to the park a little later again if a breeze kicks up, until then, I’m hiding out in the house.

So the Business Journal has this item this morning, officially declaring Community Partners for Affordable Housing’s proposal the choice for the eventual redevelopment of the Jerome F Sears Army Reserve Center.

Here’s a link to the article, but there will certainly be more press (and has already been much press) about this.

Between this and the Watershed development, CPAH’s going to be responsible for a lot of our resident’s housing in a few years….

So, the Multnomah Outdoor Cinema kicks off another season tonight with a showing of “Men in Black”. Just like last year, it looks to be a hot night coming up, so if you can’t sleep - might as well head on into the village and catch the film.

Good film schedule this year - I’m definitely going to head up the hill for “Ferris Beuller’s Day Off” next month, although there’s still no “Babe”. And attention Gabriel Park LARPers - “The Princess Bride” is coming up in August.

Headed up to Journeys last night around 9PM, and things were gettin’ a little crazy at the bar. In fact, I and later TJ and Will were relegated to one of the tables before we could insinuate ourselves back over to the bar proper. The whole place was in a punchy mood, likely a result of Shannon’s presence on the OUTSIDE of the bar. She’s clearly an instigator.

A good time was had by all, and I was the last one out, slinking home at 11:30. That third beer sounded good at the time, but second thoughts set in this morning when it was time to get up for work. Unf.

Journeys has been expanding their menu with some good looking options including a sort-of Reuben, which should catch the eye of Mrs. V, but not as much as the PINK wine, which is in season and is totally acceptable right now as long as it’s sold in containers made of glass and not cardboard.

There’s some wine tasting events coming up this weekend and the weather has brought the front-yard seating back in full effect. It’s a good time to drop in for a drink. Ask about the “man-bites”. Ask why they don’t come with bacon.

So I’m updated to the latest version of Wordpress, which is the engine that drives this ‘blog. Until I have the time to take a look under the hood and re-arrange some things - the blog’s gonna look a little basic. Thanks for your patience.

Thanks to nonprofitgirl for turning me on to a troubling security issue - apparently a bunch of Spam links got into the end of my last post. I went back to the post editor and sure enough, there in the HTML is huge list of Spam links. IN THE CODE. I have no idea how they got there, if they show up at the end of this one, then my Wordpress is compromised, which would be unfortunate. I’ll have to look into this issue a little.

So we’re walking the dog over to Gabriel Park yesterday in the dead of winter, and Jr V runs into one of his classmates on the playground. The only other kids there actually, did I mention it was cold? They’re playing together for a while and I’m sitting on the high curb in the back wrangling the dog when I notice a car driving down the walking path through the park. It was that certain late model of US car that indicated either older person or government employee and sure enough, there’s a City of Portland sticker on the side door. Two guys in the car, big yellow and green magnetic stickers reading “RANGER” on the back fenders of the car. The CAR. that they were DRIVING down the walking path of Gabriel Park.

I guess the park is officially patrolled. Well the path anyway.

How is it that I have NEVER seen hide nor hair of anything labeled “Ranger” in all the years I’ve lived here. And what exactly are they hoping to spot from the car?

Either way, the whole thing seemed odd. And this patrol would have only worked on a day like today - they’re not driving down those paths on any normal weekend day when it’s warmer than 40 degrees, cause it’s wall-to-wall people.

Odd.

So we were down in Rancho Mirage over spring break, laying out in the sun and spending some time in Joshua Tree National Park, were I used to go over spring break with the Outdoor Program at PSU back in the day. One morning we’re grabbing breakfast in the bar at the Westin Mission Hills Resort when out of the corner of my eye I spotted something familiar.

“Hey!” I said, “that kid over there has got a Multnomah Village shirt on!”

Sure enough he did, and we talked to his mom for a while. It’s pretty much “old home week” for Oregon and Washington people in southern California during spring break, and this year, we were yet another in the long line of Subarus headed down and up I5 for a little of the sunny stuff.