A Vegan Feast To Raise $ For A Very Deserving Organization

dinner in the boys’ fort

at Post Apocalyptic Bohemia

to benefit OUR HOUSE

7 August 2011

watermelon & tomato skewers

with basil & champagne vinaigrette

with boys’ fort cooler

(cucumber, lime, lemon, agave, dill, seltzer & vodka)

confidential club cold cucumber dill soup

with summer ratatat tewey

(Lagarde Corbireres Rose 2009)

some girls allowed bad ass summer risotto

(Mason Cellars 3 Pears Pinot Grigio 2009)

black & blue all over

coconut ice with blackberries & blueberries

(Pasqua Prosecco NV)

Like so many things in life, click on it & it will get bigger

When I Was A Boy

Alex, I will take things that POP UP for $1000:
crocus in early spring
ideas
kernels of corn
erections
books
jack in the boxes

Made possible through a patchwork of partnerships: Portland Business Alliance, Portland Development Commission, the Downtown Marketing Initiative, the city offers the gift of Pop Up Shops during the Holiday Season. I work in downtown Portland & serve on the Downtown Retail Council. I know that there are a bunch of vacant commercial spaces available downtown & I think it is a brilliant idea to make use of them while the building owners search for permanent tenants. This is a totally smart & rather Portland-ish idea. The Pop Ups give talented local designers & artisans a place to sell their wares & services, something they couldn't normally afford, & it creates buzz & publicity for the spaces. So not only do both parties involved come out winners, but so do all the shoppers who love their guys because now we have more places to shop for the holidays!

The Husband & his business partner in Kenton Collective are set to open their own Pop Up- Boys’ Fort in late autumn. BOYS’ FORT will be a shopping spot for guys & those that love them . The shop will be featuring the works of local artists & designers using re-purposed materials & found objects with other local products & treasures with a decidedly masculine bent, offered for the modern urban male. As the Husband tells it- "think 'Manthropology'!"

This project is already taking up much of the Husband’s time, even with the opening 5 months away. This pleases me because he is focused, forceful, fresh & frisky, willing to jump off the cliff into the unknown, but giving voice to his artistic zeal. The Husband & the talented Jake have been overwhelmed with the beauty & beguilement of the offerings from their artists. The Kenton Collective will host an evening in early June at Post Apocalyptic Bohemia for the participating producers to meet.

Here is a link for you to get the word from Kenton Collective about Boys’ Fort & even a way for you to help out & to receive a nifty Boys’ Fort gift for your offering. Stop by & wish my boys luck.

Balls & Grass... A Chapter Of My Memoir, Or A Garden Problem's Solution?

 

Summer 2008... I add the bowling ball (far left side of photo)

Summer 2009... the Husband adds the pillar

The garden was designed & executed with intention of providing food, water, shelter & materials for birds & other critters & with aesthetic balance that reflects my tastes for excess & the husband's innate artistic sense of balance. Except for the fact that I always make note of the tasks & decisions that have yet to be actualized, I feel that at Post Apocalyptic Bohemia we have succeeded for the most part. The Garden is lush, & plants were chosen for leaf shape & size & not for colorful flowers & we make use of many grass varietals. Grasses are a current favorite plant group.

But, Gardening is not an avocation where you can say- "well, I am done...there it is, my garden." Changes are made daily & tastes change nearly as often. The house came with a backyard full of ivy & blackberries, a dog run & the posts from an old clothesline. Over time, we got rid of the unwanted elements, except for a large cement filled pipe. The husband tried sawing through it & digging it up. I suggested making it look "on purpose" & added a bowling ball to the top as a witty finial. Last summer the Husband put an old hollow pillar right over the top & voila... the pipe was gone & the Post Apocalyptic Bohemian aesthetic reached out even further into the world.

Summer 2009, except for the balls I add, the pillar stands alone

This year the pillar solution was just not good enough for the Husband. He used a damaged, cracked trough, last year's table in the Boys' Fort, & transformed it into a raised bed with variegated grasses. He cut a hole for the cemented pipe & lifted the empty trough right over the top, filled it with soil & compost. This is the solution for one of the garden's problem spots in Summer 2010:

The process

Summer 2010

Extra added photo view, my bog garden, planted in an old sitz bath that I found in a pile of garbage from a vacated house in our Wallingford neighborhood of Seattle.  I spied it on a dog walk &I carried the sitz bath home with 2 leashed dogs at 2am on a summer morning. It has had many uses, often as a water feature. This is the 2nd season of the sitz  bath bog garden: