Portland "Where young people go to retire"

So I spent a lovely week in Portland, Oregon.

My dear friend Michael traveled there to attend an IVAW conference, so I went with him to see Portland, and to see our friends Hannah and Joel.

They have a lovely house and roommates, and of course, chickens!

Veggies!
Portland has more beautiful edible and non-edible plants per square foot than any other city I've seen.

Hopworks was an awesome introduction to some of the local brews.

Hannah and Joel powering the restaurant while we waited for our food.

We took a trip to the beach, and stopped to stretch our legs and gather wild berries.


I don't think Mike was enjoying himself enough.

Or Joel, clearly.

The beach was simply amazing.



We found a little shack just far enough in the grass that there was no wind at all, which made for the perfect temperature and hangout space!

We pretty much dined like kings every night. (Hannah and Joel are unimpressed by their cooking...I'd hate to let them taste even my best dishes!)


(PORTLAND COMPOSTS! )

Day care ON BIKES.

Hannah and Joel took me to the farm they have a work-share at.


Pickin' broccoli.

Jade, most awesome dog on the west coast!

Hannah and Orson.

Don't worry, I also spent plenty of time at Powells, and the PDX Art Museum. And at In Other Words, and plenty of Anarchist/Vegan Coffee shops.

Best part of my trip? I convinced Hannah and Joel to move to Philly.

I'LL SEE YOU GUYS IN OCTOBER!

Pittsburgh

The city of a gazillion bridges. Apparently just one more than Venice, according to Celia and my gracious host Adam. Adam and Ian were wonderful to let us stay with them while Celia had to come to Pittsburgh for the once-a-semester in-person session of her online class, and I decided to take advantage!


I saw some Museums the first day, namely the Nationality Rooms, and the Carnegie Museum of Art, and the Warhol. (For those of you who don't care to see a thousand artworks, I've moved that sort of photo to a new Tumblr I started for Other Peoples' Art that I like- if you DO care, then click there!)


The Mattress Factory was worth the whole trip!



There was indeed a Cell Phone Disco, but the discovery was better than the photo of it, so go find it yourself!

Shepard Fairey


The Conflict Kitchen! ("Conflict Kitchen is a take-out restaurant that only serves cuisine from countries that the United States is in conflict with.")

Overlooking the city.

The last morning Adam took Celia and me to the Incline



We learned a few things that weekend, to be sure!

Leaving to Come Back

Once again haven't been posting very diligently. Was having a bit of a hard time, wrapping up some emotions about some situations, but they seem to have cleaned themselves up for the most part.

I've been traveling quite a bit lately as well. Pittsburgh last weekend, NYC/Brooklyn this past weekend, and Portland for over a week starting Thursday!

I haven't been up to too much aside from those travels, but I've got some photos to tell some quick tales.

A month or so ago I did my first Vermiculture Demo as a favor for my friend Toby at Sustainable19125. It was a lot of fun: who doesn't love to share knowledge and passion with people who are interested to hear about it?!

Photo by Kelsey or Beth, who were so wonderfully patient while I did this demo!

Carson, Beth, Kelsey


I've also been house hunting with my friend Kelly. Its going pretty slowly, but we're really trying to be patient while we find the right place, and the right third roommate.

I've been bad about going to the studio, but have been working on a few things. I've been going to the print shop every Tuesday, and I should have some finished etchings soon!

I'm going to post some photos about my recent journeys, and I'll see you again when I return from Portland. I may have to leave from time to time, but I always come back, eventually...

Hot Hot Heat

My roof garden is doing quite nicely! The chard and kale need to be harvested though, dinner tomorrow?


Jackie came to hang out at the warehouse last week. So Happy!

First Friday last week Rosie and Mark played at The Garden Center, and it was lovely!

Elizabeth; Celia, Toby.

Then off to Little Berlin for Epic Pain, the High School Art Show.

There were lots of great pieces, but John Sinclair's was the best. Not just because I was so looking forward to it either!

He set up his bedroom from High School and invited girls to come hang out, where he seduced them by playing the guitar, making poptarts, and watching Say Anything.

The goal was to get girls to make out with him, but I was the only one to take him up on it! Well, me and Mark...

Yesterday I took Zac's friend (my friend now too!) Shion around Philadelphia. After the ICA we went to see my friend Sandy Boyer's show. I was really quite impressed!

Tonight I am going to see Puppet Uprising's 5 Act Shakespeare play: Antony&Cleopatra!