Duchess Clothier

The spouse is excited because while we're in Portland we're picking up a bunch of shirts from Seyta at Duchess Clothier.



Seyta's space is right next to Audio Cinema, under the Hawthorne Bridge.



It looks cool inside. I've never been to an event here, but I'm looking forward to the original rock opera that a friend will be performing in here this fall.





OK, back to the business at hand.



Nice shirt!



Seyta and her partner make custom (or "bespoke," as the kids like to say these days) shirts and suits.

She does amazing work. You can pick designs from the '30s, '40s, '50s, or '60s, and choose all the details (open collar, French cuffs, number of buttons, placket width) -- OK, please excuse me, I really don't know suiting terminology.



Plus, you get to choose from hundreds of fabrics in her swatch books.



The girl's just really into men's clothes. It's her personal mission to get the men of the Northwest to take a little more pride in their appearance. She tells about a friend of hers who's recently instituted optional "Formal Fridays" at his office. My husband, a preening fop, would love that.

I am crazy about this suit. I wish my husband's tastes were a little more Western like this.

A Deer at Dirty Little Secret

I go to Portland to get my hair cut by the owner of Dirty Little Secret on MLK Boulevard. This is the first time I've checked out the back of the recently expanded salon, which now has spa services.

Nice!



Lucynda worked really hard on this place for a long time. It's kind of thrilling to see what a great job she's done.



I continue to walk around and annoy people with my camera.



Then I settle down to get my hair washed, but someone calls out, "There's a deer outside! Get your camera."

Weird.

I walk outside, dripping soap, and snap some photos of this poor lost doe.



Animal Control's on the way.



And the deer is fine.

Rainier, Oregon

Friday night we had a couple drinks in Rainier, Oregon. Whenever I'm in a rural town, I like to look for the oldest tavern and check it out.

It looks like this might be it.



It's even part of an old hotel -- perfect.



The Alaskan tap is dry, unfortunately, so I get a Labatt's.



Ashtrays! I remember ashtrays. I wonder how long it will be before Oregon bans smoking in public.



This tavern is old.



Video poker and also karaoke in the back.



We're hungry, so we head to El Tapatio (which means Guadalajaran man, by the way) for some nachos. As we admire this mural, we catch a girl whom we'd seen at the tavern doing the exact same karaoke song at this place too. Something about being from the bookdocks and going to church on Sunday. She's followed by a man who sings "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy." Yee-haw!

No Georgetown Dump Party

Good evening, everyone. Hope you're enjoying you're midweek weekend. Me, I've had a little wine, liquor, and beer. That's why these photos are so... awful.

Tonight Georgetown activist Kathy had a party at her house to celebrate our defeat of the dump proposal. She invited the whole Georgetown mailing list, where I lurk. I warn them in advance that I'm going to be representing Beacon Hill at their party.

She said she was afraid I would post bad pictures of her yard. Nope, I'm going to post bad pictures of your guests. Not because they're bad-looking -- on the contrary, they were all quite good-looking -- but because I am just sucking at photography, just as I've been sucking at nuerous drinks, tonight. Sorry, everyone, but here you are!

Holly's making burgers, yay!



When Kathy said "full bar," she wasn't kidding!



I hadn't had spodi since my undergraduate years.



Lots of people showed up.



Kathy made amazing strawberry treats.



Oh, good, I'm not the only one taking photos.



I'd never seen a happier hydrangea.



This is not the first time I've taken a photo of this dude without his permission. Last time was at his art gallery during the Georgetown Carnival.



David and Joel. I'd met Joel before, in preparation for the dump meeting. He kindly told me that my testimony was great (when in fact it sucked, though I did try). I later talk to David and find out he's a legislative aide for Sally Clark, whom I like.



Holly and a pal.



Cute!





I later talk to this guy and find out he's the state legislator for my district.



I recognize this guy on the left. He represents Sabey, the company that bought the old Georgetown brewery. I recognize him from the hearing. They are trying really hard to reach out to the neighborhood, good for them. He puts in more than a token appearance at the party, though he doesn't seem to drink from as many bottles as I do, for sure.



Normally, I wouldn't cut a greyhound's paws off in a shot. Sloppy!



More of Kathy's wonderful strawberries.



City Councilmember Sally Clark showed up, good for her. I recognize her because we both worked at the UW school paper years and years ago, she a little while before me, but we did met back then.



I later meet this guy, who works on councilmember's Nick Licata's staff.



Amazingly, my photography gets even worse.





Thanks for the great party, Kathy and Holly!

A Garden in Maple Leaf

Last night we paid a surprise visit to some friends in the Maple Leaf neighborhood. We didn't drop in on them exactly. We called and asked if they'd like our company in 20 minutes, and they said yes.

I hadn't seen their backyard in a while.





It's lovely.





They even have some sculpture.







And back at home, today we finally built a cedar screen in front of the A/C unit in our front yard.



Thank God it's finally done. I've been embarrassed about it for two years. And now I get to plant a bunch of stuff in front of it, hurray!