Many people don’t realize  you can wander the Pittock Mansion gardens at no cost and even take a picnic on the table or benches over-looking the city of Portland.  The garden is tended to by a volunteer crew who know their way around a flower bed and give free guided tours twice a month. 

Each of the five homes on the Street of Dreams tour includes an accessory dwelling unit or ADU. That’s fancy pants talk for the extra living space formerly known as mother-in-law apartment, guesthouse, studio or nanny quarters.

Over the weekend, my husband and I got the guest room ready. We cleared the clutter. All the surfaces needed dusting. We put crisp, clean, sheets on the bed. I considered buying flowers for the bedside table but worried our guest might think that was a bit over the top. And I wanted to make a favorable impression.

Buildings have power. As a kid, I believed they set the stage for all human thought and behavior. The fab ‘50s ranch house I grew up in, with its light blond wood cabinetry and boomerang pattern kitchen counters, seemed the perfect backdrop for my casual, noisy, thoroughly modern family life.  But then I’d go off … Read more