Autumn colors and the not-so-pink Big Pink.

Looking south towards downtown from the pedestrian bridge over the railroad tracks next to Union Station. I thoroughly enjoy looking at The Big Pink, no matter the perspective, even when it's not so pink. I have no idea why all of those posts and cables are on top of that building. Anybody know? I took this photo on October 25, 2008, while on the bridge walk.

The blue sky seen from deep inside the leg of the Morrison Bridge while on the bridge walk, October 25, 2008

Here's what I mentioned on yesterday's post, the view as the bridge operator raised the bridge while we were down inside the western support. The towers are on the south side of the bridge, and we entered through the bridge operator's door.

Here's some info on the bridge that I found on the world wide web:

The bridge is the largest mechanical device in Oregon. Thirty-six feet gears drive 940-ton counterweights located inside each of the piers. The 69 ft. clearance is sufficient for most river traffic, requiring bridge openings only about 30 times a month. It currently carries 50,000 vehicles daily in six lanes. The canted windows of the control tower give the distinctive look of air traffic control towers. It is named after John L. Morrison, a Scottish immigrant who built the first home on Morrison Street. The current bridge does not connect to Morrison Street at its west end because the second bridge was left in operation while the latest version was built.

Light at the end of the tunnel ...

...let me explain. Besides things like family and fun thankfully taking up some of my blogging time in good ways lately, I've had some camera-to-computer downloading issues/frustrations and then additional uploading from computer to Flickr issues/frustations.

I had dealt with all of that pretty well and intended to spend a good deal of time Sunday, during the NASCAR race at Atlanta, working on a series of posts about one of several wonderful things I've been able to do in Portland recently, maybe the Dirty Dozen Brass Band at Jimmy Mak's Jazz Club or Michael Cully's Puppetry at the Oregon History Museum or Sharon Wortman's Bridge Walk involving the Morrison and Steel Bridges across the Willamette. I had a bounty of specials to choose from, as well as the unique every day things I notice all around town, until Sunday morning.

When I opened Honk, my precious little iBook, and then opened iPhoto, there was a message that read something like, "For iPhoto to run, the iLibrary needs to be updated," and I really only remember seeing OK highlighted as a choice, so I clicked on OK. In seconds all of my photos disappeared from the iPhoto Library, all 6992 of them. I sat here, stunned into silence.

To tell the truth, my calmness at this unreal turn of events totally shocked me. I didn't wail, holler, sob. I knew that I had many, many photos at Flickr already, so I accepted what had happened and then promptly downloaded my three full memory cards into Honk and started putting photos onto Flickr.

Now for the light at the end of the tunnel part of this tale. Today on the bus ride home, I talked as I often do with a young man who is a few years younger than my younger son. When I told him what had happened, he promptly said, "Why don't you use Finder and search for the jpg's?" So, I did. And I found gobs and gobs of photos. It will be some time before I know if I have found what disappeared on Sunday, but I'm some kind of hopeful! And blessed!