Abandoned on the street, No. 5

Wonder who paid $20 for this framed Portland Trail Blazers basketball schedule and then abandoned it on the street? Maybe someone who tried Miller High Life, The Champagne of Beers for the first time and felt betrayed at the taste? I've never tasted any Miller beer.

And I imagine that originally the framed sign was given to a bar by a Miller salesperson as decor for the bar. On the walk to work November 10, 2011, I came across it leaning up on the fence between two buildings in Southeast Portland.

I have to say, never-say-die-Trail-Blazers fan that I am, something different needs to be done with/for/by my team and/or the coaches. The vagaries of organized basketball escape none of us who watch with a fervor, just as I am sure they never escape those who play and coach. Not winning a game, any game, hurts to the core. Not playing well hurts even more. I surely wouldn't want to be on the airplane home tonight after that loss in double overtime to Dallas.

Abandoned on the street, No. 4

A single shoe hoisted upon the wrought iron fencing which fronts the building where our first rental company has its offices, the corner of NW 21st and NW Everett in Portland's Alphabet District.

I took this photo on July 24, 2010, while I waited for the bus to work.

Now for what I consider a giant kick of irony. That first rental company, Bristol Equities, managed our first apartment which was in Southeast Portland--it's the one Mama took a walk from with Duncan and found the "Free!" items mentioned yesterday. We moved there in June, 2006. Size of apartment, perfect. Location, perfect--four blocks from Lamont and Leland's place and about eight minutes by bus from my work. By September, 2006, notification came that the building had sold through no fault of Bristol Equities, would be turned into condos by the new owner, and we had to move out ASAP even if we wanted to buy a condo because remodeling was the step before ownership. Talk about a couple of unhappy campers! We had absolutely no intention of owning ever again. Ever. We did have an ace up our sleeves, though, a six-month lease, so the new owner offered us a financial incentive to get out ASAP in order to expedite the remodeling. After thoughts of purchasing a generic-building-owner voodoo doll, I finally found us our new apartment in Northwest Portland which ended up being one block west of the offices of our first rental company!

We moved there by the middle of October, 2006. So for a while in the beginning when I waited for the bus to work in front of the wrought iron fence you see in the photo above, my mind clouded with unhappy thoughts about the hassle we went through of packing every single piece of stuff (see yesterday's post for mention of our stuff) AGAIN, moving it all AGAIN, and then unpacking it all AGAIN. What would we have done without my sons? Put our heads down and sobbed, at the very least. Anyway, we loved our new place so much, were very happy there except for the lack of parking, and never once entertained the thought of moving. Until.

When Mama died last January, my sons sweetly asked me to consider moving onto the east side of the river to be nearer them, preferably to an apartment building with available on-street parking. Remembering that our original rental company handled vintage buildings with hardwood floors, I got online and found my new place in no time at all. So, now I don't wait for the bus in front of their offices, but I am once again connected to Bristol Equities in a good way.

Speaking of connections, I wonder why the other shoe wasn't on the fence? Did the two of them ever come together again and regain their connection to their owner?

Abandoned on the street, No. 3

Found on the sidewalk beside the Produce Row Development parking lot, most of an upholstered couch. I took this photo on my walk to work on November 9, 2011, in Southeast Portland.

Is it unique to Portland to set items out on the sidewalk with a sign that reads, "Free!"? Or with no sign at all, just there? Seems like trash when it's as large as a couch, doesn't it? Sometimes, though, I believe it has to do with the ease of disposing of unwanted items which are still viable and may be of use to others.

Here's a little story about "Free!" items and my Mama. Way back in the summer of 2006 right after we had moved into our first Portland apartment, Mama brought home our first "Free!" items--a decorative ceramic olive oil bottle with four tiny dishes, you know, so you could put olive oil in the dishes and dip your bread in the oil. Somewhat sheepishly, she pulled handed me the bottle and pulled the dishes from her pockets after she and Duncan returned from a walk around the block. She cracked me up!

Here's why. When we had visited my sons in Portland prior to our move, naturally we noticed the "Free!" stuff here and there in their neighborhood (we hadn't seen anything on the sidewalks in our home town of Jackson, Mississippi, except on trash day), The guys explained what was going on. Later on as we packed to move to Portland, I heard quite a bit about how we had plenty of stuff, didn't need any more stuff, no need to pay attention to "Free!" stuff. So it cracked me up that my little ol' Mama succumbed first to the urge to bring something home which she had found on the sidewalk with a hand-lettered sign! The last thing I can remember bringing home which I found free in the lobby of our old building is the square, unfinished but well-sanded square wooden table upon which I now type. Hooray for viable, useful "Free!" stuff. The last things I put out for free on the sidewalk near the dumpster and recycling bins beside my new building--four good condition dinette chairs for which I had no room when I moved last January after Mama had died. They were gone in less than an hour.

Abandoned on the street, No. 2

Go figure. Looks like a good bicycle tire to me. I took this photo on my walk to work on September 13, 2011, in Southeast Portland.

Abandoned on the street, No. 1

Boots near the side door of Presidential Court Apartments, NW 22nd and NW Everett. I took this photo May 5, 2009.