Yesterday I had lunch with some of my favorite women.  Liz Leach, Holiday Johnson, JeanAnn Van Krevelen, and Peraim Khalsa came out for lunch at the Nines (do all my blogs deal with the Nines these days?) in its restaurant, the Urban Farmer.

The setting was really fun, since we got to sit on the “cow hide” bench tables that fit up to 8 people.  It’s easier to hug someone or lovingly lean on them when you sit on a bench than in chairs. The restaurant sections are split by “grasses” blooming on a low wall. This got a big thumbs down from the garden savvy JeanAnn and art sensitive Liz as being too fake looking and cheesy.

The menu was pretty good. We had the beet and quinoa salad (considered very filling), mushroom terrine, salad with sliced pears (dressing was a little too oily for me), onion soup made with true beef broth and poured from a cast iron tea kettle, and chicken thigh sandwich, which was on buttered/grilled bread (again, a little too oily).  We finished with butterscotch brownies served with ice and whipped cream and doused with broken toffee bits. These were served in canning jars with gaskets, which the group considered fun and quaint.

It was cool to see all the jars of canned fruits and vegetables lining the wall shelves in one of the rooms near our table.  Occasionally, a chef would walk out to the shelves and pull down a selection to take to the kitchen, so those decorative items are actually used!

Conversation proved most interesting, however.  We discussed Holiday’s experiences with Ayengar, the founder of Ayengar yoga, who still persists in his teachings today at his advanced age.  His dogmatism about yoga practiced was discussed in a particularly non-judgemental way, just examining his determination about process and how Angela Farmer broke away when he couldn’t accept new practices or approaches to “his” yoga.

Another conversation revolved around the experience of group meditation.  When does group meditation become a religious practice? When does it become too structured?  This group of distinctly un-religious or even anti-religious folks had ideas across the board.  If the group doesn’t have a program, and they just sit together quietly, that’s not religious.  If folks come together weekly and have structured programs, it is religious.  The entire group agreed that blindly following dogma or practices stunts the growth of the soul.

We spent a lot of time discussing the art work at the Nines, since 4 pieces were commissioned to artists that Liz represents.  Melody Owen’s glass chandelier that stretches from the 8th floor down a staircase to the 6th floor got a lot of commentary.  The shapes of her glass tubes represent sound waves of bird songs.  If you stand near the piece, you can hear birds over the stereo system.

Synchronistically, Sean Healy, also represented by Liz, began installation of a piece where the odd mannequins are currently standing near the front desk.  All we caught was his drilling of holes in the ceiling to hang it, so we didn’t get to see the piece.  I love Sean’s sense of whimsy, humor and child-like artworks.  They often have a lovely innocence to them, and I can’t wait to see the piece.

We all agreed to have another ladies lunch, since the positive level and quality of the conversation was invigorating, loving, and empowering.  Go us!

Thanks to the garden design of Laura Crockett and Ann Lovejoy, I get to enjoy wonderful bands of color, shape and seasonal change.  Here’s what looks great now. (If you can help me with more specific scientific names, please do, I’ll update!)

RED/ORANGE:

• the parrotia
• the stewartia
• sweetgums
• cherry trees
• the japanese laceleaf that is normally burgundy
• this odd little azalea that is “evergreen” but the leaves turn deep red in the fall. ann’s find
• itea little henryii
• blueberry blue ray
• spirea goldenflame (it’s gold in spring)
• the tips of pennisetum idon’tknowwhichus
• the tips of the one surviving microbiota
• calluna robert chapman
• all the above has a touch of brown to deepen the color, but the dwarf pomegranates have a touch of yellow to heighten the red, so do the papaver rhoeas seeds that got a late start
• the echinacea sunsets are more pinky red/orange
• vine maples are orange/red

DEEP RED/PINK

• euonymous
• all the fuchsia look fabulous, thanks to rhizogen Aglife 3-2-2
• achillea somethingorother
• i probably could’ve gotten the monarda jakob klein to re-flower more by pruning, so let’s see next year!

ORANGE/YELLOW

• miscanthus silberfeder
• miscanthus graziella
• panicum
• carex testacea
• marigolds are also pretty spectacular now
• lots of tossed rudbeckia seeds came up on a hillside in all hues, unexpected!
• calendula

YELLOW with !!

• helianthus perennial
• maximilian perennial sunflower
• maples are more yellow than orange right now
• some kind of cypress (may be dead)
• dahlias
• heliopsis tuscan sun
• yellow/green carex with white stripe

cool grasses

• stipa tennuissima
• miscanthus
• elymus
• carexes
• pennisetum
• these invasive reeds with the rudbeckia look good
• erograstis
• panicum

Silver leaves

• senecio
• lamb’s ear
• perovskia little spire
• miscanthus silberfeder
• phlomis (jerusalem?)
• artemesia
• brunnera jack frost
• podyphyllum

Purple

• aster purple dome - yes, it is very purple and very domish
• aster violet queen is lighter, but dead now, we should probably prune it and it will last longer.
• some kind of leggy silvery/green sage

Thanks for the opportunity to sit in the October sunshine and talk about the color at the farm!

It’s saying a lot to compare the experience of staying at The Nines, Portland’s new luxury hotel, to European hotel traditions.But I like to feel pampered the way Europeans understand pampering, and really was during the stay at the Nines.

atrium glass roof at the nines

It all started with the rock star treatment at the door. We were invited to the opening gala and when we told the parking attendants that we were staying at the hotel, they moved us right to the front of the line. A bellman opened doors for us and took our bags. He muscled in front of folks to get us onto the elevator up to the reception area.

We took a couple of friends up to the room when we arrived. They enjoyed the fact that there was a plate of whole apples, dates, nuts and raisins awaiting us and a letter of welcome and invitation to the party down one floor.

The rooms are nicely decorated, with a relaxing down filled sofa as well as a couple of chairs and desk. The bed was covered with luxurious sheets and a thick down comforter. I have to say, the interior decorating felt like the early 70’s kitsch I grew up with, from the teal velvet chairs to the crystal chain lighting fixtures and what mike called the back on the “naugahyde bed” (it was more likely a white leather bed backing, but still.)

The bathrooms were small, but made larger by using a narrower marble counter at the sink. There was still plenty of room to put all your bathroom stuff on the counter, though. Gilchrist and Soames shampoo, conditioner (why don’t most hotels give you conditioner anymore?), rich soap, shower gel, cap and a mending kit were supplied. The mending kit usually sets hotels apart for me.

The shower fixture was a big, round, rain type showerhead, which felt very soft during the shower, and the water was very hot. 4 bath sheets (huge!) made of Egyptian cotton, were accompanied by 4 typical sized towels, 4 hand towels and 4 wash cloths. My first call out of a room is usually to get more towels, but this was perfect! 2 bathrobes hung behind the bathroom door. We did purchase the bath robe, which was quite luxurious and reasonably similar in pricing to any good plush cotton bathrobe ($95). The potty was a typical tiny, round, European design, and we are so used to our oblong Toto’s that it is a little hard to get used to.

The room thermostat was set to 60, so even though it was actually comfortable (we were all wearing sweaters), I raised the temp to 68, thinking I was just heated up from all the excitement. Which created what were really 85 degree temps at night. Since we saw a maintenance man in the elevator and he laughed cynically when we said he was probably still working out kinks, I figure things like thermostat measurements are one of them.

There is an HD television set with a DVD player in the room, along with an ipod station clock radio.

We arrived back at the room after midnight to turn down service with a dish of purple chocolate covered hazelnuts on the pillow (I don’t know, they clashed with the decor a little). I called room service to see if we were too late to leave our breakfast choices on the door, and the fellow said that he doesn’t actually collect them until about 4 a.m., so we were free to order our breakfast from the card.

We ordered the full breakfast ($22) with coffee ($10). It came with 2 perfectly cooked eggs, english muffin, a hash brown potato patty, large slab of nitrate-free ham, fruit, cottage cheese, juice, and a chocolate croissant. We ordered it for arrival between 7:15 and 7:30 a.m., and it arrived at 7:35 a.m. The room service attendant seemed very well trained as she asked when I answered the door, “May I enter?” The breakfast came with 2 cloth napkins for each of us, along with extra glasses and a bottle of water. We each got a small pitcher of cream, which is good because I used both for my cup. 4 different types of jam accompanied the breakfast - the blueberry jam was divine.

The other thing that was European about the room service experience was that the tip was not included in the price of the breakfast and we were able to add it ourselves. I don’t know how many times I have paid 2 tips in the past because I didn’t notice the tip on the charge.

Here is the true test the hotel passed. I called the front desk because I’d forgotten a hairbrush and my hair is like a giant one-sided mat if I try to just use fingers. I asked for a brush or just a comb if they didn’t have a brush. They sent a bellman to the drug store for a hairbrush, and he arrived breathless at the door after running around the corner for it (we saw lots of running valets getting cars the next morning, so I know of what I speak). The hotel didn’t ask me to reimburse them for the brush, they were just trying to make me comfortable.

When we checked out, a guest called the desk to ask whether they could take the wardrobe bag from the room, and how much that would cost for a charge. The manager said “I have no idea how much that costs, so just take it as our gift.” Why didn’t I think of that?