Halley's Comment

Last night, while on my way to my gig, I stopped by a friend's apartment. He had just had his appendix out and it was good to be able to have a couple minutes to see him before heading on my way. We were outside, I with my bike trailer and harp, when an elderly African American woman approached us, a baby in a stroller and boxes of nicely packaged greeting cards. She explained that she has been out of a job for 18 months and that it is hard for a 50+ minority woman to find a job now-a-days. I commiserated, mentioning that I am out of work as well. She explained to me that because of her situation, she has created a greeting card company. "Evelyn's Ordinary People Greeting Card Portraits." She showed my friend and I a few samples, each beautifully displaying images of interracial love - a black woman caressing a white man, etc.

She ended up giving me a card for free because she loved the fact that I was also trying to pave my own way with my music. It's a beautiful black/white portrait of a black man holding his newborn, pale-skinned baby (her 13th grandchild, she informed me). A startling beautiful image with Obama's words: "Books record and explore history - people change and make history.

For anyone interested, Evelyn is going to be doing some stand-up comedy at Duke's Landing up on like 27th and SE Belmont on Friday night at 7pm. The theme, she said was; "Everything white people want to ask black people but are too afraid to." It's $10, but you get some good ol' southern cooking that she has prepared herself.

 If you are interested in her cards, http://www.evelynsgreetingcards.com/

Over Halloween weekend, I went camping with some of my very good friends in Astoria, OR. This was in conjunction with their participation in Cross Crusade and my obsession with cycling, mud and having a lot of crazy fun. I had asked prior to the trip if I could see the ocean while we were out there. (A feature I haven't seen since November 2008) Rob, the owner of the car in which we were traveling, was more than happy to oblige in the whimsies of a silly girl.

So this last weekend, not only did I get to camp, I got two full days of cyclo-cross, I got to see the ocean and spend some time getting to know three really awesome people outside of city life.

I didn't play the harp at PSU Farmer's Market on Saturday as I was not in town. I wouldn't have been able to play regardless because of rain. That was the deciding factor on my actually being able to go on the trip. You'll never see someone get as excited about rain as I do!

However, I made up for my lack of harping on Saturday by playing during a beautiful ceremony put on by St Stephen's Episcopal Parish last night. They performed a dedication of their Madonna del Ghisallo Portland Bicycle Shrine for fallen cyclists. I have played harp at their church before and was honored to be invited back to play for this event.

With winter coming and the Celtic New Year hurdle passed, I have been beginning to feel a hibernating mood building up inside me. One of my good friends pointed out to me the other day that I have personally reached my "One Year in Portland" hurdle. I feel really good able that. I've spent a year here, have established some roots and feel like I am really finding a home for myself. I am concerned about the sustainability of harping. October has been a hard month. I haven't really been promoting myself as much as I should and because of which, I have found myself in a tight situation, which I imagine will only become tighter unless something changes. I have been looking for a part-time job to supplement my art. I really wish that it wouldn't have to come to that, but regardless, I knew it wouldn't last forever. Who knows, though. . . I still haven't found a job per se, and I am still harping. Things might magically find a way to work themselves out.

On Monday I participated in an unique event here in Portland! It was a "traffic calming" event on the Hawthorne Bridge organized by the BTA and Willamette Pedestrian Coalition. You can read more about the event in a Bike Portland article .

I rode over the Hawthorne Bridge to get downtown which I usually don't do. (I take the Burnside) I almost got into two different head-on bike/bike collisions as cyclists apparently can't read the arrow signs and/or know that you're supposed to flow WITH traffic on a bike. It allowed me the evening to view the traffic heading across the Hawthorne. Saw most people smile and nod at me as they rode by.

Photo is featuring Steph Routh of Willamette Pedestrian Coalition holding the sign and Officer Prichett (sp?) in yellow chatting with us!

This weekend was eventful indeed! I, unfortunately did not play at the Farmer's Market. I assume that they believe I'm gone for good, but I fully intend to be there this coming Saturday. I did, however, participate in two different pub crawls. Glutton for punishment, I know. I know.

Thursday evening, I rode by bike and harp trailer up to Amnesia Brewery in N Portland for an hour of Car-Free Happy Hour before making it to my gig at the grand opening of the art gallery, Splendorporium in the inner SE.

Friday evening, we did a bicycle pub crawl from inner SE Portland to N Portland where the group eventually met up with the Midnight Mystery Ride. We ended up hitting only two bars because the service was tragically slow at Green Dragon and we had to wait over an hour for caesar salads and tater totes. I ducked out about 11:30 before the MMR for home, via a detour at Voodoo Too.

After having a slow morning, I began throwing together my outfit for Saturday night and Drunken Rampage's monthly pub crawl theme created by Dresden Codak. The theme was "Pretend to be a Time Traveler Day" and was put together amazingly well including an "Emergency Protocol for Temporal Anomalies; Your Guide to the 21st Century" and hourly guided tours by licensed educators of Earthonomics! Not preparing in advance, as usual, I just threw together an outfit with what was in my closet. I had a lot of choices as far as medieval went, but really didn't want to go that route. I decided to pull out the vintage English riding pants and band jacket (both from about 1930), my "hobbit" vest and fencing equiment. (Gloves, boots and gorget) I finished it off with a military grade aeroplane cap, my bicycling goggles, a silk scarf and my Soviet attache case. Made an admiral "Amelia Earhart" if I don't say so myself.

All in all the evening was a success. Working on my gigs for this week, including tonight at Invasion Cafe.

Still working on the CD for any who is wondering.

People in Portland do some pretty crazy things; especially when it involves bicycling. Today I participated in a spectacular "bike move." What is that? Well, I'm glad you asked! It's when people show up with bike trailers, panniers, extracycles and all sorts of cargo equipment and their bikes to help you move your possessions from your old place to your new place.

Waking up in the morning, I hitched my trailer to my bike and set off for _fool's house. It was so neat to ride there and join up with other cyclists all on our way to a common goal. Once there, fueled on delicious breakfast burritos and coffee, we loaded up our trailers. 42 cyclists participated, which I hear is some sort of Portland bike move record. (Unofficial.) We moved about five miles, and our load included all the generic stuff including books and clothes and some more unusual things such as a refrigerator, cat and TWO boxes of bricks.

Upon arriving at his new place, after riding across a bridge, up some hills and down some roads, despite our exhaustion, several of the girls, including myself, gave his new trampoline a good bounce. Afterward, we all unloaded his boxes into his new house and relaxed with pizza and beer. The weather couldn't have been more perfect.

The day was quite amazing. After quite an exhausting last few days, today, despite the physical labor and exertion, was satisfying. To me, the feeling of all these people getting together as a community and helping a friend in need of assistance is truly an amazing experience.

I had a very eventful weekend! Well, I shouldn't start there. Over the past month, I have been working with a lovely bride-to-be Attempting to. What has happened is that we have missed each other's phone calls almost every single time we've tried to make contact. It's been a lot of voice mails, to say the least.

I realized on Wednesday last week that I wasn't quite certain where I was supposed to go. We finally made contact Friday morning. Very last minute discussion on the music, including some "day before" changes, which I could handle, but was a little frantic about. (A few of my friends can contest to this, as I hung out with Tomas, Ed, Lindsey and Kat that night while I transposed some music on my laptop.)

So early Saturday morning, I get the directions to Hood River Bed and Breakfast printed out. I left in plenty of time in a rental car, provided by the bride, out to towards the gorge on good ol' I-84. (As a side note, I passed Ed and Amos as they tried to navigate a construction-rich part of 84 with their bikes while touring the gorge. I resisted attempting to run them off the road.)

Noon that day, I had called my mother in Seattle, giving up on finding someone to go to the coast with me on Sunday, I decided to cruise on up north and visit some family. (The rental car couldn't be returned until Monday. I wanted to take advantage of having a car for the weekend.)

So, I get to Hood River in plenty of time and find the B&B. It really looked dead. Didn't seem like a wedding was going to be happening anytime soon there. I looked around and met the innkeeper, a lovely lady named Jane. Apparently this happens all the time and she had a map prepared for me. I needed to get to Mt Hood Bed and Breakfast. About 20 miles away. . . with 20 minutes left until my appointed time of being there. Fuck.

I flew down 35 and got to my correct destination about 15 minutes later than rendezvous time, but it turned out to be perfectly okay. (The wedding started at 4:30, and I got there at 3:45) Beautiful wedding. Beautiful couple. In a rolling lawn in front of a panorama of Mt. Hood. I had never been out that way, so it was very awesome for me!

I headed out about 7pm. Straight from Parkdale, OR to Seattle, WA via 84 to 205 to I-5. I flew and was pretty excited about how smooth the trip was going. I even stopped for bad free coffee at a couple rest stops on my way up. I hit Seattle at 10:50pm. Just about the time the Seahawks game let out. Yep. I hit North Gate at a little after midnight if that tells you anything. Gah. It was almost 1am by the time I got to my mom's house.

Spent Sunday with my mother and grandmother and then left about 8pm back for Portland. Here is my embarrassing confession. I got lost when I got back to Portland. Yeah. . . I was confused about the off-ramps and the freeway exchanges and ended up in Gresham - and then got lost in NE Portland. I just couldn't get home! I also had a full bladder.

When I finally made it to my apartment, there was a raving, drunk dude on my front steps and two police officers. Ah, it's good to be home.

Privyet comrades! It's that time again! What time, you ask, clearly confused by my self-assurance of the situation. Well, the second time in about two weeks that my phone battery has completely died on me at the most inopportune time therefore cutting off all outside communication with my friends and family.

This is a very busy next couple of weeks for me. I'm still trying to unpack and organize my apartment, but that has to be put on hold for a while, unfortunately.

I have a wedding on Saturday in Hood River! It's going to be fantastic, I'm sure. Playing some music that is a little more adventurous for me. I'm excited, to say the least.

Once the wedding is through, I have a busy week including two airport gigs, airport security training, BikePortland get together, a theme party, a wedding gig in Washougal, WA and a bike move! I am sure there is more, but I am relying on my friends to fill in the gaps as I lost a bit of information.

I am sure that I will be making an attempt to get downtown a bit this next week. Trying to scrape together rent and all that!

I'm also trying to find time to complete the CD recording, but I don't want to feel rushed. Not to mention a couple articles I'm working on for BikePortland and all the other crazy stuff that encompasses being me!

Hope everyone has a good weekend. I'm trying to get together a group of people to go to the beach with me on Sunday so I will get to relax a bit!

I perform at the airport every Tuesday and Thursday. Well, today I was at the airport. I arrive by light rail, play, and then go downtown to busk for a few hours. Today was a "Carfree Happy Hour" at a local SE bar in Portland. I arrived by bus. Ed took pity on the fact that I would have to transfer, thereby taking TWO buses for a span of a mile and a half. He offered to take me home on his cargo bike. I sat in front with my backpack and harp.

A passerby asked "Is that a harp?" and when I answered yes, he said'; "I must be in SE" and proceeded to take our photo with his iPhone. It probably turned out better than this one! (Rob did a fantastic job, my phone just doesn't have a flash!)

The first weekend out with the new harp trailer was a success! I was able to get my three-speed cruiser up and running Friday evening, just in time to go to the PSU Farmer's Market on Saturday morning. Taking out a "just fixed" bike on a brand new trailer? Am I insane? Probably.

Saturday's trip downtown was a success followed by Sunday's grand adventure.

Sunday I jerry-rigged the trailer to my road bike's back rack. I was heading to St Stephan's Episcopal Parish and I knew that it might be hilly. The performance there was wonderful. I got a message from "Pasture Ted" of the Bike Temple letting me know where the Joy of Sects ride was going to be. I ended up meeting up with them after my gig and took the harp trailer far out into NE Portland before the hitch snapped. Ted lashed it to his bike and took the trailer for me to a wonderful friend's house where after sandwiches and a trip to Fred Meyers, was able to get some more parts to make it steady enough to ride home.

During a Tuesday evening ride, I packed it differently and all the initial problems that I had experienced disappeared! Yay for fine tuning!

You're more than likely to see me around much more now that I have this wonderful new trailer!

The weather in Portland is frightful, what with an "excessive heat warning" for the last few days, temperatures in the high 90s, breaking 100 during the day and staying desperately hot at night.

This morning, in the heat, my dad and I removed the old "kiddy" plastic tub from the inside of this steel frame and installed the new plywood bed! It's almost twice as long as the old one, measuring at 22" x 55" - my dad built it without seeing the frame at all. Just with measurements and shoddy descriptions over the phone.

I am going to paint up the sides with "Official Harp Transport Vehicle" and my website and such before the weekend.