Reclaimed Birthday

I was in Portland two months ago visiting my wonderful friend, Michelle. Luckily enough, I was able to be there on her birthday. Here's a look at what I made for Michelle.

Most of you know I'm at an estate sale quite often. Every now and again I look through the old postcards Cynthia has for sale. I was happy to see a Portland postcard pop up, and I immediately thought of Meesh. I was unfamiliar with the landmarks, but I had an intersection off the postcard's back to go by. Thanks to Google maps, I was able to find it quite easily. However, from the street view, I was disappointed to see that the old Paramount sign had been changed to say Portland. After doing some research, I discovered that the sign originally did say Portland, and my postcard showed the changed version. To be verbose the sign has gone form Portland . . . to Paramount . . . and back to Portland again.

To continue the theme of reclaiming this landmark, I found some interesting reclaimed lumber at another sale. I put my new nail gun to the test and was surprised to find how easy it was to construct this frame with double paned plexi-glass to enable the postcard to float.

Once in Portland, Michelle picked me up at the airport and we went for a great dinner. After, I had her drive me to the intersection listed on the back of the postcard. I was hoping to get near as possible to the perspective shown in the postcard. Michelle was very surprised when I pulled the frame from my backpack, standing nearly in the middle of the street. It now hangs warmly on the wall of her new home.

Here's a shot of Michelle, across the street from the landmark. The building across the way houses some old signs inside and this wonderful wall poster of an even older scene than the one on the postcard. Happy birthday Michelle!