10/05/2014
Tips for Staying Cozy this Winter
From Clean Energy Works
After a hot summer, temperatures will eventually drop—and winter is just around the corner. Grab a coffee or a hot apple cider, put on your favorite flannel, and cuddle up to your sweetie because we’ve got you covered when it comes to the best tips for keeping toasty indoors.
Take advantage of winter sun. Yes, there is sun, even in Oregon winter! When it’s shining, be sure to open south-facing window curtains, drapes, and blinds during the day, so the sunlight can naturally heat your home. Close window coverings at night to keep the heat in.
Cover drafty windows. Tape a do-it-yourself, clear, plastic film to the inside of your window frames. Make sure the plastic is sealed tightly to the frame. Installing window treatments, such as blinds, drapes, or shades, can also help reduce heat loss.
Adjust the temperature. Set the thermostat 10 to 15 degrees cooler when you’re not home to use less energy and lower utility bills. Lowering the temperature slightly at night and adding an extra blanket to the bed keeps the whole family extra cozy.
Give your home a free check up from Clean Energy Works. Your home does a lot for you—everyone needs a check up every once in a while. We’ll give you a complete look at all the ways you can improve your home: becoming more efficient, creating comfort, providing better air quality, and even being safe during an earthquake. Take an online eValuation, and use HomeScope to see what your neighbors are doing for their homes—with all kinds of information on rebates and financing available when you’re ready for a home upgrade. It’s all available at: www.cleanenergyworksoregon.org
10/03/2014
Parke Diem 2014
Parke Diem is coming to Arbor Lodge Park and Harper's Playground on October 11th, 9-12Come join the fun and help us "put the Park to bed for the winter" and maintain Harper's Playground for play every day. Parke Diem is a City wide effort to help Parks. You can help by signing up online and coming that day. Use the online sign up and you'll get a swag bag with a T-shirt, and coupons from Columbia Sportswear and more. Follow the link below and choose "community", then "Arbor Lodge Park", the form will prompt you through completion. Thanks for joining us for a morning of fun and public service. : )'s http://parklandia.org/parkediem.
09/27/2014
25 Years, $25 Trees for Arbor Lodge
Let's put more trees in the Lodge we have, Arbor Lodge that is. Friends of Trees is having a 25 year celebration and offering trees for $25 each for your parking strip. That's a great deal - it includes the inspection, permits, and delivery of a healthy young tree right to your planting hole. You can volunteer to help plant it and a few others close to your home. Check it out at FriendsofTrees.org/plant or call them at 503-282-8846. Cleaner air for our 'hood, places for birds to hang out, shade, beauty, what's not to like???
09/24/2014
Update: September 24th 2014
Join us for Parke Diem.What is that? Parke Diem is a City wide volunteer event taking place October 10th and 11th.
Arbor Lodge Park/Harper's Playground is one of the sites for October 11th, 9-12.If you register online for this event you'll receive a cool T-shirt, snacks, and $ off coupons for Columbia Sportswear. A few small thanks for your volunteerism. To sign up go to: Parklandia.org/parkediem, then chose community, then Arbor Lodge Park. Thank you!
09/24/2014
Four Arbor Lodge Artists Featured at Portland Open Studios
In August of 1998, Kitty Wallis, Portland artist, talked eight other artists into collaborating about a different kind of arts event, an open studio tour. Art lovers and aspiring artists could get an intimate look at the actual space artists use to create their work. They could witness art in the making, learn about media, materials, and the business of creative endeavor. The tour would be educational as well as an opportunity for neighborhoods to foster a community that values the arts.
Sixteen years later, during the second and third weekends of October, almost 100 artists, located all over the Portland metropolitan area, are opening their studios to demonstrate how they work, talk about what inspires them, and show art in its various stages. They work in medias as diverse as oil, acrylic, watercolor, pastel, fiber, ceramic, jewelry, glass, book arts, and sculpture.
The artists participate in this tour for a variety of reasons. Some love to teach and demonstrate; certainly the chance to sell work is appealing. But one of the prevailing reasons artists enjoy the tour – one of the prevailing reasons people love to tour their studios – is the opportunity for community. They love sharing stories, answering questions and meeting artists and art lovers. Again and again, visitors share how they are being inspired to create themselves by this interaction.
As part of its 501(c)3 non-profit mission to create educational opportunities for the public, Portland Open Studios offers two outstanding programs. The Kimberly Gales Scholarship for Emerging Artists was established in 2005 to cover participation fees and provide a stipend for at least one 20-30 year old jury-selected artist, with the goal of eliminating financial barriers and increasing diversity among the artists on the tour. In 2009, they began offering internships to high school students These students help the artists in their studio while learning about both the making and business of art. Many of them look to these artists as mentors after the tour.
PDXOS still has no paid staff, but ten board members, four contractors, and over ninety volunteers invest time and energy to make the event possible. After ten years of hard work and sacrifice, the then-mayor of Portland, Sam Adams, issued a proclamation recognizing Portland Open Studio’s commitment to providing art education to all members of the community, adults and children alike, and its dedicated support of local working artists. The proclamation also designated the second and third weekends of October officially as Portland Open Studios Weekends.
The tour guide is in the form of a calendar featuring photos of the creations of all of the year’s participants, but they recently introduced a smart phone application and a less-expensive map-only ticket to make the event more accessible to the entire community.
What: Portland Open Studios. An annual self-directed tour of over 100 artists’ studios located throughout the Portland metro area.Dates: Oct 11,12,18,19, 2014
Time: 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Cost: $20 for a Full-Color Tour Guide Calendar, $9.99 for the iPhone App or $5 for a Map-Only Ticket. Each includes a ticket for two adults, children under 18 free. Valid both weekends.
Arbor Lodge neighborhood artists that are participating in the Tour include:Shyama Helin shyama.helin@gmail.comAlison Foshee alisonfoshee@rocketmail.comChristopher Wagner christopherbwagner@gmail.comHeather Fields heatherfields45@gmail.com