It was cloudy and cool when I woke up today. I had a cup of coffee with Mike – also an early riser- and I walked all three dogs around a bit. I then borrowed Mike’s bicycle and headed downtown towards Trinity Cathedral. I went a little early to listen to a woman speak on the Rule of Saint Benedict. There is a group at the Cathedral called the Cornerstone Community attempts to be a monastic community in the world. There seemed to be a bit of a contradiction in this, but certainly elements of Benedictine spirituality can be adapted for lay people. It was an interesting talk. After that, I stayed for the Eucharist. The church was surprisingly full for July. I estimate that the building seats about 800 and I would guess that there were a little under 600 present. The sermon was utterly uninspiring.
After the Eucharist, I met up with John. We walked over to 23rd Avenue, the trendy shopping area for the Northwest Portland neighborhood. We had a lovely – and remarkably inexpensive – lunch at Papa Haydn’s. I like Northwest. It seems like a more relaxed version of Soho or the Upper East Side. The residents of many Portland neighborhoods make me think of the song “I Wish I Could Go Back to College” from Avenue Q. The people who live in Northwest seem to have moved on in their lives.
In the afternoon we went to the Portland Art Museum. In all of our trips to the Rose City, we have never paid a visit here. Our loss: it’s a pretty good collection for a small city! The main building looks rather like a post office, but the art is more important the building housing it.
There was a traveling exhibit of California plein air landscapes, mostly from the Irvine Museum. We were both struck by the painting borrowed from a private collector of railroad tracks near Acton.
Much of the museum of devoted to contemporary art. This is a logical choice for a museum trying to build up a major collection quickly. The museum annexed the old Masonic Temple and it is devoted only to works by contemporary arts.
In the evening we went to the Lakewood Theater in Lake Oswego to see See How They Run. This is a World War II British comedy – more of a farce, really – about the goings on in a vicarage somewhere in the country. It is not a great work of theater by any means, but it is entertaining enough. We went to see Natalie Stringer, the daughter of a good friend of Mike’s, who was the ingénue. She was good! You can see an excerpt from the production below.
Tomorrow, we leave for the coast.
