Elderblogging 2.0 Begins in PDX Retirement Community

Ten days into our altered lifestyle in the northwest.  Besides the physical part of getting settled, accepting that we really did not reduce our possessions enough, there's much to experience--in addition to our family.  Last week we went to  orientation for SSI, Senior Studies Initiative,  sponsored by the local community college.  We'd enjoyed a couple of their "Current Events" meetings last winter on our "deciding" visit.   There are six sites around town, only one close by. 

It took place in Lake Oswego, very leafy with big houses; I wondered how people get there without a car.  Intrigued that one of the groups has a presentation scheduled on Emma Goldman.  Looking forward to that.  Today, after a trip to an ENT doctor (nose-bleeding is my dramatic response to the move), I mentioned to Ron that our time so far has felt very suburban.  Must get out of the car soon, take mass transit buses and light rail which are very available from our place.

Saturday we stopped by the Belmont Street Fair, an annual explosion of  hippie-dom plus eviro and neighborhood consciousness.  Not the only one, of course; the city is filled this time of year with celebration, fruit festivals.  Young people come to several parts of Portland for the lifestyle of music and tatoos, live alongside young families who sort of like that atmosphere.  This is the world we know from visiting our daughter in a nearby neighborhood. 

Yesterday I went to the Terwilliger Users Group (TUG to insiders) and was amazed by how many people were there.  Must have been forty, men and women.  A woman gave a talk about Facebook which I was pleased to hear.  Each of our children, different as they are from one another, is now on it.  When I had dinner in New York before we left with Lisa Daehlin, the soprano/knitter, she told me I ought to consider it for the Condom Amulet project.  It's thanks to her that there's a group for it on Ravelry but Facebook does have some perks not available there. 

The staff tech person (how cool is that?) for Terwilliger Plaza had mentioned there were a couple of other folks with blogs living here, so I asked if the internal website might list them.  It's going to happen.  This is very different from New York City where I never met another blogger near my advanced age.

Tonight another Plaza activity, "Victory for Woman Suffrage in Oregon," a talk with great slides by Dr. Kimberly Jensen of Western Oregon University.  I have been too east-coast-centric about women's studies; was surprised by many western states voted to give women the vote ahead of the opposite coast.  Portland was a leader in moving the Oregon legistlature to do in 1912--on the sixth try and pioneered less ladylike approaches with mass advertising and public displays.  In  her recent book, Minerva, Mobilizing Women in the First World War,  Jensen has written about Dr. Esther Lovejoy, a Portland physician and local leader in women's rights, who was an Army doctor. 

For the coming 2012 centennial of woman suffrage in Oregon, here's a link to an active committee gathering ideas and material--particularly interested in finding photos and letters from the period. 

Zoe, our granddaughter, on a brief visit to our apartment, announced in her four-year-old way (birthday party last Saturday), "What a mess!"  One day we hope to present a better model to our descendants. If we can only figure out where to hang all the pictures, stow the books.

Comments

[Lydia]

Oh My! You are here in the Northwest! I just replied to your comment at my blog and said I hoped all was going ok with the packing. How about: I hope all is going well with the UNpacking (especially since Zoe is a neatnik!).

This all sounds very exciting, Naomi. And you will enjoy getting around on Max to rid yourself of that suburban feeling.

[twitter.com/claudecf]

Not sure what I have done clicking on Twitter above the comment box. Only future will tell. Delighted to hear you have sort of settled in and looking forward to more news!

[Anne Gibert]

Glad you're here and getting settled. Soon I plan to make a trip to Portland and I hope we can meet.

[lisa]

Naomi:
Missing you in NYC. Best of luck on all that the transition brings.
-Lisa

[joared]

Welcome to the West Coast! Sounds like you're really getting into the swing of things, finding lots of activities of interest and enjoying exploring the area. How neat that you've actually found some other bloggers near you. I have yet to meet any remotely contemporary local bloggers here and heaven only knows I promoted it big time in some local retirement communities.

I'll look forward to your accounts of Portland life. I'm still gonna make it up there one of these years and visit Powell's.

[Hattie]

HI from Paris, where stress is a way of life! It sounds as if you are having a great time and already making a lot of connections. It's wonderful that you have found some nearby bloggers. And I do hope you will consider Facebook. It has its good points, once you get accustomed to it.

[jude lombardi]

Glad to hear you arrived safely and have LOTS to do both in and out of your apartment, with and without grand kids. much love, judy

[dale]

Hey, welcome to Portland!

[Lori]

Welcome to Portland. ps My kids are in their 20s and neither one has a car. We live in the Beav.

[Hattie]

I have been having odd dreams about you and Ron. Paris has unsettled me, I guess.