Seen on TriMet, an inspiration.

May 29, 2016, a cool morning commute. Naturally I noticed this lovely lady sitting across from me. I silenced my iPhone and took several photos, trying to capture her at her best. I believe this last one that I shot does that because I managed to avoid a bright, off-putting glow around her hair. Isn't she magnificent? So together to get out and about, her necessities stashed in her cart. I'm very proud of this photo. I hope I'll be like her as I continue my time here in the known world. I believe that I try to do that every single day.

Captivating. Downtown Portland on one of my morning commute walks, in front of The Portland Plaza, a condo skyscraper.

I couldn't get enough of these beauties. And I hope that someone in charge of their care cut off the spent blossoms. Because I'd hate to think that a passerby with a sharp knife just decided to take the three that are obviously recently removed. To me, the flower on the right looks as if it could be made of paper, complete with the curled petals.



Do you like the mood of this shot, as I took it?



Or as it appears here after I clicked on Edit in Aviary, the Enhance, then Illuminate?



First, I didn't like a flower that was in the bottom left corner, so I cloned it out at BeFunky.



Then I wondered about the exposure, so at BeFunky, I worked on the highlight and the fill light. Hmmm.



This is the original photo. Do you agree with me that the flower in the lower left corner detracts from what I wanted in this photo? I'm curious. Thanks!



All I did with this one was crop off a spent blossom and some ugly concrete in the background--driveway, retaining wall. I really like the patina on the petals, the sheen.

UPDATE and I was in downtown this morning!

UPDATE: I slept just fine last night and made it to work without difficulty. When I got home today, I cooked some ground turkey, tossed it with an envelope of taco spices, stirred in a can of low-fat refried beans and a little bit of mild salsa. I ate it with some tortilla strips. Every single bite tasted awful, way too salty, wrong tasting mess, period. I believe this is a side effect of the chemo because I've made this several times in the last few months, once even after Chemo Round One, when it tasted exactly the it always had when made with ground beef. Whew. It was awful! So, I'm throwing it away because I don't want to ruin the thought of it for myself. Anyway, I'm not hungry right now because I ate enough of it before I stopped and drank some water, then had some Nilla Wafers. The awful taste is erased, thank goodness.



When I rode the first bus today, a 12, I decided to go across the Burnside Bridge and change to the next bus next to City Hall downtown. I longed to see downtown. It worked out very well. I took this photo of Portlandia in her perch at the Portland Building which is between SW 5th and SW 4th, right across the street to the north of City Hall. I really like this giant statue!



Here's a closeup that I took of Portlandia back in 2009, so that you can get an idea of just how wonderful she is. She's based on a figure in Portland's city seal--a woman, dressed in classical clothes, who welcomes traders into the port of the city. The sculpture is on the third floor landing of the Portland Building.

The sculpture is 36 feet tall but if Portlandia was magically to stand up, she would be over 50 feet tall; she weighs 6.5 tons. Portlandia is the second largest hammered copper statue in America (the largest is the Statue of Liberty). The statue was designed and sculpted by Washington, D.C., artist Raymond Kaskey and installed over the west entrance of the Portland Building in downtown Portland in 1985.

Kaskey retains the copyright on the statue’s image and so has avoided that work’s mass reproduction--no key chains, y'all.

Before being installed at the Portland Building, Portlandia was floated down the river on a barge and then transported through the city on a large truck. People lined up on the streets to see it. When it reached the building, the people crowded around the sculpture for a chance to touch it before it was installed out of reach.



This is me this morning, waiting for the first bus of the to-work commute. The Blue Diamond is in the background--you can see it through the bus shelter's wall. I've had this hat for years; in fact, I believe that I bought it in Jackson, Mississippi, before Mama and I moved here in June, 2006. I added those fabric roses with the plastic dew drops. Love them!

City Hall Roses and the Morning Commute

I took this photo on July 30 on my way to work, waiting beside City Hall for the last of the two or three morning buses that I catch to go from home to the job.


A bit past its prime, this City Hall rose still is beautiful. You're wondering why it's two or three buses, right?
I get on either the 15, 17 or 20 first, a few blocks from the apartment. If I ride the 17 or the 20, I transfer to either the 4, 8 or 33 when I get off. If it's the 4 that shows up first, I ride it all the way to work. If it's the 8 or the 33, I ride it to a block from where I can catch either the 4, 10 or 14 at the bus stop right beside the City Hall roses. Any of those last three take me to the bus stop across the street from my building. If I ride the 15 first, I have the option of the 4 or the 33. You know the story on each one of those as far as either getting straight to work on the 4 or taking the 33, then catching either the 4, 10 or 14.


I took this photo on July 9. Oh, after I get off the 17 or the 20 I also have the option of catching the MAX, either the Green Line or the Yellow Line. I can ride it to within one block of where I can catch the 4, 10 or 14 for the last leg of the morning commute.


Here's another rose from July 9. If memory serves, we'd had a hot spell which I believe severely impacted this beauty. It hadn't given up as much as its nearby buds had, though, who were losing their petals. It had the option of surviving a bit longer.


Options are a great thing to have, especially when you ride to work on mass transit like I do. What option did this lovely yellow rose have prior to July 9 that the red one didn't have? I wonder if the heat didn't impact it because of its color? It seems to me that the bright yellow just might reflect more heat than the deep red which I see as absorbing heat. Anyone know anything about this for sure? I'd love to hear.