We interrupt Disneyland for Portland's winter weather--a few photos I took on the way home by mass transit

At the first of the week, the weather man predicted bitter cold, windy days and the rather certain possibility of a snowy Saturday. I predicted to myself snow earlier, if we got enough moisture in the air. Then, Wednesday night the weather man predicted one to two inches in Portland, starting between 10 a.m. and noon, greater accumulation in the surrounding upper elevations. That's what happened on Thursday. Now we're predicted to get snow through the night, maybe less than we had during the day; more snow on Friday, maybe as much as we got on Thursday, starting around 4 p.m. Snow to ice on Saturday, ice to rain on Sunday, then showers and rain through next Thursday.

 

Conditions on the way home. Thank goodness I had left the office at 3:45 p.m. I didn't check the conditions then, though. I took this screen shot at 4:54 p.m. while riding the second of the two buses I take to and from work.

 

Layered for success on the homebound commute! I had my camera in the green and black bag, but I knew I wouldn't get to take many photos--too windy, too cold, too wet.
 

Snow-filled bowls of a Benson Bubbler on SW 6th.
 

I wonder what happened when he came upon some deeper snow? I saw him while waiting for the bus downtown. I heard a young woman who got on the bus later on remark, "I thought I was a tough bike rider. I wanted to do it. Whew." She'd just put her bike on the rack in front of the bus.
 

It was a long wait downtown for the second bus. By the time it came, I had lots more snow on me, here and there. The wind blew it everywhere.
 

Finally, the bus! So packed that the driver couldn't let anyone on at subsequent stops unless someone got off first. I took this shaky photo looking towards the back of the bus--thanks to the young man who gave me his seat!
   

I took this one looking toward the front of the bus. The narrow rectangle of light on the left is part of the front door out of the bus. The driver was fantastic--personable, calm and skilled--I've ridden with him before. I gave him a hug when I got off at my stop, very happy to be so close to home!



My neighborhood bar, The Blue Diamond PDX, closed for the day earlier as the snow kept coming down--I read the announcement on Facebook. Right about when I took this photo, it looked like it had stopped snowing. Nope, just a momentary thing. I just walked to the front door of the building so I could take a look outside where the street lights are--it's still snowing six hours after I left work, about 10 hours after it started on Thursday morning. Once I got inside my apartment, just a few minutes after I took this photo, I peeled off all the layers, put them on hangers on the shower curtain rod to dry with the fan blowing. Then I cooked myself some breakfast for supper, enjoyed every bite, washed the dishes, and settled down to work on the blog. Tomorrow I'll do it all over again.

Your perfect commute?

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Since I saw this good lookin' vintage pickup truck on my March 9, 2013, after-work commute, I have decided that there is someone out there who gets lucky twice a day, Monday through Friday. What I mean is that if you can't luck out and live on a bus line or a MAX line (and be able to afford the daily cost of a ticket) and therefore have the opportunity to use mass transit for your workday commute, I believe this would be the way to go. Feast your eyes on my serendipitous capture of a 1950s Chevrolet step-side on it's way south on NE 20th Avenue. Did you notice it's vivid blue matches the recycling bin on the sidewalk? That the red letters on its hubcaps that spell out Chevrolet match the red hand in the Don't Walk traffic signal? I don't have to ask if you realize just how happy I was to have my camera around my neck as I walked the block and half from my bus stop to my apartment door.

Please tell me the year of this truck. Thanks!

The MAX Yellow Line at SW 6th Avenue and SW Pine

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The MAX Yellow Line pulls in at the station beside the Big Pink, downtown Portland, on SW 6th Avenue and SW Pine. A couple of guys walk towards it as it slows and another one buys his ticket at the kiosk. On Saturday, January 19, I got on board before it pulled out. My plan, to ride to the Rose Garden Arena for the Portland Trail Blazers' basketball game against the Milwaukee Bucks. This is the train that I got off and then took the photo of the Rose Garden Arena in the fog, Monday's post. 

On ball game days during the week, I catch a ride to the Rose Garden Arena at the MAX Yellow Line station at Pioneer Courthouse Square, after eating cheap at McDonald's or Subway and walking the four blocks to the station. On game day Saturdays or Sundays or holidays, I catch the MAX Yellow Line here because it's closest to where I get off either the 12 or the 19 which I had caught a block and a half from my apartment. Mass transit works pretty doggone good, if you play it right. 

Rainy autumn in my neighborhood, No. 2

Friday a week ago, the day that my brother arrived in Portland for his visit, we walked from the bus to the apartment; we'd had a full afternoon out and about in Portland, either on mass transit--MAX, bus, and Portland Streetcar--or on foot. As you can tell from the amount of water trapped at this corner, it had been raining hard earlier. In fact, the two of us got soaked walking from the Oregon Rail Heritage Center to the Portland Streetcar stop. Everywhere we went, we managed to avoid puddles in our path.

As we approached and I noticed this man engaged in a regularly occurring autumn activity here in Portland, I grabbed my camera from inside my raincoat and took a few photos. I didn't realize I had the bicycle in the shot until I had downloaded them to the iMac. Yea!



The bicyclist made it through the puddle, while the man with the rake diligently continued his work. We crossed the street out of view to the left where there was good drainage, avoiding our final puddle of the day.

Bike rack - a recent addition to apartment building's basement

I don't ride a bike, but I am proud to see this for those that do. And I have a vested interest in the fact that this many bike-riders live here.

On the smallest scale, that many bike-riders in the building means all the more possibility of there being a parking space available when I unload purchases from the occasional Zipcar.

On the largest scale, that many bike-riders in the building can be ex·trap·o·lated across Portland as taking a great big bite outta our carbon footprint. (I do my part by riding mass transit and walking and not owning an automobile. And every once in a while, since I live in such a flat neighborhood, I wish for an ol'-lady-sized tricycle.)

I pray for street safety and for observant-of-traffic-law-and-each-other bicyclists, motorists, and pedestrians.

Mini mass transit, the skateboard, and a sports report

Lots and lots of folks travel Portland's streets and sidewalks on skateboards. During the warm months when we keep our windows open, Mama and I hear them all hours of the day and night, clickety clacking at each expansion joint of the sidewalk or just zipping along on the street in front of or beside our building. I'm glad they make noise because I doubt I'll step out in front of one when I'm waiting on Duncan to come out from beneath the shrubs.

This particular guy skates along in front of three parked Portland Police Bureau cars. The lot is across the street from PGE Park, and at this particular moment on Saturday, April 26, the Portland Timbers were about half an hour away from playing the Seattle Sounders in a USL First Division soccer game. Heated rivalry, hence the security. I had witnessed a bus load of Sounders' supporters loudly and profanely disembark at another nearby corner earlier, then saw a family taking their small son to the gate. "How will they explain the rowdiness and the profanity," I wondered. Portland won 2-0.

Do you see people commuting by skateboard in your city?

I missed the show, but I got the photos!

Mama and I are in the car, driving east on Everett, headed for the Steel Bridge. Our goal? Cross the Willamette River and head for Marsha's, to pick her up for the Hood River Fruit Loop Tour. My camera and Flat Stanley rest in the backseat of the Buick, safe inside a tote bag.

We hadn't gone two blocks before I spied something odd on the street in front of us. Well, not so odd for Portland because I've seen this sort of rolling sign here other times. I've even seen (and missed the chance to photograph, doggone it!) a rolling Ikea room.

"Oh," I groan. "My camera's in the back seat." Mama looks over her left shoulder and calmly states the truth: "I can't reach it."

Instantly I realize that when I stop at a stop sign, I should be able to jump out and grab the tote bag, as long as there is no vehicle right behind me. And that's exactly what I do, seven blocks later. Above you see the photo that I took a couple of blocks after that when I stop at the next four-way stop.

And here's the photo I took just before we drove up onto the approach to the bridge.



One of the things I love about Portland, among the many, many things, is being in the street in the car alongside mass transit entities--bus, streetcar, MAX--or approaching an intersection where mass transist is about to cross in front of me. At this particular intersection, here's the Buick, behind a bus. A block in front of us, the MAX lines cross the street and continues to the left, up onto the Steel Bridge.

It may sound silly that such a mundane thing as mass transit makes me love Portland, but it does.