A Weekend of Gatherings

My sister, Gen Schaack: painter, writer, and photographer

This past weekend was a mixture of wonderful and difficult. The wonderful included attending my sister's first art opening down in Eugene. It was awesome-- she hung a combination of photos and paintings at a great pub called Sam Bonds and a whole gaggle of people came to see and support her and it made my heart swell to be there. More specifically, to be there and have it be easy (logistically, emotionally, familial-ly). This whole living-close-to-each-other business is new territory for our family and I am so happy to find out it is really, really great. I had hoped it would be really great, but it is another thing entirely to have actually be really great. I am so proud of her for putting on the show and putting her creative endeavors out there for public enjoyment. Here she is in front of some of her catalog (above), and then a painting she made of zombie cats eating a severed leg. The bar was abuzz with the question of the evening: who wouldn't want that in their living room?

On Sunday on my way back to Portland, I stopped in a nearby town of McMinnville to honor a man I had never met. Jack Muldoon was my friend Ariel's father and he passed away two weeks ago unexpectedly. Jack, by trade, was a horticulturist and curator of rare plants. He invented a new grafting technique, ran a business selling plants from all over the world to collector's, and was a prominent figure at the Salem farmer's market and in the lives of his family and friends. I had heard about Jack many times because it sounded as if he was the kind of man you could ask about anything. Building a barn? Ask Jack, he knows how. Raising an orphaned gosling? Jack'll know what to do. Picking which apples to plant? Don't decide anything until you talk to Jack first. I am pretty certain Jack worked out cold fusion in his greenhouse back in the 70's, but since no one asked him how to do it, the trick will continue to elude science for decades to come.... Everything I had ever heard about him suggested he was one of the most knowledgeable, selfless, and hardworking men on earth, but at the memorial I found out exactly to what extent. There were numerous people there who had learned their trade or their passion from Jack Muldoon, and just as many others whose houses and gardens are filled with living reminders of his suggestions and expertise in the form of house plants, arbors, orchards, and attached greenhouses. After all his horticulture friends had their say, other people started to speak up about what they had learned from Jack, despite his taciturn demeanor and very quiet (but excellent) humor. Among them, his former brother-in-law stood up and talked about the time he had bought chickens to raise at his house-- broilers that he had built a little coop for but largely had just running around. He had noticed that the chickens weren't really putting on weight quickly and seemed to not be growing very fast. One day when Jack was over at his house, he invited him outside and asked him if he had any idea what might be wrong. Jack watched the chickens for a few minutes, and picked one up and looked at it and said, "Pete, I think you've got gay chickens." Pete said "What? What do you mean gay chickens?" (Not that Pete wouldn't be happy about having gay chickens, he was just confused as to what exactly that meant). It turned out that, as Jack had suspected, Pete had bought Lay Mash from the feed store-- chicken food loaded with hormones to promote egg-laying in hens and NOT for feeding to broilers. This, of course, explained the unexpected growth patterns and behavior (or as Jack put it, the gay chickens). I would be surprised if a card-carrying animal behaviorist would have picked up on the cause and effect pattern as quickly as Jack Muldoon did that afternoon. Just one of many stories told that revealed the beautiful combination of knowledge, experience, and humor that made this man stand out among men.
Ariel, thanks for letting me join the celebration of Jack's life and all of those in it-- it was an honor to be there and learn about your Pop. To both you and Dan, I am so happy to be his friend once-removed and to be your friend the old fashioned way.