UPDATE and I made it to work and back today!

UPDATE: I worked today from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., without needing a nap, dining on tidbits of cheese and crackers and fruit at my desk while I kept working--four hours means you don't qualify for a lunch hour, but I certainly didn't need one, and I know beyond any doubt that I'm not ready for however many hours you need to work to qualify for a lunch hour. I rode the bus to work with one transfer and not too far to walk from that last bus to the office. I rode the streetcar--boarding it right in front of the office, then transferred to the bus for the last leg of the home-bound commute. When I got off the bus two and a half blocks from home, I walked straight into Subway and got a six inch tuna on wheat with lettuce and tomato, a individual-sized bag of chips, and a cup of Coca-Cola. I walked on home, sat down in my apartment, and ate all of that Subway stuff. Now I'm ready to make an effort to stay awake until bed time and do it all over again tomorrow. Well, not the Subway part probably. I need to cook something to eat, but I'm not sure I'll have the energy this evening. We'll see. Thanks for every single prayer--I felt each one!



When I got off the bus at NE Couch and NE MLK to transfer to another bus for the rest of the work-bound commute, I saw the progress that has been made in building these two. I just read online that the one on the left will be 21 stories tall and is named Yard, not the Yard, just Yard. I'm not very happy about the changes in the view, nor am I happy about what the apartments in these two are likely to cost. Too many people are no longer able to live in inner Portland unless they have high-paying jobs. I believe that the city commissioners have dropped the ball about affordable housing in Portland. Shame on them.



Here's a short video that shows how the taller building on the left looked on June 10. Oh, well. I hope the building turns out to be not as ugly as lots of those which are being built in Portland's residential neighborhoods, also with crazy high rents, things like $1400 for a 570 square foot studio!



Not happy to be missing the Big Pink, I walked down to the corner for a look across the Burnside Bridge and took this photo to show you what we're missing.



Here's how I looked right after I arrived at the office today. Ready to go! I'm holding up my bus pass which we get for free--the best perk I've ever had--with its brand new 2016 sticker. The 2015 one expired today, so I'm thankful that I got to go back to work today early enough to get it before signing in at work.

Seen at the Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival, No. 14, July 3, 2014 - summer hat in the sunshine

Another cool hat at the Oregonian Front Porch stage, during The Bone Pickers' T-Bone Walker Tribute performance. I'm not sure what he's looking at, but I'm noticing that person swinging something at the right edge of the photo. What could it be?

Seen at the Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival, No. 4, July 3, 2014 - It wasn't his hat that I noticed first, either--it was his tank top.

I moved from my previous spot so that I would look across the dance floor installed in front of the Oregonian Front Porch Stage. That's where I saw this man in the tank top dancing all by himself. I recognized him immediately because I've seen him three other times over the years, dancing either with a woman or alone, he doesn't let it hold him back if he has no partner and the music moves him. Twice I saw him at Music on Main, a free Wednesday event during the summer put on by the Portland'5 Center for the Arts, and also at last year's blues festival. He always wears a tank top in this style, plus a hat in that style. After I posted photos of him groovin' to the music at the first Music on Main, my older son Lamont informed me that the man lived in their neighborhood and was seen frequently walking from here to there. Then, after I told him that I'd seen him again last year, he said to me, "You know, I think he's moved or something because we don't see him any more." I think it's neat how much the man loves live music and dancing when it speaks to him. I took three photos, but this one worked best so that you have the context of the couple dancing there on the right which helps inform what the man in the tank top is doing. That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.

Seen at the Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival, No. 3, July 3, 2014 - It wasn't his hat that I noticed first.

Y'all, I feel pretty good about this photo. In fact, it's one of my favorites that I've taken, period. You're seeing it straight out of the camera. However, it's not the first photo that I took of this man over at the Oregonian Front Porch Stage which is located a bit north of the FedEx Crossroads Stage, nigh to the Rose Building (actually the historical John Yeon Building), home of the Portland Rose Festival, situated in Tom McCall Waterfront Park, home of the blues festival and lots of other outstanding outdoor events in Portland.



It was his elbow that I first noticed from the chair where I sat on the aisle in front of the stage. My thought as I noticed the shape of his elbow which was right in my line of sight, "Whoa! That's guy's elbow looks like an eye." So, I took this photo--admittedly, he was more perpendicular to the ground upon first sighting, but the music of 2014 IBC winner Tim Williams got him moving. Then I noticed his hat, thank goodness.

Seen downtown, No. 4

Not your everyday headwear for sunny Saturday in May. Naturally, once I saw the young man and his hat through the viewfinder, I had to keep clicking.
  Oops. Busted.
 

He turned to his friend, no doubt explaining that there's a crazy woman over there on the corner taking my picture.
 

His friend smiled and they continued walking south across West Burnside.

Seen either on or from a TriMet vehicle, be it bus or MAX, or maybe even the Portland Streetcar, which is not TriMet

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Straight out of the camera, I took this photo on December 8, 2012, while riding the bus home. The writing on the man's hat and jacket intrigued me.

 

Here the same photo has been altered with Snapseed, an app I have on my iPhone 5. On the hat, you may be able to read some of it. The best I can make out, it says, "Eternal life is in Jesus, the son of God." On the jacket, it says, "Orphans and widows indeed," then lists three Bible verses, Isaiah 1:17, 23; James 1:27, and 2nd Timothy 2:19. 

Isaiah 1:17 - Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. 

 
Isaiah 1:23 - Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.

James 1:27 - Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

2nd Timothy 2:19 - Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

Serendipity #1. Wish you had been with me.

Naturally I noticed this hat--it was cold outside, and I thought, "What a great hat for that lady to have on a cold day." Then, as we waited at a traffic signal, the bus idling rhythmically, movement caught my eye. Her hat vibrated, the brown stripes dancing before my eyes, still, blurry, still, blurry. I clicked this shot. And, lo and behold, when I uploaded it to Flickr, I discovered that you can see the blur! Those strips that appear to be double the thickness and come down like spokes from the top center of the hat--that's what I saw vibrating! Serendipity and the Nikon D50 rule!

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?

Saturday as the 15 bus pulled to a stop at the traffic signal at NW 23rd and NW Everett, I spied this little boy in arms, wearing a wintertime hat that I at first thought was a teddy bear. Then I realized, the hat actually was Scooby-Doo! I managed a few quick shots before the bus moved--thus this one--and then took a few standing still on the sidewalk--thus the top photo.