Point of View of a Dispatcher

Sethe Hawaii Trip 2011

Sethe Hawaii Trip 2010

Sethe Hawaii Trip 2009

Sethe Hawaii Trip 2008

Sethe Hawaii Trip 2007

Sethe Hawaii Trip 2006

Come Out

My husband and I compete in an online competition called Songfight where every week or so they will put up a song title and you have a very limited time to write, record, and submit your entry.  There are no prizes except bragging rights, but it is a fun way to get us off our butts to be creative.

Here is our latest entry that we just finished recording today.  The title was Come Out.  My first instinct was to go along the line of someone who needs to come out about their sexual orientation.  I am glad I didn't choose this route as it seems to have been the popular theme among the other writers.  During the week while I was trying to come up with lyrics, I ran across this fascinating story about a town in Argentina that was flooded in 1985 sending all its inhabitants running.  It has recently resurfaced showing its remains.  It has become a hotspot for photographers and the images are amazing.

Here is the song I wrote about this interesting story and a special thanks to my wonderful husband Darren!  His talent on the bass and ukulele plus his awesome audio production abilities.

It's Mars, Baby!

Mars Panorama

Subliminally Yours

     I had a request from my mother-in-law to write more and as we can see, it has been a long time since I have.  Sadly, life gets busy sometimes and can pull us away from things we enjoy.  However, one of the things keeping me busy was taking a Writing Class at my local college.  Our final paper assignment was to write about gender, and how it is portrayed whether in movies, shows, music.  I chose to discuss how gender is shown in advertising and the possible affects that has on society.  Here, I will share my final paper.  I hope you give it a good grade, Loretta:) 

                                                     armasdesign.blogspot.com

Subliminally Yours

Advertisements have been around since as long as products have been sold.  While it is a staple of our everyday modern life, it can be said most people have become advertising saturated.  Everywhere you look there are billboards, pop ups, flashing signs, promotions, give-aways.  There are a myriad of clever ways to get a company’s product out there so the consumer will be influenced to the higher quality of one product over another.  Although there have been some products made to lessen the exposure of ads (e.g. DVR’s fast forward through the commercials ability), there is still very little a person can do to get away from them completely.  With that said, it is the effectiveness that should be looked at when it comes to these advertisements.  How do the companies describe their product and what demographic are they targeting to get the most benefit out of their commercial?  From the surface a commercial may appear straight-forward by showing the product being used in a way that seems very beneficial to a problem that needs solved.  However, there is a lot more going on subliminally to reach specific target audiences.  Arguably, one of the main discriminating factors in this subliminal advertising technique is gender-bias depending on the product.  This is a culture that has advanced and blurred the lines between gender-specific roles so this antiquated style should be brought inline with the current century or eliminated in advertising.
This gender-biased advertising starts for the very young consumer as seen in toy commercials.  Take, for instance, the “Barbie 3 Story Dreamhouse” commercial.  It starts with two little girls running happily from the cold and snowy outdoors in anticipation of  meeting up with another overly exuberant girl to play with her new toy.  The colors are pink, the dolls are all female, and it shows any little girl watching that the best time to be had is only with this doll house.  Let us now compare that to the “Avengers Action Figures Spot” geared toward boys.  There are four boys, each with his own action figure, giving hand gestures leading the watcher to believe they are somehow absorbing the supernatural power that each Avenger portrays.  The fact that there are no boys in the girl's commercial and no girls in the boy's commercial is glossed over because consumers are so used to seeing such ads gender specific like this.  It makes one wonder, would there be a difference if each of these commercials added a playmate of the opposite sex?  Would there be a difference in the numbers of boys playing with Barbies and girls playing with Avengers in the real world?  No matter what they are called or who they are targeted to, they are all still dolls and doll accoutrements that are being sold.
This pattern continues no matter what age consumers are.  A recent article states, “Gender inequality persists despite the gains women have made over the past five decades with respect to education, employment and political power” (“The Effects of a Child’s Sex on Support for Traditional Gender Roles”).  One needs to ask themselves, does this persist because we have been conditioned by advertising; being fed that certain genders play certain roles and not even know it?
Moving on to adult products we see no change in gender targeting.  When messes occur in a commercial, more often than not they tend to be caused by children.  The commercial will show a mother, whimsically rolling her eyes as if to say, “Oh, you!” and then she will reach for her perfectly suited and handy for the job, cleaning product.  It is curious why this is always a woman.  Currently we are seeing more often it is a father who is the stay at home dad or the father who takes an active role in housework and raising children because both parents work.  In a recent CNN Money article, Jessica Dickler writes, “Of those with kids under the age of 5, 20% of dads in 2010 were the primary caretaker” (Dickler).  Of course a man is able to overlook this gender bias and clearly can make a decision to use one of these products if it fits the situation but it seems there is a possibility these very commercials are furthering the stereotype that clean-up and kids are “woman’s work”.  This appears demeaning not only to women, but to men as well depending on their role in the household.  It would appear very non-inclusive.
Let’s take a look at a specific Brawny Paper Towel ad, “Supermarket”.  It is the woman who begins the commercial doing the shopping looking for a roll of paper towel.  She has to decide between a myriad of generic, plain wrapper brands and the BOLD product of Brawny filling up her field of vision.  The product is then used in several situations with different families to show how versatile it is.  It is being used for dishes, cleaning up a major liquid spill, a little girl to wipe the mouth of her father, and another mother draining grapes.  One would almost get the idea that men would have no need of paper towels because they don’t do this kind of work.
This gender-bias also seeps into the world of the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Transgender) community.  For example, let’s take a scenario of two women who are married/partners and have children as well.  Perhaps they have both take on the cooking, cleaning, and mommy duties but on top of that, one or both of them do home maintenance or construction.  It would probably behoove Black & Decker to build commercials around this type of demographic too.
Though the airwaves are saturated with gender-biased commercials, and have been throughout history, there has been a tiny spark of change.  Recently there have been a couple of commercials that break this role-defining position.  An ad for “Gogurt” shows a father presumably getting his son’s lunch ready for the day.  It is nice to see the father taking on this role however this advertisement is just short of being truly modern.  The father is forced to withstand nagging from the mother and son via sticky notes everywhere to make sure he does not forget to pack the “Gogurt.”  Sadly, this follows the stereotype that men are just big, dumb, oafs who couldn’t determine their ass from a hole in the ground unless a woman is there to save him.  This topic, however, should be granted its own entire article as it occurs too frequently to think a blurb is enough.
Finally, a new commercial just recently released by Tide and Downy seems to get it.  In “The Princess Dress,” A father is talking about trying to keep his daughters favorite princess dress clean.  She has only one favorite so he may only get a chance to wash it once a week.  Tide and Downy are the best for him to get out week old stains.  Not only does this advertisement show a man doing the duty of laundry but shows him playing and having fun with his daughter; a role usually relegated to the mother.  
It is time to look at advertising through new eyes.  Time to recognize the world has advanced, people have evolved, the idea of the standard family or gender roles have changed dramatically.  It is time to quit doing things “because they have always been done that way.” It is time to be more proactive in including everyone.  It may not seem on the surface this is a big deal, but the subliminal message of exclusion affects everyone negatively on one level or another; it impedes the betterment of the human species.  Advertisers, let us promote who we are and who we want to be!  Let us step out of our exclusion of yesterday and instill inclusion for tomorrow!  Let us all evolve!

Works Cited

“Avengers Action Figures Spot.” Juan Carlos Cajiao. Commercial. Youtube. 2012. Web. 7 March  2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFeI1gaochE>

“Barbie 3 Story Dreamhouse.” Commercial. Youtube. 2009. Web. 7 March 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXKiXjbyqUs>

Dickler, Jessica. “Stay-at-home dads: More men choosing kids over career.” CNN Money. 30 April 2012. Web. 7 March 2013. 
     <http://money.cnn.com/2012/04/30/pf/stay-at-home-dad/index.htm>

“The Effects of a Child’s Sex on Support for Traditional Gender Roles.” Gale Opposing Viewpoints. Social Forces, September 2011. Web. 7 March 2013. 
     <http://0- ic.galegroup.com.library.clackamas.edu/ic/ovic/AcademicJournalsDetailsPage/Ac ademicJournalsDetailsWindow?
     failOverType=&query=&prodId=OVIC&window state=normal&contentModules=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Journals&li
     miter=&currPage=&disableHighlighting=false&displayGroups=&sortBy=&sourc
     e=&search_within_results=&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&docume ntId=GALE%7CA266217208> 

Gogurt. Commercial. Facebook. 8 March 2013. <http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=2324364992681>

“The Princess Dress.” Commercial. Youtube. 2013. Web. 8 March 2013.<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCYwAOCLiTA>

“Supermarket.” Commercial. Youtube. 2010. Web. 7 March 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQveYvy7b3o>

"Living on Borrowed Time"

Here is Blind Slough.  Beautiful, serene, and a paradise on nice days such as this.  Behind this photo is where I grew up on a float house, the entire bank on the left is the very narrow road that runs along Blind Slough, and the bridge off in the distance is the notorious bridge in Brownsmead known only as The Big Cement Bridge.  Not too bad during the summer I must say.  However, beyond these pilings in the photo is a memory of horror and fear like I had never felt before. 

It was either 1984 or 1985 when my parents, who earned their living playing music, decided to travel to Pocatello, Idaho to play music to bring in extra income.  Even though it was a gig on the road it still paid a lot more than local gigs did and my parents needed to do what they could to make money to raise a family.  I had spent most of my life travelling with them on such journey's but this time my parents decided to let me stay down the road from our house a couple of miles at my grandma's house.  I was in high school and they probably felt it was better than having me try to make up that much school work.

One night during this 3 week vacation from parents I was walking down the driveway to pick up the mail for my grandma when a schoolmate drove by.  He stopped and we started chatting.  I don't precisely remember how the conversation went down but I do remember saying I needed to get something from my float house that I needed for school the next day and my friend offered me a ride.  Even though this item was not imperative for me to have my teenage mind said, "I get some freedom, Grandma will buy the story, all is well."

All was going well, I was free, we were chatting, life was fun (all 2 miles of it).  I went down to the house and grabbed some clothes I wanted from the homestead.  Back to the car and off we went heading back to grandma's.

I could be off about the time a bit but I think it was around 8 PM.  All I really remember is that it was completely dark out.  As we are driving along this VERY narrow dike road we saw headlights up ahead crossing the big cement bridge.  Suddenly my friend panics and says, "Oh shit, that's my dad!"  Ah hah!  I saw I was not the ONLY one who was where they were not supposed to be.  I remember wondering though, how could he know that?  It was completely dark and the lights were a good 1/4 of a mile away, there was no way he could see our vehicle since we could not see his except for the lights.

It didn't matter, my friend was scared and didn't want to get caught.  He decided to turn off the headlights so the other car couldn't see us.  This was where I panicked.  I yelled, "We're going to go into the slough!"  Then I felt it...tipping, leaning, rolling, cold water.

The cab of the pickup immediately filled with water.  Somehow I caught a big breath before we submerged.  I remember rolling completely upside down and then suddenly felt I was upright again.  Total blackness.  I began feeling around for anything to get my bearings as to where in the cab I was so I could find a window to break out.  It felt like an eternity I was trying to feel my way but nothing really made sense.

Then I started to feel pain in my chest, like I could not hold my breath any longer.  I thought, "This is it."  Then the strangest phenomena flooded over me.  I felt like I was transported into this huge, pitch black vastness standing in front of the largest movie screen ever.  The famous phrase 'the world flashes before your eyes' became a reality to me.  I stood there watching images of moments in my life.  It was as though I was transported into them.  Each image lasted just a millisecond but every single one was an impact.  Then suddenly I was in current time looking at an image of what my family was doing on their travels in their van.  My chest was hurting more and more and thought it was almost time to let my breath out and call it a life.  In my head I said 'sorry' to my family because I knew they would be sad once they learned what happened.    


All of a sudden my hand felt the passenger window, more precisely, the passenger broken out window.  I had a way out!!  I started swimming.  I was out.  I kept swimming but it was hard and seemed to get harder.  It dawned on me I was disoriented and may be swimming down.  Since I could not see which way bubbles would float as it was completely dark I decided to stop swimming and see which way I started floating.  Quickly I was able to orient myself and make it to the surface.  THAT was the BEST breath of air I ever remember taking!!! 


Fairly quickly my feet found the roof of the truck.  I was able to stand and rest with the water reaching my chin.  After a few moments catching my breath I floated on my back to the bank.  I was too tired to swim but floating with occasional arm movements got me there.  I crawled up on the bank and just sat, stunned, scared, horrified.  Overwhelmed with fear, grief set in wondering where my friend was.  I yelled and yelled for him.  No sound.  The only light was the muted blinker on the truck flashing deep under the water.  I continued to yell, no response.  No splashes, nothing.  I was bawling.  How was I going to tell his parents?  How can I tell someone something so horrific happened to their son?


Suddenly there was an explosion out of the water, a breath taken and I heard the greatest sound, "TERESA!?!?!"  He was alive!!!! 


We walked back to my float house and asked the person renting it if he could give us a ride.  I went back to grandma's house and told her I fell overboard.  She bought it but I knew this could not be the end of it for me.  People would find out, there is a truck over a bank in a slough with a blinker on.  I was pretty sure nobody would think this was just a convenient parking job. 


After the first night of many years to come filled with nightmares of the events I knew I had to tell my parents. Probably the only smart decision I made within that 24 hour period was to tell them on the phone while they were 700 miles away in Idaho.  Yep, they were PISSED!  As an adult I do realize they were probably very relieved that I didn't die, but yeah, they were pissed.  At least during those days long distance was expensive and they could not yell at me for more than 15 minutes or so.     


My friend and I never really spoke of the incident after that.  He was a very good swimmer though and I heard through the grapevine that he had come up for air and went back down looking for me.  I don't know if this is accurate but 26 years later I sure would love to get a chance to hear his story and perspective.  I would also like to thank him, if this was true, for making that sacrifice.  If it isn't true, I still want to thank him for making it and I hope he has had a good, fulfilling life so far.  I have searched for him but I don't think he is a computer person or he is online with another name.  One day I do hope to get the chance though. 


When my grandpa from my mom's side of the family learned of the story, he had one poignant comment, "You are living on borrowed time."  Looking back at how close I was to giving up my breath I have to say I agree with him.  It hasn't been all smooth but I have learned a lot and am SO happy in this stage of my life now.  I don't feel I am wasting my "borrowed time".    

Harry S. Flavel House Mystery

The Harry S. Flavel house has been abandoned since 1990 and has become a subject for photographers who go to Astoria.  Darren and I took pictures in 2011 and the mystery behind the abandoned house became deeper for us as we walked around the outside.  Looking in the windows you could see belongings all over, newspapers stacked up, tables, things.  It was like everyone just disappeared in the blink of an eye.  What we would have given to go inside to photograph and get a glimpse of history.

Today the Daily Astorian printed an article on this house and it appears that disappearing is exactly what happened.  The city had an ordinance that allowed them into the house recently and the entire story of the Flavel's and Harry S. is quite fascinating indeed.  Below I will insert the story from the Daily Astorian and include the link as they have pictures on their site from inside the infamous house.




http://www.dailyastorian.com/free/flavel-family-mystery-unsealed/article_34fb8a44-c53a-11e1-836c-0019bb2963f4.html

Posted: Tuesday, July 3, 2012 11:09 am | Updated: 12:56 pm, Tue Jul 3, 2012.

By CHELSEA GORROW
The Daily Astorian | 2 comments

A collection of newspapers, some dating back to 1914.

A 1950s-era woman’s swimsuit hanging up to dry in an all-pink bathroom.

A 1960s Playboy.

The self-help books, “I’m OK – You’re OK” and “Loneliness: The Fear of Love.”

A 12-inch knife by the stairwell in the basement.

A dog in the refrigerator.

Every step into the former home of Mary Louise and Harry Flavel grew stranger and stranger at 15th Street and Franklin Avenue Friday, living up to every bit of the 20-plus years of hype and mystery surrounding the mansion that’s created a following and a source of intrigue.

“I grew up in the neighborhood and Harry was kind of like our Boo Radley from ‘To Kill A Mockingbird.’ We always wondered what was behind that door,” said City Councilwoman Karen Mellin.

Friday, officials from the city of Astoria finally got the chance to see.

More than a year after the derelict building ordinance was adopted by the city, Mayor Willis Van Dusen, Community Development Director Brett Estes, Building Inspector Jack Applegate and Astoria Police Chief Peter Curzon gained access to the home after exhausting all avenues to find the last-known remaining Flavel, Mary Louise, who had lived in the home with her mother Florence and her brother Harry until a mysterious day in 1990.

Hoarding everything

A glimpse into the home was a glimpse into how the last generation of the Flavel family lived. The trio was known as recluses, and judging by Friday’s revelation, they were also hoarders.

Newspapers and magazines from the last 100 years were spread three-feet thick over all levels of the home, including the attic, the basement and the bathrooms.

The collection of papers, reading materials and other items may have created a mess for contractors and a cause for concern for the fire department. But it also created a layer of protection for the historical bones of the house.

Applegate said, “This place is saveable,” with a beam of pride as he walked through.

Estes agreed.

“I was happily surprised about how good of shape the house is in,” Estes said. “There are definitely issues and it definitely would take quite a bit of money to get the house repaired. But that being said, structurally, it’s still pretty sound. The floors don’t seem to be soft, everything seems to be holding up pretty well.

“Going in right now, putting the tarp on the roof, boarding up the windows, it’s a really good time to be doing this work, because it could reach that tipping point where it could start deteriorating structurally pretty soon. And by doing this right now, it’s going to be able to help save the building if someone, whoever it is, is able to do some repairs in the future. That was something I was happy to walk away from Friday.”

Applegate added, “That was the first thing in my mind when I was walking through – that it’s in way better condition than anyone had assumed. But I had a hunch it wasn’t going to be as bad as people thought. Oddly enough, I think some of the stacked-up bulk of personal belongings in there had absorbed the rain water on the upper floor and helped in some ways actually.”

Friday, work began on the home by brothers John and Jim Davies. The Davies cleared brush that surrounds the house, presenting a visual nuisance for many neighbors and creates a potential fire hazard for a home filled with paper and surrounded by vegetation.

The roof will also be tarped this week.

The doors and windows have been boarded up and resecured.

Now, the city will file a lien on the home, preserving the inside contents for whoever steps forward in the future to take control of the home, even if that someone is Mary Louise Flavel.

Inside the home

Among the stacks of garbage and clutter inside the mansion were items of monetary and historic value – antique bicycles, solid wood hand-carved pillars – and items of sentimental value – a Valentine’s Day Card to Florence Flavel signed by “Mary Louise, 1970,” and hand-painted art by Florence herself.

Clothes still hang in the closet.

Mail is unopened or stacked about, including a notice from the Internal Revenue Service for unpaid taxes from 1979.

Toilet paper is still wrapped in plastic and stored in brown paper bags as if it had just come from the market.

Several sealed packages of adult diapers were strewn about a bedroom, presumed to have belonged to Florence, who was said to be 90 when the family left town.

The kitchen, the room at which the city gained access through a backdoor, had signs of recent break-ins and drug paraphernalia on the stove. The refrigerator, opened by a brave Curzon, held oozing and dripping items that may have been food once upon a time. A bottom shelf presented what looked like a dead dog.

There were also other items wrapped in what appeared to be duct tape.

The smell filled the house in seconds, taking over the musty odor of dust and mold with that of rot and decay.

In the basement, plastic jugs of bleach were shaped into two pillars of artwork, spiralling the empty bottles by the neck from floor to ceiling in two corners.

The laundry room still had towels hanging up to dry.

A boiler, putting off some fumes, sat in the middle with a solitary chair facing it nearby. A canning room with mason jars was also discovered downstairs.

In the attic, holes in the roof let the daylight in. A chest sat in the corner – empty with the exception of a couple of hankies and a receipt for $2.50. More books, newspapers and magazines, including a 1958 advertisement for a Chevrolet and a 1960s Playboy, were littered across the floor.

A sewing room in the attic held a bed, along with a tiny closet, thread, needles and a case for a Singer sewing machine.

But every room had something in common in the massive estate. Every room was covered in several layers of newspapers, magazines, self-help books – mostly on topics of confidence and sexual exploration – and greeting cards to Florence from Mary Louise.

Arrested

Retired Assistant Police Chief Alan Oja said that he had been called to the home in the 1980s on a couple of occasions. Oja had even arrested Mary Louise Flavel when she refused to leave a social meeting in the Doctor Harvey house.

When the home was lived in, he said, the papers were stacked up the walls, not strewn about the floors.

“You had to turn sideways to walk through the hallways,” he said. “But there was a floor. The floor was clear in the pathways.”

Friday, not even the front door was safe from the layers upon layers of paper.

In the entry way, the stairs were covered with trash and the banister leading upstairs was missing along the stairwell and across the balcony.

Astoria Fire and Rescue Lt. Bob Johnson said his father was a doctor who sometimes made house calls to the Flavel home when Harry was a teenager. He had been told Harry had “chopped the banister to bits with a hatchet” in a teenage rage.

There were no visible scraps of what the banister may have been, a sign that “Hatchet Harry” had previously left his mark.

History of the home

The home was built in 1901 by the second Capt. George Flavel, son of the first bar pilot of the Columbia River.

The younger Flavel built the home several blocks away from his parents and “spinster sisters,” according to Calvin Trillin’s New Yorker article on the Flavels, the first family of Astoria, a part of the book “Astorians: Excentric and Extraordinary.”

Flavel had a son named Harry M. Flavel, grandson to the first captain. Harry inherited the 15th Street home and took over his father’s position as president of the Flavels’ Bank.

Harry M. married twice. His first wife and daughters settled in California. He then wed again to a school teacher named Florence Sherman. The couple had a son and a daughter, Harry Sherman Flavel, sometimes known as “Hatchet Harry” after an incident in 1947, and Mary Louise, before Harry M. Flavel’s death in 1951.

Mary Louise and Harry S. never wed or had children, living in the home with their mother Florence, until a peculiar day in 1990.

The family, once called the most prominent in Astoria, had dwindled down to a trio of recluses that disappeared into the night and will seemingly take their name with them when the last living member, Mary Louise Flavel, dies.

“Some say that it was in Harry M.’s time that the family’s performance began to fall behind its prominence,” Trillin wrote. “Although Harry M. Flavel is remembered as a charming man, he was not the civic heavyweight that his father and grandfather had been. ‘What he had to give was different than what they gave to his community,’ an Astoria editor said at the time of (Harry M.’s) death. ‘He gave cheerful self-effacement, a warm and gentle honesty that the world needs much of these days.’

“He apparently did not overwork after the family bank was acquired by a larger bank. Even before Harry M. Flavel died,there was talk about erratic and angry behavior by his son, Harry S.”

The tale of the hatchet

One summer night in 1947, Trillin wrote, Harry S., who was 20 years old, confronted a neighboring man, Fred Fulton, with a hatchet. Fulton had heard cries for help from Florence Flavel inside the home. He came into the home, breaking through an upstairs hall door, to rescue her.

“And then, trying to break into a bedroom to which young Harry had fled, (Fulton) was cut on the arm with a hatchet. At Harry’s trial for assault with a dangerous weapon, the Flavels agreed, according to the local paper, that Mrs. Flavel had been in no danger, her son having locked her into her room simply so she could concentrate on finding a key that was important to him,” Trillin wrote. “Harry Flavel, arguing that he had used the hatchet in self-defense, said that he had been frightened by a strange look on Fulton’s face.”

Mary Louise and Florence said in court Fulton was “surely drunk” and Flavel was found not guilty but was forever tagged by some with the name Hatchet Harry.

Mellin on occasion spoke to her mysterious neighbor, Hatchet Harry, who kept an immaculate yard that served as a backdrop in several of Mellin’s family photos. When they spoke, it was always about books.

“He loved books,” she said. “He loved to read.”

He also loved dogs.

Mellin once worked with a woman whose family lived on the same block as the Flavels. The woman had shared with Mellin that Harry Flavel had taken the woman’s family dog, which he believed had not been walked enough.

‘They were too afraid to go get it back,” Mellin said. She also said she remembers the Flavels having four to six dogs at a time that Harry would regularly walk.

It was noted in Trillin’s article that Harry Flavel was known for taking in stray dogs. Harry Flavel was said to have been walking two dogs when a 1980s stabbing took place – decades after the hatchet incident  – that would later lead to his escape from Astoria with his mother and sister.

Mary Louise

Trillin writes that Mary Louise was said to be more sociable than her brother. She had a passion for music, like the first Capt. George Flavel’s “spinster” daughters, and had left the home for a while for the New York Opera world, managing opera singers and “becoming friendly” with Jerome Hines, the Metropolitan basso.

But Mary Louise returned to the home her grandfather built in the 1970s and it was there she remained.

“As the years passed, the Flavels seemed close to the exclusion of other people,” Trillin wrote. “Florence and Mary Louise might call on a neighbor for tea, but the neighbor did not return the visit. Although strangers were shown daily through the ornate mansion built by the original captain, it became unusual for anybody at all to enter the house in which Flavels were living.”

The mansion built by the original captain on Eighth and Duane streets belongs to the Clatsop County Historical Society.

Harry S. on trial again

In 1983, Harry Flavel hit Alec Josephson’s car with a dog chain on Irving Street one night at 10:30 p.m. Josephson, a 22-year-old, recently married Astoria resident who had left the Workers Tavern in Uniontown after a couple of pitchers of beer with friends and a Trail Blazers game, stopped his car, enraged. He found Flavel hiding in a dark walkway near St. Mary, Star of the Sea School and demanded to know Flavel’s name so he could call the police. Flavel had struck his car with the chain because he was travelling too fast, according to reports.

Flavel then stabbed Josephson.

Police and the district attorney at the time, Steven Gerttula, stood on the front porch of the Flavel home while the Flavels talked to the city manager on the telephone. They never let police in. But a few days later, Harry S. Flavel turned himself in to police. He pled not guilty, was put on trial for attempted murder and first-degree assault, but that case lasted several years.

Flavel was found guilty of assault, but not guilty of attempted murder. The assault charge could have carried a 20-year sentence. He was given probation. Meanwhile, he appealed and appealed and appealed. In August 1990, his appeals were exhausted. It would mean jail time for the reclusive man in his 60s, according to Trillin.

But Mary Louise Flavel cancelled the final restitution check and the family disappeared.

Leaving town, what comes next?

Mellin’s mother lived across the street from the Flavel mansion on the day the Flavels packed up and left town in 1990.

“She watched them. As she got to be an elderly woman, she would sit at the window and that was kind of like her television of the outside world,” Mellin said of her mother. “She saw them pile into the car, Mary, Harry and their 90-year-old mother, and a couple of dogs.”

The family turned up in October 1990, when Harry was arrested in Pennsylvania for stealing hotel towels. He was set for extradition when law enforcement officers discovered he was wanted in Oregon. But the Flavels again escaped the law.

In 1991, the FBI became alerted to the Flavels’ temporary residence in Massachusetts by a hotel maintenence man. Flavel was put into the Clatsop County Jail in 1992 to await a hearing.

He served more than one year then disappeared, claiming the courts were out to get him – and his stay in jail was proof. He returned to Massachusetts, according to historian John Goodenberger, who wrote Flavel’s epilogue in the “Astorians” book. His mother died soon after his release from jail, after a two-year stint on life support. The siblings returned to Oregon, Goodenberger wrote, and no one knew it.

Harry S. Flavel died in 2010.

Money and bodies

The Flavel family had a history of not paying their bills, Applegate said. The city’s derelict building ordinance provided a fund for these types of improvements, including tarping the roof, boarding up the windows and taking care of the yard. This is the first instance in more than a year since the ordinance was put in place that the city has had to dip into that fund, Estes said. If Mary Louise Flavel comes forward to claim the home, she’ll get all the bills along with it, including the numerous citations and the bill for this week’s contract work. The contract work is estimated to last 10 days.

Trillin wrote, “Nobody knew whether the Flavels had a shortage of money or a disinclination to spend it, but it was known that they were not easy people to collect a bill from.”

Applegate said he discovered through his search for Mary Louise that when Harry died in 2010, his body sat at the mortuary for nine months because Mary Louise refused to pay for the burial. He was eventually buried in Portland through an indigent burial fund.

The home was scraped of all of its paint in the 1980s, Mellin said, by a painter and his crew in preparation to repaint the home. But after two weeks of scraping and no payment, they left, and the house remained in a less-than-grand appearance.

Bills to the city have been no different. Several citations have been issued to Mary Louise Flavel and her last known attorney since the institution of the derelict building ordinance. The attorney’s office is where rent checks from the Drina Daisy restaurant are sent. But those checks for the restaurant, an occupant in the Flavel commercial building downtown, haven’t been cashed in more than a year, Estes said.

The attorney, Applegate added, has contacted the city of notify them he no longer represents Mary Louise Flavel. The last he had heard, she no longer could drive and was no longer eating.

The attorney told the city he no longer has contact with her and doesn’t know of her current health condition or even if she is alive. But Applegate has found no record of her death.

Now the city sits and waits for an attorney or Mary Louise Flavel herself to come out and stake claim.

“I’m happy that we’ve been able to get something going,” Estes said. “To be able to have the derelict building code, that the City Council and the mayor had the foresight to be able to pass this ordinance.

“Because without these codes, we wouldn’t have this tool to be able to do what we’re doing today. That’s the win right there. That we have this ordinance, we have this tool to be able to address the citizens’ concerns that we’ve heard for a number of years.

“So yeah, that’s the win right there.”

MacLeay Mausoleum

A friend of mine posted a photo of this mausoleum on her Flickr account and it was such a fascinating building I had not been privy to in my little city.  I asked her where it was and immediately Darren and I had to go on a photo-safari.

It turns out to be at the Lone Fir Pioneer Cemetery in the area of 20th/Stark in SE Portland.  Upon arrival I was immediately amazed at what a nice, photographically interesting cemetery it was.  How had we not known about this???

After wandering around I finally found the building my friend took a picture of.  Above is my photographic version of it.  It is quite an elaborate mausoleum for a family whose names were barely readable through the fence.

After doing a little research I found out this is the MacLeay mausoleum and has an interesting story:


Donald MacLeay was a wealthy merchant/banker who built the cemetery’s tallest mausoleum for his wife when she died in childbirth. A Scotsman whose family originated in County Ross Shire, the mausoleum resembles the architecture in the area. Built of red sandstone in the neo-Gothixc style,it cost $13,500 to  build. The mausoleum was a contributing factor in the cemetery’s being listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007. It has been featured in several movies, including ‘Body of Evidence’ in the 1980’s.


This information was obtained from http://www.friendsoflonefircemetery.org/self.html and the entire cemetery has some notable figures with some very interesting history of the Portland area.  If you enjoy cemeteries or history or both, I highly recommend checking this place out.  It is not only beautifully maintained and interesting, it is peaceful.

Lonesome Road

One of the many things I LOVE to do is sing and play music.  I grew up with a family who had a band and we traveled across the U.S. and Canada.  I spent quite a few years as a child living in motels, traveling many hours, seeing new places,  basically an unorthodox growing up.

At 14 I was able to join my parents' band and continued to play professionally for awhile.  There were many changes that came about then one of which was me growing up, getting married, moving on with my life.  Sadly this seemed to interfere with my music and I neglected playing for awhile.

Then fast forward to 2001, after a couple of divorces, finding a career, living on my own for the first time ever, I realized I had really done some growing up and it was time to figure out what I REALLY liked to do for myself.  That was music.

Singing was always my passion and I played flute and sax as well.  It is quite hard to accompany myself singing while trying to blow on a flute or sax at that same time.  I decided to buy a guitar and ask my dad to teach me.  My first guitar purchase was a Big Baby Taylor acoustic.

Via phone, my dad was able to describe how to play chords and how to finger pick them.  I spent many an hour sitting on my couch, watching TV and alternating between G, D, C, and A.  When I was able to maneuver them well I had a million songs open up to me that I could play and sing.  This along with doing the occasional gig with my Dad and Stepmom, Trihala, music is back in my life again!!!

In 2002, I met my husband and best friend.  He too played guitar and worked as a recording/production director for radio stations.  We instantly had creativity and a means to record and make music.  It has been so much fun with him and since then we have gotten into ukulele's too.  He actually contracted U.A.S. (ukulele acquisition syndrome) and owns MANY but it has been worth it because he plays beautifully.

Now that I have music back  in my life in a wonderful way there are all sorts of things we do.  One of them is use of portable 4 or 8 channel digital recorder.  My husband bought himself an 8-track recorder so he gave me his old 4-track.  There is nothing I love more than singing, listening, and arranging harmonies so I thought a fun song for me to experiment with was James Taylor's 'Lonesome Road'.

Here is my first ever attempt at using my recorder.  All voices are me as I overlaid harmonies with myself.  Hope you enjoy:

This is my baby.  She is fat, lazy, cranky, and deformed (she is a crooked tail American), but she is my baby.  I got her for my birthday when she was a kitten when Darren and I just met each other in 2002.  Although I know she has a few years to go, she is getting slower and I have to realize she won't be around forever.  So, I need to put out there how great she is.

She was born in a barn with a whole litter of kittens.  I walked into the barn and their food bowl was up on a table.  ALL the kittens scattered as fast as you could blink, but not Astral and this is when she established herself from the beginning as an attention whore.  She also established herself as a food whore (which is why she now goes by the nickname of Blobbo at 22 lbs.  She loves it I am sure).

Here is her claim to fame though.  She loves attention SOOOO much that she was trainable.  She gives high-fives on demand because she might get petted afterward.  She will do it for anyone.  I totally wanted to train her to fetch and play dead but my life did not allow.  However, I have no doubt I could have done it and still if things free up, I will try because I think nothing is below her, as long as there is a petting at the end.  I love you Astral a.k.a. Blobbo.

This is Casey James.  He is an entrant for American Idol Season 9.  Adorable, likable, and one of my high points for Countryfest 2012.  My husband works for the station that puts this on so we could totally use this as a photo safari!  I was not behind the scenes at this point but am very proud of this picture.  I am happy with the DoF of this one.  At the point we got backstage he was clearly doing this as an acoustic gig and that made me love him more.  He sounded great, he looked great.

Some of my favorite moments in life are going on photo-safaris with my best friend and husband.  This was taken on 5/19/12, Darren's birthday when we went out to enjoy some time together.  

We had not been to the North Portland area much at all so on this day we found ourselves in the area of Russel and Interstate.  This was a pretty cool angle of the Fremont Bridge so I grabbed a shot.  

The other find was the White Eagle bar.  A haunted bar that Darren had heard about and I had seen on TV as being haunted.  We just kind of stumbled upon it so decided to stop in and have a beverage.  It is a cute little place that is a live music venue with open mics.  We will definitely be back to check that out sometime.

Ukudaily: #232 - The Rhythm of Love

Ukudaily: #232 - The Rhythm of Love: Song - The Rhythm of Love Artist - Plain White Ts Today, Teresa and I FINALLY did a song together, something we had been talking about...

Darren and I spent some time at Laurelhurst Park today (which is a most beautiful park in PDX) and spent some time taking photos. This boy was feeding this Canadian Goose and we were talking a bit. He asked if I would take his picture while he fed the goose. So, here it is.

Longing

I have not much to say except I am longing to be back here.  There is nothing like a Hawaiian sunset!