2010 in review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and the results were better than I expected, considering that I fell off the radar during the last couple of months. Here’s a high level summary of the overall blog health of Weird & Wonderful in PDX:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Fresher than ever.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 2,500 times in 2010. That’s about 6 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 27 new posts, not bad for the first year! There were 223 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 52mb. That’s about 4 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was March 4th with 90 views. The most popular post that day was About.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, mail.yahoo.com, slashingtongue.com, digg.com, and twitter.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for yackawow, yaka-wow definition, berry seasons, ren thompson portland, and pdx chinese garden.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

About February 2010

2

A Good Day for a Parade in St. Johns May 2010
5 comments

3

Hats Galore at the Easter Parade April 2010
2 comments

4

A Big Splash on the Waterfront February 2010
6 comments

5

Yaka-wow! A New Word is Born May 2010
1 comment

A Peek at ‘Portlandia’

Wow, it’s been a busy, busy few months. Not much time for blogging. But I can’t pass up the chance to let the ex-Portlanders and Portlander-wannabes among my readers know about the first taste we’re getting of an upcoming TV series, Portlandia.

It’s a project that stars Fred Armisen (Saturday Night Live–he’s the guy who plays Barak Obama) and Carrie Brownstein (who was in the band Sleater-Kinney). The first episode will air Jan. 21 on cable TV’s IFC channel.

Meanwhile, here’s a video link that should make you smile.

And a link to the series home on the web.

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And I hope everyone has a fabulous Christmas / Hanukkah / Kwanzaa / solstice season. For me, I’ll be glad when the days start getting longer again–only a few more days!

How Much Water?

Our cool September nights already are suggesting that the autumn rains will be here soon in the Portland metro area. But until they really set in, gardeners will be watering at least some parts of their yards and gardens.

I’m paying special attention to a couple of transplanted shrubs; to a tricolor beech tree (Fagus sylvatica ‘Roseomarginata’), planted by the wonderful volunteers at Friends of Trees in my parking strip this summer; and to a few vegetable plants still struggling to produce results after a late start (my fault) and a slow growing season (the cool weather’s fault).

But how much water do lawns and garden plants really need during the dry summer and early fall?

Updated every Thursday

If you live in Multnomah, Clackamas or Washington County, you can save both water and money by using the Weekly Watering Number (at right) as your guide.

You type your ZIP code into a box on that page, hit enter/return, and the website tells you how many inches of water your lawn needs that week.*

For other plants, adjust the number in this way, according to the site:

“Shrubs: 50% of the Weekly Watering Number.

Perennials: 50% of the Weekly Watering Number.

Vegetables: 75% of the Weekly Watering Number (new starts may require more water).

Trees: Newly planted trees need regular watering for up to the first couple of years, while established trees may need a deep soak or two in summer.”

The Weekly Watering Number:

http://www.conserveh2o.org/outdoors/irrigation/weeklywateringnumber/

* [To determine the amount of water, in inches, that your hand or automatic sprinkler gives plants, see instructions here. You can order a free kit there, too.]

A Bridge’s 100th Birthday Party!

The PDX Bridge Festival’s day of saying happy 100th birthday to the Hawthorne Bridge was a microcosm of the things that make Portland unique. This bridge carries thousands of cars every day, but Multnomah County agreed to close it to traffic so we could dance, dance, dance there for a couple of hours on a Saturday night.

It was Portland at its Weirdest & Wonderful-est!!

A Jackie Uh-Oh moment:
When the March 4th Marching Band and their wild retinue came onto the bridge, their dancing got so enthusiastic that the bridge, too, was bouncing–enough to knock you off your feet if you weren’t paying attention. Wow!

So, though Jackie Uh-Oh kept dancing, she identified the sturdy strut she would grab if the whole deck began to fall 70 feet or so into the dark, cold Willamette River. And she stayed very close to it till the bouncing stopped!

Thank you, Tucker & Jessica & Sharon Wood Wortman (The Bridge Lady), and all the other dedicated, creative people who gave many hundreds of people–from all walks of life–the chance to hear great music, dance in the middle of a beautiful, 100-year-old bridge, and experience joyful feelings of community.

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Next Saturday, August 7, the PDX Bridge Festival will give us another treat: Brunch on the Bridge. The county will close the Hawthorne to traffic again and let us have a gigantic picnic, atop the GRASS-COVERED center lanes of the bridge.

Buy a ticket at http://bit.ly/BridgeBrunch, and next week you’ll be the one at a uniquely Portland Weird & Wonderful event!

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Of course, there already is kvetching online about how much better the multimedia show on the bridge tonight could or should have been.

To which Jackie Uh-Oh says: Get some gratitude, people!

Think about putting on a dinner party for 100, spending two solid weeks doing all the cooking yourself, and then having to park all the guests’ cars after they arrived.

Multiply that workload by 100 or 1,000, and maybe you’d be getting into the equivalent neighborhood of what these folks did over the course of more than a year.

On a shoestring.

Without a big sponsor like all the other big summer events in PDX have.

As a great big gift to all of us.

Shakespeare, Olde Style

A way to say "yay!" at OPSFest

It’s finally sunny in PDX! As you join the mass exodus to the outdoors that this inspires, think about dropping by a neighborhood park to see the hilarious rendition of “Much Adoe About Nothing” that is being performed in various Portland parks through August 16.

"Much Adoe About Nothing" poster

Even in the misty rain in Cathedral Park last Sunday, the performers gave it their all. There is a rotating cast, and they don’t learn their lines in preparation. Hence the “Original Practice Shakespeare Festival” label [and the extra "e" on adjectives] that this totally Weird & Wonderful event proudly wears. (Read more explanation here.)

It’s a great introduction to Shakespeare for kids, because they don’t have to sit still or stay quiet. Indeed, the Groundlings arrayed on blankets and in lawn chairs are expected to shout their approval or disdain whenever the action on “stage” warrants it. (If you prefer to be genteel, OPSFest sells wooden smile/frown signs for you to hold up.)

I’m writing this too late for the performance that took place today in Washington Park this weekend. And  next week the OPSFest actors will take the 4th of July weekend off. But they’ll be back from July 11 to August 16.  Wander over and check it out!

Faves For You, Finally!

Click on the “My Faves” tab at the top of the page to see my latest (okay, my ONLY) additions to the long-promised list of my favorite places and events  full of Weird & Wonderful in PDX energy.

There are website/blog recommendation there, too. (Who ever coined the term “blogroll” anyway? I’m boycotting this ridiculous word.)

Here are some tidbits to lure you into clicking on “My Faves” above. Or just click here, or below.

Gardening & Plants

Lan Su Chinese Garden, which many people still call the Portland Classical Chinese Garden.

Growing Gardens, which has great info on a blog, & classes too.

Mary’s Garden, a NE Portland woman whose propagation avocation has taken over her front yard. She’ll share her bounty with you.

Just Us Hens, the blog where you can find two charming PDXers who will help get your yard or chicken coop into shape.

See more…

Being Green

The Weekly Watering Number, which might keep you from turning into a beastly Water Hog. If it ever stops raining in Portland this summer, that is.

See more…

Weird Portland

Dave Knows, written by a native Portland who always told his friends what was going on that weekend, and then decided to tell everyone else too.

PDX.fm, an online radio station with PDX-unique shows

Voodoo Doughnut, the other one (with free parking!)

See more…

And This Too

Willamette Valley birding maps (downloadable)

Tide Tables, for the Willamette River

See more…

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The Rose Samaritan of NoPo

The nearly relentless rainfall of May and June eased a bit this past weekend, freeing the mature “Chicago Peace” rose at my St. Johns house to put forth a few exquisite blooms for the first time. Just in time for the Portland Rose Festival!

(Before this, the buds were doing something I had never seen before: They seemed to turn to mush from the heavy rains. No chance of full bloom there!)

One of My Roses (Photo: John Recht)

The new blooms reminded me that I never thanked The Anonymous Neighbor who secretly finished trimming back that rose bush for me last fall.  I had become distracted during the task, and left the bush only half-scalped.

It was days later when I finally had a “Doh!” moment. But I was amazed to find that the trimming had been finished already, by an expert hand.

Because of this random act of kindness, the bush is looking like its normal healthy self this spring.

And that, friends, is one of the many reasons that I love living in weird & wonderful Portland!

A Jackie Uh-Oh Reminder

The PDX/Oregon strawberries clock is ticking. With so much rain, the fruit of the single-bearing varieties (still the best kind, in Jackie’s opinion) will turn to mush before long. So buy these jewels of the Oregon fields right way, or you’ll be too late!

Learn more here.