A Banner Birthday

Good morning, my friends. First, I must thank the many of you who stopped by to wish me a happy birthday. I don't think the day could have been any more perfect. Maybe if I'd won the lottery or something...but then I'd have to play the lottery. Also, what in the world would I do with all that money? Such a burden. So, yeah...perfect in every way possible. 

Mike made waffles for breakfast. And then I did the only sewing of the day, finishing off the first of three blocks for "S" is for Sew. This is the measure twice, but once block.

With that finished, I took a little walk around the yard and filled the bird feeders. I thought possibly the peonies might bloom for my birthday, but nothing doing. Some of these are the size of ping pong balls. I worry there could be injuries when they finally burst open. Maybe today...

And then, I met Matthew at the River View Cemetery where we hunted down Virgil Earp's grave. I've driven by the cemetery many times, but never gone in. And let me just tell you, it is HUGE! And it's quite a maze driving through there. I wondered how we'd ever find one another. Here's a map of the place. I simply followed the signs directing me to the Main Office & Mausoleum, marked with a yellow arrow below.

Matthew came from a different direction, but we managed to find one another without too much trouble. We parked at the main office there, and then walked down the hill to where I've marked with an aqua dot above, which is where old Virgil's grave is located. Once we'd seen it, we walked back up the hill. The goal was to find the grave, but it turned out to be a lovely walk as well.

The cemetery is old, and so the landscaping is also old and mature. I'm sad it doesn't show up in the picture below, but Mt. Hood was perfectly framed through the break in the trees near the middle of the image.

There were huge azaleas.

My phone identifies this next one as spirea.

These are little buttercups.

There were rhododendrons the size of trees!

And I always take pictures of holly berries, no matter where or when I see them.

The little white guys below are wild asters, and my phone tells me the blue ones are Speedwell.

We were really only interested in Virgil Earp's grave, but we passed by monuments to many of Portland's most famous historical figures. Henry Failing has a street named for him. He was a banker, and one of the leading businessmen of the Pacific Northwest. He was one of Portland, Oregon's earliest residents, and served as the city's mayor in two non-consecutive periods, two-and-a-half years (two 15-month terms) starting in 1864 and later a two-year term starting in 1873. 

Also, we passed by the grave of George Washington Weidler, who was a 19th-century transportation agent, investor, and business owner in Portland. Born in Pennsylvania, he moved as a young man to St. Louis, Missouri, where he began a career in merchandising and shipping. His work gradually took him further west, to Utah Territory, Nevada Territory, California, and in 1866 to Oregon, where he remained for the rest of his life. He was one of the owners of the city's first street railway, and in 1880 he owned a lumber mill that was Portland's largest. He was the first person to sell electric lighting in Portland, and he helped organize a power company that was a predecessor of Portland General Electric. Weidler Street in northeast Portland is named in his honor.

It was about a ten minute walk from where we were parked, but then we found it: Virgil Earp's grave. Someone left those boots there in his honor.

Here's a close-up of his headstone.

And then we walked back up the hill to our cars. (Matthew was on his bicycle.) Along the way, we passed the grave of Henry Weinhard. He was a German-American brewer in Portland. After immigrating to the United States in 1851, he lived in Philadelphia, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Sacramento before settling in the Portland area. Weinhard worked for others in the beer business before buying his own brewery. He founded Henry Weinhard's and built its brewery complex in downtown Portland. 

The beer was popular in the northwest partly because of their funny advertising. I found one of their ads on YouTube. If you can't see the video click right here.

This next one gave us pause. 

Here's what it says:

On the adjacent side was this inscription:

A grandchild perhaps? And, yikes! The sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis is considered the worst sea disaster in U.S. Navy history. You can read more about it at that link I've given you. The moral of this story is: Don't get on a boat with anyone from this family.

Matthew and I briefly discussed getting lunch, but we'll do that another time. It was growing late in the day, and I had nearly an hour's drive to get home. Mike was gone when I arrived, but he came home with a nice bottle of wine for our dinner and flowers for me. What a guy.

We had dinner at The Charthouse near downtown. It has some of the best views of the city. Looking to the north, there was a beautiful view of Mt. St. Helens.

Looking to the east, we could see Mt. Hood.

We each selected from the three course "Chart Your Course" menu. We both started with the lobster bisque. So yummy.

For our entrees, Mike chose the prime rib. That's a little fried carrot ribbon sticking up from his mashed potatoes.

I chose the salmon. It was wrapped in prosciutto and had a miso balsamic glaze. Delicious.

We finished off with a Hot Lava Cake. I'd already blown out the candle on mine before I took this picture. This is their signature dessert. So good.

Here we are...two old people.

Mike's birthday is tomorrow, so I'm not just kidding when I say we're both getting older.

Today we're making a grocery shopping trip. I'll be making him some good food for his birthday tomorrow, starting with Eggs Benedict and finishing with Chicken Marsala...two of his favorites. It's a relatively short list, and so I should have plenty of time for some sewing this afternoon. I'm hoping to finish the Sweet Dreams quilt top. And you'll be happy to know the bear fabric for the borders arrived yesterday.

Also, you might remember that I was wishing I could get the pattern for the Alaska Shop Hop quilt blocks, but found only kits for sale...very expensive kits. They were definitely too rich for my blood. But then, I looked further, searching by the pattern name and the designer's name, and I FOUND IT!! It's not exactly the same pattern, but close enough. It's called the Northern Wilderness Renewed Pattern, and it's available right here.

I wasn't convinced it was actually available until I received notification that it had shipped this morning. This makes me very happy. I'll get started on it as soon as a slot opens up on my WIPs dance card, sometime later this summer when we're home from our trip.

And speaking of our trip...we leave three weeks from today, my friends. Time to start making your lists and checking them twice if you're coming with. As for us, we're getting serious as this end too.