We went in to work with Michelle in downtown Portland (she’s
kind of the D of Operations for Totem Steel, importing steel wiring from China
and elsewhere. Christopher works there as well) for the day. After a tour of her
new offices, she steered us off to the riverfront to find some breakfast.
Portland has a lovely downtown with lots of parks and trees
and other greenery. People were biking, jogging, walking all over the place! We
found a nice café overlooking the river and ordered a great breakfast sandwich
and sat on stools looking out on the busy river, with many bridges coming into
Portland. As we sat there we noticed people gathering outside with life jackets
and funny short square-ended paddles. I couldn’t figure out what they were
doing! Betty went back to the ladies room and spoke to a woman who told her
they were dragon boaters! I only had seen large boats with dragon heads in
Dragon Boat races at certain times of the year in Asia!
So we finished up and followed them when they headed toward
the river. We watched from an overlook as they went down to a dock and began
loading into long boats (no dragon heads!) with about 10 or 12 pairs next to
each other. I saw a sign Dragon Boat Club that said “Free trial” so told Betty
I was going down to the dock to get a closer pictures. There was a woman
sitting on a bench and I asked her if she was going to watch as well. She said
she usually paddles but hurt her back so was going to watch. When I asked about
the trial, she said, “Oh, do you want to do it?” I said, “Today?” she said yes.
I immediately said Sure! And she took a form for me to sign, gave me a jacket
and a paddle and headed me to a beginner boat. Betty was behind me doing the
same, and in 5 minutes we were in a boat!!! People were very welcoming and the
woman in the front of the boat gave us directions on how to hold the paddles
upright at the ready, turn your body toward your partner and pull the blade
through the water, following the person in front of you or the stroke, who was
2 seats ahead of me. We were off! Following another more experienced boat
(there were 3 full boats of people). I soon caught on and we paddled across the
Williamette and then paddled faster and faster (they practice for races that they
do all over). At one point we stopped and, with a slight head start for our
beginner boat, raced another boat for a couple of hundred strokes. It was
exhausting!! I was assured by my seatmate that we would be switching to the
other side. I kept banging my lower hand on the gunnel of the boat. We kept one
foot pressing under the seat in front and were supposed to lean out to paddle.
It was tricky!
We finally stopped, through rubber buoys between the boats
and rafted 3 boats together to take a break. Some people stood up to tell a
joke! Then starting in the middle of each boat and working front and back,
people kept low and switched positions. It was a relief to paddle with arms
switched. But both arms and shoulders were soon exhausted from keeping my arm
up in the air!! We soon headed back to the dock, after our hour on the water,
immediately after eating our breakfast!! If I’d known we were going to do this,
I would have waited to eat until AFTER paddling! We told the group we wouldn’t
be coming back as we were from back east, so they cheerfully waved goodbye to
us and we went on!! Great, unexpected fun way to start the day!! I was sore all
over the NEXT day! It was reminiscent of when I would start my teaching day
with a row on the Housatonic with the New Haven Rowing Club. I even stroked the
Head of the Charles once in Boston in a womens’ Eight!! Fun!
We had heard about the pink Hop On/Hop Off buses with 12
stops around Portland so walked down to Riverplace to the stop to get on. After
3 calls to the office and maybe a 45 minute wait, the trolley finally came! We
mainly wanted to get a ride uphill to the Rose Garden overlooking the downtown
and the Japanese Garden. First we drove through downtown and stopped at Pioneer
Square, Portland’s “living room”, where we disembarked to get our trolley
tickets (I bought a 2 day one for $34 in case Rod wanted to use it on Saturday)
and sat around busy PSquare, with exhibits set up, musicians playing, people
relaxing.
Finally heading uphill towards the gardens. And then the
trolley started balking!! Finally the driver pulled over and we waited for a
replacement vehicle and transferred. Finally we reached our stop and climbed a
long walkway to the Japanese Garden entrance. There was a guided tour beginning
in 10 minutes so we chose that. Our guide was an American from Boston, former
teacher in Taipei, various other places and most recently he and his wife
returned from Lebanon, teaching at international schools – history and other
subjects. He said he used to leave frenetic Taipei and weekend in Kyoto to zen
out in the gardens there! He was very knowledgeable and informative in
explaining various styles of the gardens. It was a small group and the tour was
about 45 minutes. Very enjoyable! We ended at the overlook of downtown, with a
hazy Mt. Hood in the distance.
We hiked back down to the rose garden to wait for the
trolley. By this time, it was nearing our 4 p.m. meetup with Michelle to ride
home (she had come in early around 7 so we could miss some of the Friday rush
hour!). The trolley seemed to take forever on its scenic tour through the Pearl
District, the alphabet area, etc. We met up with Michelle about 15 minutes late
and headed home. The pink tour was no bargain! We would have done better just
taking a taxi or I’m sure there were regular buses going up there. Live and
learn!
We did stop up at her office again and said hi to
Christopher who was leaving work as well. We had all seen each other last
summer at Sunset Beach where all of Judy’s 6 kids and families had gathered for
a week and Kerry, Jay, the kids and I had drive down to join them, stopping in
DC coming and going to spend the night with Jen and Martyn!
Michelle told us that Rod had called and that afternoon Judy
had had a severe sciatica attack when she tried to lift something in the garage
the wrong way and was screaming in pain! They had to call 911 and ambulance her
to the hospital where she still was in the emergency room. We headed home to
pick up Tully and head over to Vancouver. Rod was really shaken about seeing
Judy in such pain and feeling so helpless. They had to roll her on a sheet to
pick her up to put on the gurney and into the ambulance.
We arrived at the emergency room and Judy was in one of the
rooms, writhing in pain! Whatever pain meds they had given her so far wasn’t
cutting it!! She had had a CAT scan and they were waiting for results. We had
brought some food for Robert who had been there all afternoon, looking worn
out!! They were admitting Judy upstairs so we waited while they got her settled
in hehr room on the 8th floor and then went up there. We finally
decided we were tiring her out so we headed back to their house, leaving her
there for the night.
She ended up staying there until Monday! Getting an MRI for
more information that the CAT scan didn’t show. A neurologist was assigned and
would read the scans, even though Judy never saw him (that will come later, I
guess). The diagnosis was moderate stenosis in the lower spine, with
degenerative arthritis (which she’s known about for 10 years). They kept her
the weekend to get the pain under control and she came home with 7 medications
to take!!
Now she’ll go to visit the neurologist and they will decide
what treatment going forward so she doesn’t have to stay on all these medications.
I think she’s afraid surgery might be involved to relieve some of the pressure
on the nerves from the narrowing of the openings (which is stenosis, as I
understand it).
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