Sacred and Profane

I'm weird. I know that. I'm especially weird for a pastor type. Yesterday I got to experience the sacred in some pretty unusual places. First of all at some businesses on 3rd Street. Author, Tami Parr, was in town to talk about her book. We had her into the wine shop along with a couple of Oregon cheese makers. It was a holy even to me. Here are people who care deeply about making something of elegance a beauty. The two cheese makers are creating heaven on earth. Both make goat cheeses. My favorites were the fresh chevre with pesto from Fern's Edge Goat Dairy, and Sunset Bay, an ash encrusted cheese with a ribbon of paprika going through the middle which is made by Rivers Edge Chvre. We were blessed to have both dedicated cheese makers in our shop to share their wonderful creations. Especially the Sunset Bay cheese looks like art to me. This movement of making beautiful, artisan cheeses is such an act of love, created in very small amounts, and in very labor intensive ways. What a gift to be able to share with people who appreciate their hard work and artistry. That's where Tami Parr's gifts come in. She has taken the time to notice these hard working people and written a book to bring them to our attention. Her book, "Artisan Cheese of the Pacific Northwest" is part information catalogue about the people who are making these cheeses, and part travel guide if you would ever wish to take your own Pacific Northwest cheese tour (and by golly, don't you think it's about time that you did?) She shared her story of being a lawyer and not liking her job. Not thinking she was starting a new career, she started a blog about cheese about five years ago, which has resulted in a new passion and a new career.
She said that one of the reasons small, artisan cheese makers have flourished is farmer's markets. They allow small producers to bring their product to market and sell it without the hassles of trying to work with a super market chain. They also provide a ready audience of people who appreciate well crafted, organic products. We had a great crowd turn out for the book signing and the pre-party at Wednesday Wines. And twenty five folks showed up at Third Street Books. They were treated to an entertaining and informative talk from Tami, as well as a gorgeous plate of artisan cheeses provided by our own Abbie and Olivers. And, then, as if it weren't close enough to heaven already we were treated to some wines by Remy Wines of McMinnville. This is what heaven will look like to me, free cheese, an expert to guide you in your enjoyment of the cheese, and free wine.
Now, I'm off to the profane. Our denomination's annual torture session where we conduct the business of the "church". I would like to suggest to our bishop that we dispense all of this church business and bring in Tami to talk about cheese, and then share some beautiful cheeses and wines together. It would lift the spirits of the people of the church and prepare them to go back an work hard in their local churches. And, in my own little warped cranium, it would be one heck of a lot more holy.

Maryhill Winery, Now That's a Bar

On our way home from our daughter Noel's graduation last weekend we decided to stop at the Maryhill Winery. This was such a good choice on so many levels. First of all the views from the Washington side of the drive are so much more beautiful than from the Oregon side. You begin to see the river right away, whereas on the Oregon side you get to see a lot of sagebrush and receptacles for weapons of mass destruction (turns out there in Umatilla, Oregon, not in Iraq as we had be led to believe.) True, the Washington side is only two lanes and a bit more curvy, but it's beautiful.

Our server at Deborah, and she was delightful. She was passionate about the wine she was serving, and very well versed on the history of the place. The entire tasting room was built around a twenty foot long, beautiful, quarter-sawn oak bar. The bar is well traveled. It was ordered from a Sears catalogue by the Brunswick Corporation and installed in a bar in Alaska during the gold rush years. (There are still bullet hole marks in parts of the bar from the unruly customers who saddled up to it up north.) Eventually it made it's way down south to a bar in Spokane, Washington where it suffered at the hands of an idiot who painted it black! Apparently purchasing the bar was a bargain, it was the restoration that cost a fortune. But what a beautiful piece of history to lean against and enjoy a taste of wine.

Maryhill will pour you a generous tasting of their entry level wines for free. Very nice. But I would recommend that you spring for the $5 tasting fee and go straight to the premium wines. They will refund the fee if you purchase more than $20 of wine, which you should be happy to do once you've tasted them. Five tastes of beautiful reds for only five bucks. What a deal. Three of the wines tasted sell for over a hundred dollars, and they are amazing. Our host, Deborah was unabashedly biased toward their Reserve Barbera. It sits slightly down the tasting and price list at $24 a bottle. The '04 Reserve Barbara is a beauty. Dark, sumptuous fruit with a leathery, black pepper aroma. The Reserve Zinfandel ($35 a bottle) was excellent as well. We purchased several of the Barberas which I felt were the best bargain on the list, and a wine that will get better and better for another couple of decades.

Turn around at the bar and enjoy an amazing view of the Columbia Gorge. Marhill has a concert series with some big name performers. They are also doing a series of weekend performances each weekend on the upper terrace. So, on some beautiful Friday this summer, cut out work early and head over. Or, if you are traveling to see family east of the mountains, give yourself enough time to stop either coming or going. Head for Maryhill with a picnic dinner, purchase a bottle of wine to share, and enjoy. Have a seat on their patio and enjoy an amazing view of the Columbia Gorge, while also taking in some free music. And, of course, make sure you purchase a beautiful bottle of wine to go with that food. It could be the perfect outing. The patio and winery close at 6 p.m., so plan accordingly.

One More Project Before I Go

This is the second wine storage barrel I've made. The first was for David on his 50th birthday. At David's party his friend from Seattle wanted to know if I'd build another one. I tried to say no, but I'm not really good at it. I'm weird, I don't like to build things twice. I enjoy figuring out the puzzle of how I can put it together and then move on to the next project. (A little ADD, maybe.) But David's friend, Dmitri, was determined, so here it is.
Quite a few things had to come together to make this possible. The house was in the air for a while and one of the things I had to do was disconnect the power to my woodworking shop. So, first the house had to come down, then I had to reconnect the power to the shop, then I had to clean the shop up (no small task, let me tell you), and then I had to build the wine rack. I made several improvements from David's rack (which I did go and service at his house--that's customer service.) I left more of the tops and bottoms of the staves that I cut out along with an extra metal loop on top and bottom. This meant that I couldn't get as many racks in, so this one only holds 20 bottles of wine instead of two full cases. But it's sturdy, and I like the looks of it. (And, no, I won't build any more, so don't ask, or I'll quote you my "I don't really want to do this project price," and you'll say no!
I had to get this done because we are leaving for Montana to see our daughter, Noel, graduate from college. She's getting a degree in TV and radio production. She's graduating with honors at the top of her class, so she got that smarts thing from her mother for which I'm very thankful. I'm not sure if it's all the smarts, she got the organizational gene as well. In addition to seeing her graduate, we get to see two productions she's been working on. The first is the Missoula Children's Theater production of "Oliver". Noel is playing Nancy in this show, a big role for her. She's paid her dues in the choruses of several MCT productions and it's going to be really fun to see her in a leading role. The other production is her senior project, a documentary on the effects of suicide on families called "Unspoken--Voices of Suicide in Montana". This is going to be a great trip! We also get to celebrate Mother's Day with Robin's mom who recently lost her husband. Life is very short, so we need to celebrate every chance we get. We have a LOT of reasons to celebrate this week. I hope you do to.

Concrete Finishers Are the Best Singers

Maybe it's just because it's Cinco de Mayo, but the concrete finishers from Finishing Touches are great singers. It might also be the acoustics of the basement now that it has an additional hard surface.
Yesterday was a tough one. Had to have all of the plumbing done so that they could do the pour today. My plumbing did not pass inspection, so, of course I was doing it over . . . and over . . . and over. After working non-stop for six hours at a task I would really rather not be doing, I called the inspector and she rushed over. It all got approved, Cellar Ridge got the new hanging bracket on the new beam, and we were all ready for this morning. All of this plumbing work was for the three pipes sticking up out of the ground that you see in the picture above. It's just that you have to have it in the ground, and it has to be right BEFORE they put down the concrete. Sure you can cut it out later, but you don't want to have to be doing that.
Yesterday I finished up with the inspection, ran upstairs, cleaned up, changed clothes and then ran across the street and grabbed the bus to go see Desmond Tutu speak at the University of Portland. Very, very cool. It was fun to take up a whole busload of folks from the Cooperative Ministries to see such an inspired person. I was wondering what we were all doing up there together, when it struck me that we wanted to feel Tutu's energy, wanted to be in close proximity to it, to absorb and be inspired by it, and I was.
So, happy Cinco de Mayo. If you want to hear some great, authentic, acoustically perfect singing, come on by the house. It seems to resonate just perfectly up to my chair in the living room right in front of the fireplace.

Another Day Another Concrete Contractor

This morning at 7:00 a.m. it was the Finishing Touches concrete contractors who were hard at work under the house. Somehow sound seems to be actually amplified as it comes up through the floorboards of this old house. Apparently they had to do some removing before they were able to lay down sand and plastic. I've been surprised at the number of different contractors who work on concrete. First the general contractor had to do some concrete work. When they went to put in the new beams for the basement they had to cut out pockets in the old foundation to get them in place. Next the house movers came in and had to cut out more pockets. They also had to cut the concrete foundation out from under the fireplace chimney. It's interesting that all of these people who do concrete work do not own concrete cutting saws. They all go out and rent them. I think it's just that if they actually owned one they would end up doing all of the cutting and no one wants to have to do that. At one point the house lifter actually called in another concrete specialist who only cuts concrete. This guy took care of a good portion of the chimney foundation in under half an hour.
Today the finish concrete guys showed up. They have the coolest truck ever. It has a boom with a conveyor belt that they can swing right on down into the basement. In my mind I saw these poor guys schlepping sand in wheel borrows all day long. It took them about two hours to put 6 inches of sand down over the whole floor area. If the city approves the work they've done, and the plumbing work that my brother and I did, they will pour the basement floor tomorrow. The second part of the equation is the really questionable one. I'm fairly confident that I'll be running to Lowe's later on today to purchase the right plumbing fixtures to reinstall where we put in the wrong ones. We'll see. My brother Dave knows much better than I about these plumbing things. Plumbing is complicated. It's suppose to be so easy, "poop flows downhill and payday's on Friday." Turns out not so. You have to have the pipes flowing in the right direction and they have to slope just the right amount (1/4" drop per foot of run.) And it's not just that, in addition to the flow down, there has to be a vent up. The vents have to be in just the right place, and they can not be dirty. (Bad vent, go to your room.) I don't know what a dirty vent is, I just know it's bad because my brother told me so. It took us seven and a half hours to put in the rough plumbing for the future basement bathroom and attach the temporary plumbing to the sewer pipe. Half of that time was me trying to figure out exactly where I wanted everything, and how it would all someday work out with the stairs and open spaces down there. But we figured it all out, and now are anxiously awaiting the plumbing inspector. I hope she likes what she sees. My brother told me everything we fine. Of course he told me that about the brakes on my bike in third grade about an hour before they failed on a big hill and I smashed into a fence and broke my arm. Most of the plumbing he does for me now is really just a guilt payment for that piece of bad mechanical work. So, now Dave faithfully works on my plumbing . . .but I don't let him anywhere near my car.