UPDATE - Sights around Portland that I miss right now.

UPDATE: Still sleeping about three hours at a time. Not as much aching in the knees, thank goodness! Still experiencing peripheral neuropathy, though, with the humming mostly on the shins and down into my feet right now, not as much in my hands right now. Still wobbly and feeling out of balance when I walk, but with this perfect-size-for-me studio apartment, there is a sturdy piece of furniture or a wall within easy reach, no matter where I go. I am not dizzy, either.

So far, hallelujah, I have noticed no taste alterations nor have I had enough nausea to result in what could follow it--you know what I mean.

Thank you for your continued prayers, love, and concern.




I took this photo on June 21, 2012, because I happened to notice that the lights were on in the evening at Albertina Kerr, making a lovely backdrop to the rose blossoms. It's not often that there is an evening event going on there, so I count myself blessed to have been able to get this photo.



I took this photo on March 19, 2011, while I waited for a bus at the roundabout where NE Glisan St. and NE 39th (also known as NE Cesar E. Chavez Blvd.) intersect. I love vintage vehicles and couldn't resist this one tootling along.



Here's a view that I'll miss forever, of The Big Pink and the Portland, Oregon neon sign--I took this photo on March 18, 2011, years before the construction of a 19-story building got started. It makes me so sad to realize that when I get well enough to return to work and riding the bus each morning, I won't see this view. I hope to goodness that the building is worth it, as in OK to look at on a week-day-basis which is when I'm most likely to be here. The building is going up at the east end of the Burnside Bridge, smack up against it on the north side of the bridge. I imagine it has already increased by several stories since I was last there and took a photo or a video--probably did that in June, is my best guess.

Convertibles for a sunny Sunday.

A woody convertible. I don't recall ever seeing another one. I took this photo at the intersection of East Burnside and NE Grand Avenue.



A vintage convertible photographed outside the Bright Auto Upholstery shop, near my work building.



Another vintage beauty photographed outside the Bright Auto Upholstery shop.



Yes, one more vintage convertible photographed outside the Bright Auto Upholstery shop.



I cannot remember where I took this one--I don't recognize the surroundings.



Here's another view of it which also identifies where I took it--in the parking lot of Club 21, on the north side of NE Sandy Blvd. near where I live.



Wouldn't you hope to look happier than these four if you were out and about in a vintage Ford Mustang? I took this photo at the intersection of NE Couch and NE MLK.



And here's another beautiful vintage convertible, seen in downtown Portland.



It's really a gorgeous vehicle.



Finally, a red VW Bug convertible!

A one-day, multi-photo, YouTube video, break from the Nature's Beauty series, brought on by a Facebook post from Grandma Retro

Hope you have as much fun with this post I have. Please stick around past the text, enjoy the YouTube video, and then the photos that I took. Thanks!

The minute I saw this vintage add on my Facebook wall, found and posted by my FB friend Grandma Retro, I immediately remembered having seen one of these unique little vehicles in person. Picking through my vintage vehicle memories, I headed for Flickr and my photos taken at Cars in the Park, July 23, 2011. That summer, just months after Mama had died in January, over a dozen Saturdays I thankfully engaged my mind with the glories afforded by vintage vehicles, hundreds of them. Yet, I saw only one Isetta 300, easily for me the most unique vehicle that I can remember from those special Saturdays. Here are photos I took from all around the butter-colored beauty. Yes, I believe it's beautiful. How about you? My biggest regret? I didn't try to find the owner and ask if I could get a photo with the door closed. Ah, the joys of hindsight.

However, we've all been given a great gift--a YouTube video called Isetta 300 Drive which is this actual Isetta 300--I know because the license plates match. I didn't find it until after I'd already blanked out the plates on the photos that showed it--that's why you see two versions of the first photo, I wanted you to be able to see the plate so you'd get to have the same grin that I had when this man walked around the car and showed the license plate ! I read Oregon and got all excited, headed right back over to Flickr and checked it out. Yea!

Here is some info specific to the BMW Isetta 300 that I found online: In production from 1956 to 1962, with 161,360 produced. The engine is a 298cc single-cylinder 4-stroke with 53 mph as the top speed. The transmission is a 4-speed manual with reverse.

In 1956, the government of the Federal Republic of Germany changed the regulations for motor vehicles. Class IV licences issued from that time onward could only be used to operate small motorcycles and could no longer be used to operate motor vehicles with a capacity of less than 250 cc. At the same time, the maximum capacity allowed for the Isetta's tax category was 300 cc. Class IV licences issued before the change in the regulations were grandfathered and allowed to be used as before.

This change in regulations encouraged BMW to revise their Isetta microcars. In October 1956, the Isetta Moto Coupe DeLuxe (sliding-window Isetta) was introduced. The bubble windows were replaced by longer, sliding side windows. The engineers had enlarged the single cylinder to a 72 mm (2.8 in) bore and 73 mm (2.9 in) stroke, which gave a displacement of exactly 298 cc; at the same time, they raised the compression ratio from 6.8 to 7.0:1. As a result, the engine power output rose to 10 kW (13 hp) at 5200 rpm, and the torque rose to 18.4 N·m (13.6 ft·lbf) at 4600 rpm. The maximum speed remained at 85 km/h (53 mph), yet there was a marked increase in flexibility, chiefly noticeable on gradients.
 



I started grinning the minute I laid eyes on the BMW Isetta 300.
 

Info I found on the Web: The Isetta is an Italian-designed microcar built under licence in a number of different countries, including Spain, Belgium, France, Brazil, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Because of its egg shape and bubble-like windows, it became known as a bubble car, a name later given to other similar vehicles.
 

Info I found on the Web: The BMW Isetta was in 1955 the world's first mass-production 3-Litres/100 km car. It was the top-selling single-cylinder car in the world, with 161,728 units sold.
 

Info I found on the Web: The Isetta caused a sensation when it was introduced to the motoring press in Turin in November 1953, it was unlike anything seen before.
 

Info I found on the Web: Small (only 2.29 m (7.5 ft) long by 1.37 m (4.5 ft) wide) and egg-shaped, with bubble-type windows, the entire front end of the car hinged outwards to allow entry. In the event of a crash, the driver and passenger were to exit through the canvas sunroof.
 

Info I found on the Web: The steering wheel and instrument panel swung out with the single door, as this made access to the single bench seat simpler. The seat provided reasonable comfort for two occupants, and perhaps a small child. Behind the seat was a large parcel shelf with a spare wheel located below. A heater was optional, and ventilation was provided by opening the fabric sunroof.
 

Info I found on the Web: The car originated with the Italian firm of Iso SpA. In the early 1950s the company was building refrigerators, motor scooters and small three-wheeled trucks. Iso's owner, Renzo Rivolta, decided he would like to build a small car for mass distribution.[9] By 1952 the engineers Ermenegildo Preti[10] and Pierluigi Raggi had designed a small car that used the motorcycle engine of the Iso Moto 200 and named it Isetta—an Italian diminutive meaning little ISO. BMW began talking with Rivolta in mid-1954 and bought not just a licence but the complete Isetta body tooling as well. Rivolta did not stop with licensing the Isetta to BMW. He negotiated similar deals with companies in France and Brazil. After constructing some 1,000 units, production of the Italian built cars ceased in 1955, although Iso continued to build the Isetta in Spain until 1958.

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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!

Suicide doors, at the curb

Seen within a couple of hours in downtown Portland, two of the many vintage vehicles in daily use here in Portland.
 

Every day Continentals. The first one.



Every day Continentals. The second one.

Red, white and blue, re-do!

Seen-on-the-streets of Portland, vintage vehicles, a patriotic trio.

Vintage vehicle at Voodoo Doughnut & some colorful serendipity, downtown Portland

Today on the 12 bus, on the way to Killer Burger from downtown, I noticed a crowd outside the original location of Voodoo Doughnut. The reason that I got the chance to notice the crowd and the gorgeous vintage vehicle parked at the sidewalk was that the Burnside Bridge was near the end of a bridge lift, stopping traffic in both directions.

Actually, the crowd is a double line which snakes from out of sight on the right to just left of the original Voodoo sign on the brick wall at which point it snakes back towards the corner and the red-framed door. After I saw the crowd, I saw the wine-colored vintage vehicle. The way the sun hit the back chrome bumper and the back window made me stand up and walk to the front of the bus so that I could take this photo through the windshield, looking at an angle towards SW 3rd from the intersection where the bus waited for traffic to clear once the bridge lift completely ended.

Once I had downloaded the photo, I quickly noticed the girl in the pink sundress, playing the guitar on the sidewalk directly beneath the Voodoo Doughnut sign. Ah, serendipity--all of that wine and pink color right there, together.



One more photo, taken straight on through the bus windshield. Wish I could've taken one a little bit before this one because the bridge lift would've shown up much better.

As it is, if you look there at the top edge of those two box trucks, you should notice a line continuing from beneath the traffic signal on the left all the way across to the right where it runs out of sight in the leaves. That line is the edge of the western section of the Burnside Bridge which is on its way down so that it will once again meet the edge of the eastern section of the bridge and form a complete, solid surface for the bridge. I know bridge lifts interrupt traffic and therefore people's lives and work, but I continue to be fascinated by them and how these gigantic structures operate.

Info from the Voodoo Doughnut Web site, about this location:
1. Voodoo Doughnut 22 SW 3rd Avenue Portland Oregon, U.S.A.
phone 503.241.4704
OPEN 24 hours 7days a week, Cash only, ATMs available
Voodoo Doughnut is located just south of the Burnside bridge on SW 3rd Ave. On the corner at SW 3rd Ave. and SW Ankeny

The evening of July 18, downtown Portland, look what I saw and had seconds to grab the camera

I'm loving this photo, just about as much as I love that back window. This is the last photo I got as it pulled away.


This is the first photo I got as we pulled up behind it at the traffic signal. See what I mean about that wrap-around back window? Magnificent.

Anyone have any idea about about the make of this beauty?

Variations of violet, a secondary color

Starship 2000 spins a violet ring on a cloudy evening at the WaMu Waterfront Village, Rose Festival 2008.


On Saturday, May 8, as I stood waiting for the 15 home, I saw a few vintage vehicles cruising by me. This violet vision same first.


Lavender clouds top the sunrise over NW Everett.

Man-made instances of the secondary color, green.

The drums on stage with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band at Jimmy Mak's, a fine jazz club within walking distance of where I live--how fortunate.


Handlebars and the frame of this bicycle, man-made greens, as well as the cloth in the baby seat. By the way, I actually saw a lady standing near this bicycle with a baby strapped to her chest. I have to tell you that, while I am in favor of bicycling, I just can't get used to folks riding on busy thoroughfares, especially with a baby on board. It strikes me as dangerous, asking for trouble, irresponsible. To give her the benefit of the doubt, maybe she rode up to the Hawthorne corner on a side street. But, to tell you the truth, those particular side streets are narrow, often with vehicles parked on both side, and busy. But, I digress. Back to green, known for its calming impact.


The background of the signs at Kelly's, as well as the neon in the signs.


The trash can and these bike racks at Powell's Books, on another extremely busy thoroughfare, West Burnside. Hopefully these riders rode on side streets, too, but again to tell you the truth I've been in autos and buses going slowly along behind bicyclists riding along in the traffic, on the two-laned street which is often bordered with park vehicles.


The rolling waves in this fabulous mural with a terrific message: Practicing nonviolence is a way of life.


The green paint on the Pinecone. I wonder if the building is apartments or condos? I hope it's still apartments because surely that's what it was built to be.


1929 Ford Roadster, seen at the Cruise In at The Bomber.



Fireworks from July 4, 2010, as seen from the Willamette River, downtown Portland, Oregon.


A truck parked across the street from the Cruise In at The Bomber.