A Portland neighborhood

Ruth and Auggie

There is something really appealing about the neighborhoods in Portland, Oregon. The through traffic is routed around them so there are very few cars on the residential streets. The houses typically are small with deep porches where families sit and people strolling by stop and chat and kids play together. Backyards are small, so everyone congregates along the quiet street.

There are neighborhood elementary schools and it looked to me like most people walked with their young kids and older kids walked together. That's what it was like where I grew up. The long walk to school was a great way to socialize in the morning and to let go of the injustices of the school day at the other end. I remember filling my pockets with acorns, popping tar bubbles along Magnolia Place on a hot day and being caught in a spring rain storm, arriving home drenched through and through. Where was my mother? It didn't seem like she was worrying too much about me. She knew I'd get home eventually.

Most of all, these neighborhoods make me think of Ramona and Beezus Quimby. They grew up on Klickitat Street in Portland. We walked by that very street when I was there in January and I couldn't believe it. It's a real place! Beverly Cleary, the author of the "Ramona books" grew up on Klickitat Street in the 1940's. She describes it so well in her chapter books for young readers that I recognized it. I expected to see Henry and his dog Ribsey appear from behind a house and Ramona speed by on her roller skates while her older sister Beezus walked with friends trying her best to ignore her little sister, the pest.

Maybe that is why being in Portland feels like living in a story book. Having two real live children, my grand nephews, helped too. Walking with them to school, they raced up steps, stamped in puddles, ran down the sidewalk and stopped dutifully at the street corner until my sister and I caught up with them. Then a small four year old hand slipped into mine as we crossed the street. I see where Beverly Cleary got her material.