The Green Fairy Returns

The Green Fairy Returns. Oil on panel, 7" x 5". ©2019.

On a recent trip to Portland, Rick and I visited a favorite cocktail spot from when he lived in the city. It's a hotel bar with a perfectly preserved mid-century vibe, called the Driftwood Room. Everything is spot on, down to the original(?) menu covers. The walls, made of hundreds of strips of interwoven dark wood, had recently been taken down, steam cleaned and replaced in their exact spots from before.

The Driftwood Room is a place where it appears nothing will change, ever. Yet, when we arrived, the bartenders were more than a little excited to show off a new addition to their repertoire: an absinthe fountain which they carried from customer to customer, enthusiastically explaining the correct process of serving and consuming absinthe.

Of course, we tried it. Neither of us is much into licorice, so the flavor was challenging. This in no way stopped me from buying my own absinthe fountain, just to paint. It's almost like the one at the Driftwood Room, except mine has wings.

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